In
Islamic culture and Muslim
communities throughout the world, magic and scorcery is
"widespread
and pervasive".
On
display in bookstalls in market
places across the Muslim Middle East and North Africa, there are "handbooks
for practitioners of the occult", and alongside
"books full of warnings and condemnations" of the handbooks'
contents.
Over
the centuries, magic has
"become intricately interwoven with religious elements and
practices" in Islamic culture - despite the efforts of
orthodox
Islamic scholars to stamp it (magic) out … so that the line between
what is
forbidden and what is allowed has become "blurred".
In fact,
magic has become a vital element of
everyday life and practice, in both the contemporary and historical
Islamic
world, that the various topics generate a‘staggering amount of
literature.
ALLAH
FORBIDS MAGIC AND SCORCERY
In
Islam, instead of worshipping Allah and asking
for specific help on a certain problem, people who cast spells do
the
opposite which Allah has forbidden on Muslims.
In
Islam, magic is an act of disbelief and
is the work of Satan.
In
Islam, whoever goes to a magician or fortune
teller, and believes in what he tells him, disbelieves in what
has been revealed
to Muhammad.
In
Islam, sihr, that is, magic and witchcraft,
is a serious sin.
In
Islam, sorcery and fortune telling is one
of the twelve sins in Islam.
WHAT IS
MAGIC AND SORCERY?
Magic or
sorcery (which
seeks to alter the course of events usually by calling on a supernatural
force) and divination
(attempts
"to predict future events or gain
information about things unseen"), or occultism, which
encompasses a
wide range of practices are condemned in Islam.
These
practices include protection from black
magic, the evil eye, demons, and evil jinn,
which are
thought to bring "illness, poverty, and everyday misfortunes"; or
alternately practices seeking to bring "good fortune, health, increased
status, honor, and power".
Also
other techniques include evocation, casting
lots, the production of amulets and other magical
equipment.
In
addition, in Islam, fortune telling,
casting spells and witchcraft are sorcery.
WHAT
DOES THE QU’RAN SAY?
Sixty-six
Quranic verses relate
to the subject of magic, but the verse dealing
with magic in the most detail is Sura 2:102 which describes
magic in a
bad light.
The
Quran recognizes that belief,
and practice in magic and sorcery, are crimes and sins.
The
Quran forbids magic and punishes
magicians.
Magic
has also been declared by
Islamic scholars to be "evil" in any and all of their forms,
denying its practitioners entrance into heaven, and earning them a
"divinely
sanctioned" punishment of death.
IN
THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE THE FOLLOWING ARE SINS AND ARE
FORBIDDEN …
Enchantment,
divination,
observer of times,
an
enchanter, a witch, false visions, divination, vain
vision,
flattering divination, consulting with images, looking in
the liver,
witches, spirits of divination, soothsaying, familiar
spirits,
wizards that peep and mutter
HERE
IS WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS …
“Surely
there is no
enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against
Israel:
according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What
hath God
wrought!” (Numbers 23:23)
“There
shall not be found among
you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the
fire,
or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an
enchanter, or a witch” (Deuteronomy 18:10)
“And
they caused their sons and
their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and
enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the
LORD, to
provoke him to anger.” (2 Kings 17:17)
“Then
the LORD said unto me, The
prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither
have I
commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto
you a
false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the
deceit of their heart.” (Jeremiah 14:14)
“For
there shall be no more
any vain vision nor flattering divination within the
house of
Israel.” (Ezekiel 12:24)
“They
have seen vanity and
lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not
sent them: …
have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.” (Ezekiel
13:6)
“Have
ye not seen a vain vision,
and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The
LORD
saith it; albeit I have not spoken?” (Ezekiel 13:7)
“For
the king of Babylon stood
at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use
divination:
he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked
in the
liver.” (Ezekiel 21:21)
“And
it shall be unto them as a false
divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he
will call
to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.” (Ezekiel 21:23)
“And
it came to pass, as we went
to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met
us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:” (Acts
16:16)
“And
when they shall say unto
you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards
that
peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their
God? for
the living to the dead?” (Isaiah 8:19)
Harley
Hitchcock
February
2023
This
website’s front page is:
www.
MUSLIMS
SAY
“HASN’T
YOUR CHRISTIAN BIBLE HAS BEEN CORRUPTED?”
but
the
Qu’ran says the opposite … “THE BIBLE IS NOT CORRUPT!”
