بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum.
Recently, one of my teachers Umm Marwan** mentioned a wonderful point of benefit. She was discussing the verse of magic in Surah Al-Baqarah:
وَاتَّبَعُوا مَا تَتْلُو الشَّيَاطِينُ عَلَىٰ مُلْكِ سُلَيْمَانَ ۖ وَمَا كَفَرَ سُلَيْمَانُ وَلَـٰكِنَّ الشَّيَاطِينَ كَفَرُوا يُعَلِّمُونَ النَّاسَ السِّحْرَ وَمَا أُنزِلَ عَلَى الْمَلَكَيْنِ بِبَابِلَ هَارُوتَ وَمَارُوتَ ۚ وَمَا يُعَلِّمَانِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَا إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ فِتْنَةٌ فَلَا تَكْفُرْ ۖ فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مِنْهُمَا مَا يُفَرِّقُونَ بِهِ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَزَوْجِهِ ۚ وَمَا هُم بِضَارِّينَ بِهِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ اللَّـهِ ۚوَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنفَعُهُمْ ۚ وَلَقَدْ عَلِمُوا لَمَنِ اشْتَرَاهُ مَا لَهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنْ خَلَاقٍ ۚ وَلَبِئْسَ مَا شَرَوْا بِهِ أَنفُسَهُمْ ۚ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ
They followed what the Shayateen (devils) gave out (falsely of the magic) in the lifetime of Sulaiman. Sulaiman did not disbelieve, but the Shayteen (devils) disbelieved, teaching men magic and such things that came down at Babylon to the two angels, Harut and Marut, but neither of these two (angels) taught anyone (such things) till they had said, “We are only for trial, so disbelieve not (by learning this magic from us).” And from these (angels) people learn that by which they cause separation between man and his wife, but they could not thus harm anyone except by Allah’s Leave. And they learn that which harms them and profits them not. And indeed they knew that the buyers of it (magic) would have no share in the Hereafter. And how bad indeed was that for which they sold their ownselves, if they but knew. [Surah Al-Baqarah (2) : 102]
[For those who don’t know: Magic involves the use of evil jinn. The magician sends the jinn (or maybe more than one) to the person. He might ask the jinn to enter the person in which case this results in jinn possession. After that, the jinn basically attempts to do the designated task eg. cause a divorce, illness, etc.
These evil jinn are obviously devils. Righteous jinns though are not devils. However, evil humans are devils. So devil is not a synonym for jinn.]
She mentioned how people are more scared of magic than of Allah (which is a type of shirk (polytheism)), and pointed out that magic and envy shouldn’t be given a higher place than they deserve (i.e. we should take the means to prevent/cure them but not be that scared of them.) She also advised us that nobody should let magic be a barrier from them and let it stop them from doing what they wanted to do.
Then she pointed out something very important: that knowledge was stronger than devils and gave the following verses as proof:
قَالَ يَا أَيُّهَا الْمَلَأُ أَيُّكُمْ يَأْتِينِي بِعَرْشِهَا قَبْلَ أَن يَأْتُونِي مُسْلِمِينَ
قَالَ عِفْرِيتٌ مِّنَ الْجِنِّ أَنَا آتِيكَ بِهِ قَبْلَ أَن تَقُومَ مِن مَّقَامِكَ ۖ وَإِنِّي عَلَيْهِ لَقَوِيٌّ أَمِينٌ
قَالَ الَّذِي عِندَهُ عِلْمٌ مِّنَ الْكِتَابِ أَنَا آتِيكَ بِهِ قَبْلَ أَن يَرْتَدَّ إِلَيْكَ طَرْفُكَ ۚ فَلَمَّا رَآهُ مُسْتَقِرًّا عِندَهُ قَالَ هَـٰذَا مِن فَضْلِ رَبِّي لِيَبْلُوَنِي أَأَشْكُرُ أَمْ أَكْفُرُ ۖ وَمَن شَكَرَ فَإِنَّمَا يَشْكُرُ لِنَفْسِهِ ۖ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ رَبِّي غَنِيٌّ كَرِيمٌ
He said: “O chiefs! Which of you can bring me her throne before they come to me surrendering themselves in obedience?”
An Ifreet (strong) from the jinns said: “I will bring it to you before you rise from your place (council). And verily, I am indeed strong, and trustworthy for such work.”
One with whom was knowledge of the Scripture said: “I will bring it to you within the twinkling of an eye!” then when [Sulaiman] saw it placed before him, he said: “This is by the Grace of my Lord to test me whether I am grateful or ungrateful! And whoever is grateful, truly, his gratitude is for (the good of) his ownself, and whoever is ungrateful, (he is ungrateful only for the loss of his ownself). Certainly! My Lord is Rich (Free of all wants), Bountiful.” [Surah An-Naml (27) : 38-40]
Sulaiman (alaihissalam) had control over the jinn (or at least a portion of them). One of his chiefs was an Ifreet, which is a type of strong evil jinn.
This Ifreet claimed that he could get the throne (of the Queen of Saba) in short amount of time, yet the one with knowledge was able to get it in an even shorter amount of time! Subhan Allah, this proves that knowledge is stronger than devils.
This reminds me of what an acquaintance of mine mentioned this Ramadan. She pointed out that one could recite the whole Quran over some people who were afflicted with magic and jinn possession, yet it would not cure them, because these people believed that the jinn was more powerful than that. She pointed that the knowledge of aqeedah (creed) was very important for these people.
Umm Marwan also pointed one more proof that the truth was more powerful than devils.
قَالُوا يَا مُوسَىٰ إِمَّا أَن تُلْقِيَ وَإِمَّا أَن نَّكُونَ نَحْنُ الْمُلْقِينَ
قَالَ أَلْقُوا ۖ فَلَمَّا أَلْقَوْا سَحَرُوا أَعْيُنَ النَّاسِ وَاسْتَرْهَبُوهُمْ وَجَاءُوا بِسِحْرٍ عَظِيمٍ
وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَىٰ مُوسَىٰ أَنْ أَلْقِ عَصَاكَ ۖ فَإِذَا هِيَ تَلْقَفُ مَا يَأْفِكُونَ
فَوَقَعَ الْحَقُّ وَبَطَلَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
They said: “O Musa! Either you throw (first), or shall we have the (first) throw?”
He said: “Throw you (first).” So when they threw, they bewitched the eyes of the people, and struck terror into them, and they displayed a great magic.
And We inspired Musa (saying): “Throw your stick,” and behold! It swallowed up straight away all the falsehoods which they showed.
Thus truth was confirmed, and all that they did was made of no effect. [Surah Al-Araf (7) : 115-118]
So, the magicians of Pharoah (who eventually became Muslim) fooled people into thinking that there were snakes. Musa (alaihissalam) threw down his staff, which turned into a snake and then proceeded to eat all the other snakes!
Umm Marwan pointed out that one sign (i.e. the snake) was enough to eat all the other snakes. This shows the power of the truth.
I thought that these were some wonderful points of benefits because many people have an issue with this today (i.e. being scared of falsehood).
As for those of you are afflicted with magic, then I’d advise you to learn aqeedah (creed) and do ruqya and recite Surah Al-Baqarah until the problem goes away (even if it takes years). Don’t give up, because both the magician and the jinn are created beings who cannot harm without the permission of Allah.
The following two links are beneficial:
Perhaps I might have a post dedicated to various cures for magic and jinn possession at a much later date, in shaa Allah.
May Allah cure those who are afflicted with magic, jinn possession, envy and the evil eye.
** This is my teacher’s kunya and she is not known by this name (to non-Emiratis, I mean). She teaches in English and Arabic ( I attend the Arabic ones) here in the UAE and is pretty well known here under her full name (her initials are E. O. Guess who?). She was too shy to let me share it in my posts though so I just used her kunya.
And the header pic is an abandoned old village called Jaziratul Hamra, which is up north and is supposed to be crawling with jinns.