357. Faith in sorcery is infidelity.
These verses (2:102, 5:110, 6:7, 7:109- 120, 10:2, 10:76,77, 10:81, 11:7, 15:15, 17:47, 17:101, 20:63-73, 21:3, 25:8, 26:34,35, 26:45,46, 26:153, 28:36, 28:48, 34:43, 37:15, 38:4, 43:30, 43:49, 46:7, 51:39, 51:52, 52:15, 54:2, 61:6, 74:24) of the Quran speak about sorcery and witchcraft. There is a difference of opinion among scholars about the impact of sorcery on men, or is it trickery to deceive people.
We have explained the right opinion in points 28, and 285.
There is a belief among Muslims that Prophet Muhammad suffered of witchcraft cast upon him by the Jews, and based on such belief the Muslims even today are of the impression that witchcraft can be practiced to affect others.
Though messages that Prophet Muhammad was affected due to witchcraft is recorded in certain hadith books, they are not to be taken as authenticated because they go against the tenets of the Quran. Rather they are to be treated as tales spun around Prophet Muhammad.
Before going into the methodology to approach the hadiths, let’s know the ways to identify the hadiths that go against the Quran.
We should take into confidence hadiths quoted by authenticated narrators. We are not to accept hadiths quoted even by authenticated narrators when they cannot be interpreted in a way to fit into the ideology of the Quran. We need to come to a conclusion the said hadiths that do not fit into the ideology of the Quran do not have any connections with Prophet Muhammad.
When we take into confidence words that go against the spirit and beliefs in the Quran, we are pushed into a circumstance to refute the Quran whole .
Moreover verse 16:44 of the Quran says Prophet Muhmmad a sent to explain verses of the Quran
Prophet Muhammad who was sent to explain the verses of the Quran would never ever speak against the tenets of the Quran. And if such a matter is recorded in any hadith book should be considered as either not said or enacted by him.
The words and deeds of Prophet Muhammad would offer an explanation to the Quran and never negate the Quran.
We need to clearly understand this does not amount to refuting hadiths.
The Quran and the hadiths are not placed in the same plane of acceptance As far as the Quran is considered it is accepted unanimously by all the comrades of Prophet Muhammad as true and final and they stand witness to it.
Prophet Muhammad recited the Quran to his comrades and told them, this is from my Lord and all the comrades were witness to this. And many memorized the Quran.
While considering hadiths it is found that all the comrades put together had not narrated a single hadith in unison. A few hadiths were conveyed by comrades of Prophet Muhammad with a narrator chain extending to a maximum number of fifty comrades. Whereas most of the other hadiths were narrated through two or three of them. Moreover, the hadiths were not recorded in writing as the Quran was done.
There were just one or two direct witnesses for what the Prophet Muhammad said or did.
There is the difference between a whole community standing as witness and a single person testifying.
However perfect a person is, the chances of him making mistakes does exist.
Not only the people belonging to Prophet Muhammad’s generation accepted the the Quran as it existed, but also the the generation next after him followed the same. The successive generations declared the same.
As far as hadiths are concerned only a few of the comrades of Prophet Muhammad narrated them. And also, only a few announced what the prophet’s comrades told them directly. Until the hadiths were compiled into a book, they were being passed by word of mouth.
There is absolutely no doubt expressed about the authenticity of the Quran, but it is not the same with the hadiths.
We accept and implement the hadiths on the basis of the authenticity of the comrades of Prophet Muhammad who narrated them. As long as the messages in the hadiths do not contradict the Quran we are bound to accept the same. When a hadith contradicts the Quran, we need to come to a conclusion there is an error in the source of the hadith and place a priority for the Quran.
It would have been the result of the comrades of Prophet Muhammad of having not given proper attention while listening, or an error would have taken place when passing on the message to the successive generations. We do not say the hadiths that contradict the tenets of Quran should be summarily rejected as our own thinking, it is expressed by the messenger of the Almighty himself.
Prophet Muhammad said:
When a message reaches you, purportedly from me, be assured, I am more qualified than you to stand witness to its authenticity, when your skin and your mane (your senses) accept the same and make you recognize the closeness of the message to you. But on the other hand when a message reaches you purportedly from me that makes you hate the message itself, and your senses run away and want to stay aloof from the message, I am the one who stays away from the message further than you.
Narrator: Abu Usaid (RA). Book: Ahmad 15478
Prophet Muhammad explains here about the chances of false hood getting up mixed with his sayings and the ways to identify them.
A message purportedly from Prophet Muhammad that makes a person believe it is from him (Prophet Muhammad) as per his conscious is worth to be considered as genuine from him, and at the same time a message purportedly from the prophet makes a person wince at it needs to be considered as not from him proving it does not come under the ambit of prophet’s words and deeds, From this hadith it is understood the study of the message is more important than the study of the authenticity of the narrators.
Verses 41:40-42 of the Quran say for certain there are no contradictions or mistakes in it.
Hence our belief in the Quran should be devoid of the thought it contains contradictions and mistakes.
When a message says there is an error in the Quran, it cannot be called a hadith, and needs to be treated as one fabricated in the name of Prophet Muhammad.
When we point out the hadiths that go against the Quran, some portray it as a refusal of hadiths themselves. These people when confronted with contradictions in hadiths suggest to consider only those that are strong and leave out the weak ones.
Let us look into this in detail.
For instance, when five students of a scholar convey a hadith from him, three of them present a narration of the hadith in one manner and two narrate it with contradiction. In a situation like this we are supposed to reject the version of the two and accept that of the three, as long as the message itself is from an authentic source. This norm is called Shaad. We accept this norm as well the people who have faith in witchcraft do. And they agree to the condition the hadith needs to be rejected even though the narrators are authentic, based upon perusal by them.
When thousands of comrades of Prophet Muhammad have authenticated a certain message of the Quran, the same is contradicted by a single person, they say the contradiction can be considered even at the cost of rejection of thousands of authentications. Just look at the way Shaitan has beautified their task.
This shows the extent of importance these people give to the scripture from the Almighty.
Hence accepting any hadith that is against the Quran, amounts to refuting the Quran itself, as in the case of witchcraft, and we will be held responsible for having committed the great sin of refuting the Quran.
We present a few hadiths that are in line with this kind of thinking.
This hadith is from the hadith book Bukhari:
Ummu Shuraik (RA) narrated:
Prophet Muhammad ordered the lizards be killed, because he said, when Prophet Ibrahim was thrown into the fire it fanned the fire by blowing into it.
Book: Bukhari 3359
When Prophet Muhammad had ordered the lizards to be killed, we are obliged to do it because this is not against any verse of the Quran.
The reason given here is because the lizard fanned the fire Prophet Ibrahim was thrown into. We are obliged to look at this reason given, in the light of the teachings of the Quran.
When looked into from a Quranic perspective, we find the reason given is against the basic ideology of Islam and against many verses of the Quran.
We accept verses in the Quran that talk of creatures helping messengers of Almighty God. Verse 27:20 of the Quran talks of the Hud-Hud bird assisting Prophet Sulaiman.
Any creature for that matter will never work against the messengers of Allah, and all of them are created in a way they obey the commands of the Almighty can be found in verses 3:81, 13:15, 22:18 of the Quran.
This hadith portrays a message the lizard took a stance against the Creator.
Prophet Ibrahim preached monotheism and for this reason he was thrown into the fire, but this hadith conveys a message the lizard was happy about it and fanned the fire further.
If we are to believe this hadith we need to believe in the existence of Muslim and non-Muslim creatures other than humans, and doing so would negate the above verses.
This is against another basic Islamic belief.
Basic Islamic ideology that no one shoulders the duties and responsibilities of others can be seen in these verses 6:164, 17:15, 35:18, 39:7, 53:36, of the Quran.
The ideology, no one shoulders the responsibilities and duties of another is that which differentiates Islam from Christianity
The belief of Christians that all men on this earth are born sinners because Adam (AS) the first man committed a sin cannot be accepted because no one is responsible for another’s misdoings.
Another belief by Christians is that everyone by birth is a sinner, and Jesus sacrificed himself to redeem sins committed by others.
Let us for argument’s sake believe a lizard did fan the fire into which Prophet Ibrahim was thrown, we need to kill the particular lizard that lived several thousand years ago did this, and there is no justification to kill its descendants to date.
Even more, it has to be noted, all the lizards of this world were not present at the time Prophet Ibrahim was thrown into the fire.
Would Prophet Muhammad have spoken such things against the Quran. Even a normal person would never punish one person for a crime committed by another, would Prophet Muhammad would have said the alleged hadith.
Hence this hadith is against the Quran and suspected to be untrue we can certainly decide this message is from Prophet Muhammad.
Immaterial of whichever book this kind of hadith is registered, and immaterial of any number of books they appear, it is imperative we come to a conclusion as already mentioned by us. In case we do not agree to the kind of decision as cited above we would fall into the pit of having refuted the Quran and basics of Islamic ideology. Any person cannot live with two contradictory ideas within him at the same time. This is the correct way to understand hadiths.
Let us take a look at yet another hadith.
Muhammad bin Siyad Al-Hani narrated:
Once Abu-Umama Al-Fahili on seeing a plough and a few agricultural tools inside a house immediately commented, “I have heard Prophet Muhammad saying Allah has never stopped bringing ignominy into a house where such tools are found.
Book: Bukhari 2321
This hadith conveys a message that an agricultural plough inside a house brings ignominy to the house.
Generally, it is known to everyone that agriculture is the life line to sustain humanity. Imagine the condition of the whole community of Muslims if they ignore agriculture on believing this hadith.
Would Prophet Muhammad misguide the world with such sayings.
If a country dependent on exports and imports nowadays for its development decides to ignore its food production would end up in self destruction. At a time those days, when imports and exports were a difficult task, ignoring agricultural practices would have meant a great disaster.
How could Prophet Muhammad who was also the head of a state as well a spiritual leader takes such a stance against practicing agriculture
The Quran speaks about agriculture in many places can be seen from verses.
2:22, 2:164, 6:99, 6:141, 7:57, 12:47, 13:4, 14:24, 14:32, 15:19, 16:11, 16:65, 18:32, 20:53,54, 22:5, 22:63, 23:20, 26:7, 27:60, 29:63, 30:24, 31:10, 32:27, 35:27, 36:36, 39:21, 41:39, 43:11, 45:5, 48:29, 50:7, 50:9, 56:64, 78:14,15,16, 80:27-32
In these verses Allah speaks of the specialties, importance and need of agriculture.
Would Prophet Muhammad who was sent to explain the Quran ever curse the tools of agriculture against the verses of the Quran? Pondering over this we can come o a conclusion these are not the words of Prophet Muhammad.
There are several hadiths, where it could be seen Prophet Muhammad praising agriculture. Examples:
Prophet Muhammad (Sal) said:
If a bird, a human, or any living being benefits from a tree or a seed planted by a Muslim, he gets a reward for having given charity.
Book: Bukhari 2320
Abu Huraira (RA) narrated:
The comrades from Madina (The Ansars) told Prophet Muhammad to divide and distribute all their date palm trees between the them and the Muhajirs (the immigrants from Makkah). The prophet refused to do it. On this the Ansars struck a deal with the Muhajirs to maintain the date trees belonging to them, and both of them would share the usufructs. The Muhajirs replied by saying we agree to the deal and abide by it.
Book: Bukhari 2325
Since the hadith that curses agricultural tools, guide people towards destruction of humanity, and found to be against several Quranic verses, and against many teachings of Prophet Muhammad, it needs to be concluded this hadith could not be the words of Prohet Muhammad.
Despite all the clarifications given above, and if one continues to insist on the genuineness of the hadith, he ends up resulting in the rejection of many verses of the Quran. One cannot hold contradictory views at the same time.
Let us have a look at yet another hadith.
Abu Huraira (RA) narrated ‘Prophet Muhammad held on to my hand and said ‘The most dignified and the magnificent Almighty created the earth on Saturday, and created mountains on that earth on Sunday, created trees on Monday, created metals on Tuesday, created light on Wednesday, created living organisms on Thursday, and created Adam on Friday in the intervening period between Asar time and midnight.
Narrator: Abu Huraira (RA)
Book: Muslim 5379
This hadith from the book Muslim is found saying Allah created the world in seven days, allotting each day for a particular creation.
But we find the Quran speaking of the world being created in six days from verses 7:54, 10:3, 11:7, 25:59, 32:4, 50:38, 57:4
When Allah speaks in the Quran, of the world being created in six days, this particular hadith conveys a message saying it was created in seven days.
And the details given in the hadith contradict the Quranic verses.
Hence it needs to be concluded this hadith is a fabricated one and cannot be the words of Prophet Muhammad, who was sent to explain the Quran, though recorded in the book Muslim
It is not to be misunderstood that we are the only ones to say this, even Ibn Taymiyyah, one of the great scholars, says this as an unacceptable hadith. With the day of creation starting on Saturday and ending on Friday counts to seven days for the creation of the world. This account is found to be contradicting the Quran, and experts in the field of hadith studies have opined there are fundamental defects in the same.
Book Fatawa by Ibn Taymiyyah.
If we are to accept the world was created in seven days, we need to refute the concept it was created in six days as found in the Quran
Hence we refute this as the saying of Prohet Muhammad.
Let us look at yet another hadith on the same lines.
7001 Anas bin Malik (RA) narrated:
Prophet Muhammad was in the habit of visiting the house of Ummu Bint Milhan (RA) she was the wife of Ubadah bin AS Samith. As usual during the day time, after serving food to the prophet on that day she started to pick out hair lice from his head, during which time he fell asleep in her lap., and got up a little later smilingly.
7002 Ummu Haram (RA) continued to say, I asked ‘Oh! Messenger of God, what is the reason for your smile?’ the prophet replied by saying, some in my community were shown to me as holy warriors in a sea fighting in the path of the Almighty.
They were like kings resting on cots. I requested the prophet to pray for me to be one among them and the prophet did the same and went back to sleep again on the floor. When he woke up again with a smile on his face, I again asked him the reason and he repeated the same as he did the first time. And again, I asked him to pray for me to be one of the holy warriors as shown in his dream fighting in the cause of the Almighty. To that the prophet replied by saying that I will be one of the first people to fight in the way of Allah by travelling over sea. As predicted by Prophet Muhammad Ummu Haram (RA) undertook a journey by sea during the reign of Mua-Viya bin Abu Sufiyaan when she died after having fallen from her vehicle.
Book: Bukhari 7001, 7002
What is the message conveyed in this hadith?
It says the prophet visited the house of an alien female who is not a blood relation very often, and that too she picked out the lice from his head rendering each touch the other, and this hadith also conveys a message that he also slept there in her house. And another message conveyed here is the lady was by the side of the prophet to observe him smiling each time he woke up.
Would Prophet Muhammad have ever behaved in such a manner? It has been recorded in the hadiths about his attitude and behaviour towards women other than his household.
Prophet Muhammad took the oath of allegiance by holding the hands of people, in the case of women he would not do the same. Bukhari:7214.
How can the prophet who commanded man and woman strangers should not remain in isolation (Bukhari 5232) violate his own commandment.
This puts out a message the prophet himself violated the norms put forth by the Quran regarding morality in life.
In a religion that teaches (verse 24:30) people to lower their gaze when confronted with a woman stranger, the question of a woman stranger picking lice from the head of the prophet does not arise at all. Would the prophet have ever behaved in a manner encouraging intimateness to that extent? Would he have ever slept in a stranger’s home?
The jews made several attempts to find mistakes in the life of Prophet Muhammadh and Islam to impede its growth.
Had Prophet Muhammadh behaved in the manner stated above, the jews would have grabbed the opportunity to bring ignominy on Prophet Muhammadh thereby impeding the growth of Islam.
No messages regarding the incident could be found in the records of the enemies of Islam, proving nothing of the sort ever took place.
People accepted Islam witnessing his honest way of life.
The confidence that grew in them about trusting him completely was the main plank for them to accept Islam as a way of life.
No person for that matter can remind people about his past life and ask them to trust him, because no one would have had an immaculate past, and people also think even the life of saints need to look at their present self and not to be looked back at.
The confidence of showing his past life without any inhibitions could be seen in him. We find the Quran also commanding to establish himself as the messenger of God based on this characteristic.
Say, Oh! Muhammad ‘Had the Almighty willed not to reveal this to you, I would not have done the same. Won’t you realize that I have lived several years amongst you? The Quran 10:16. Prophet Muhmmad lived an immaculate life before being declared as a messenger of God, and a better life after becoming one.
But the above cited hadith demolishes this basic concept of Islam. There are scholars who justify this hadith by saying the narrators are authenticated. These scholars are more interested in going into the criteria of authenticated or unauthenticated narrators than respecting the dignity of Prophet Muhammad.
The Almighty certifies Prophet Muhammad in verse 68:4 as ‘you are of great caliber’. Does the message conveyed in the above hadith fits into the certificate given by the Almighty?
Won’t taking into confidence such messages amount to blaming the messenger of Allah, would the messenger of God act in such a manner? If anyone argues, this hadith needs to be considered because of the fact it is recorded in Bukhari, it needs to be considered the person is not true to his belief.
Will these scholars subscribe to the view, since the prophet himself has committed the act of visiting an alien woman’s home ,all Muslims can do the same, no, they will not do it.
Only their words reveal they believe in such hadiths, and not their heart.
Let us look into another hadith.
A verse declaring mother child relationship is created only when the mother breast feeds the child a minimum of ten times was changed to five times. Prophet Muhammad’s demise took place during the time this verse was revealed and practiced. Narrator: Ayesha (RA) Book: Muslim 2876
This message says a verse regarding this was present in the Quran until the Prophet was alive.
Had there been such verse during Prophet Muhammad’s life, it should have been there even after his demise, but we do not find any such verse in the Quran.
This hadith conveys a message there was a verse in the Quran that was changed later If a change has to be made in the Quran it could be carried out only b Allah through Prophet Muhammad. No change can be effected in the Quran after the demise of Prophet Muhammad.
There is no such verse either in any of the present-day copies of the Quran or the one by Usman (RA) safely guarded in the museums. Allah says in verse 15:9 about the Quran ‘We are the Ones who revealed it and remain to safeguard it’.
When the Almighty declares He is responsible for safeguarding the Quran, this hadith conveys a message it is not to be. If one believes this message it amounts to the belief the Quran was not safeguarded as guaranteed in the Quran by the Almighty, though registered in the book Muslim. It is a fabrication in the name of Prophet Muhammad, because it says a verse in the Quran was changed at the instance of someone else in the absence of Prophet Muhammad.
This is the correct way to comprehend the hadiths.The following hadith serves as an example for a better understanding of our viewpoint.
Abu Huraira (RA) narrated: Sulaiman (AS) said ‘Tonight I will indulge in sexual intercourse with hundred women and each will bear a child that is prepared to fight in the way of God’. An angel intervened and told Sulaiman to say ‘Insha-Allah’ on the will of Allah. But he forgot to say the same. And Sulaiman as already declared by him indulged in sex with his wives, but only one out of all of them bore fruit, and deliverd a half male baby. Book Bukhari: 5242
The question a lone person having sex with hundred women in a single night is quite a different story all together.
Let us delve into the matter that exposes the vulnerability of faith in itself. The message contained here is that Prophet Sulaiman disclosed a fact known only to God.(i.e) he will sex with a hundred women and all of them would bear children.
;And all of them would be males, ready to fight in the path of Almighty.
Since they are declared as ones who are ready to fight in the way of God the chances of them being dead before reaching adulthood is ruled out. They will happen to be obedient servants of Allah, and good warriors. These are the hidden messages revealed. No one other than Allah could have had knowledge of all these matters all together.
Would a Muslim disclose that he is about to have sex with his wives, and the resultant pregnancy will deliver male children obedient of the great God.
Was Prophet Sulaiman ignorant of all these simple facts that expose belief to vulnerability. He would definitely have not uttered such words.
Only the Almighty is aware of the particular hours as to things like when the rainfall is going to start, and happenings inside the womb of women, and what a man will be earning on a particular day. And no creature is aware of its end. Allah is the All-Knower and the most intelligent.
The Quran 31:34
Prophet Muhammad said:
The key to hidden secrets are five, only the Almighty has access to them .They are 1) the knowledge about the happenings of the next day, none except Allah is aware of what would take place the following day. And none except Allah is aware of the happenings in the womb of a person. None except Allah has knowledge of the time when it would rain. No creature on earth is aware of its end, except the Creator, and also none has the knowledge about the occurrence of the day of judgment.
Narrator: Ibn Umar (RA) Book : Bukhari 4697
Can a messenger of Allah be expected to utter words against the basic concept of Islam regarding the happenings in a person’s womb.
A true Muslim should believe these cannot be the words of Prophet Sulaiman, though it is in his said to be recorded in his name. This cannot be construed as the Almighty would have revealed this in secret because of him being his messenger. As alleged had Allah revealed him, accordingly it should have taken place, but the hundred wives did not deliver as many babies are being confirmed in this hadith. It can also be concluded this message was not conveyed on the basis of a guidance from the Almighty.
When not revealed by Allah is proved, the conclusion such an utterance by a messenger of Allah becomes false. We need to come to a conclusion Prophet Muhammad would have never conveyed such a message. This is a fabricated message.
Let us look into yet another message.
Abu Huraira narrated:When the angels tasked with capturing the souls of humans approached Prophet Musa to end his life, he reportedly slapped them, immediately they went back to the creator and complained they were sent to one of his servants unwilling to part with his life. The creator then asked the angels to inform Prophet Musa to lay his palm over the back of an oxen, and the count of hair covered by his palm is the limit to which his life days are extended. When this message was conveyed to Prophet Musa, he said ‘My Lord what would happen after the said days are exhausted, the Creator replied ‘death follows’. On this Prophet Musa pleaded with the Creator to take his soul right away and allot a burial site for him at a stone’s throw from Bait-ul- Maqdis.
Book: Bukhari 3407
The angel tasked with capturing lives has come to fulfill his duty, is it possible for Prophet Musa to slap an angel.
It cannot be said Prophet Musa was unaware of the fact, the angel was sent by the Almighty. And in spite of the knowledge, Prophet Musa could not have ventured to slap the angel, and this message could not be expected to be from Prophet Muhammad. This clearly looks like a declaration of war on the Creator.
Had Prophet Musa wished for some more time in this world he could have pleaded with the Creator through the angels for more time and not slap the angel. How can it be accepted that the angel was slapped by him?
The capability of the angel is much more than that of Prophet Musa, this needs to be pondered over.
And even while taking into account the angel was slapped, can he afford a failure in his duties to the commandments of God.
We can find in verses 6:61, 21:27, 16:50, 66:6 of the Quran that any command or order by the Almighty can never be violated by the angels.
The angels with the kind of characteristics attributed to them can never be expected to get a slap and return without fulfilling their tasks ordered by the Almighty, and any person with common sense would not accept this kind of a fabrication.
A believer is duty bound to accept the verdict of the Almighty, and rejecting it and assaulting the messenger who carried it could never be an attribute of a prophet of God. This act will pull him towards rejection of the Almighty altogether.
Allah has provided us in the Quran, the result of Prophet Yunus for being annoyed with His arrangements.
Yusuf was annoyed with us imagining “we do not have control over him.’ He called out to us from the depths of darkness saying “there is none except you, worthy of worship, you are the most purified, I am one of the erred”, and provided succor to him and similar will we extend our support for the believers.
The Quran 21:87,88
Wait for the verdicts from the Almighty, do not become one like the man of the fish (Yunus) Had it not been for the blessings of the Almighty he would have been thrown into open space, he was selected by the Almighty and made a virtuous man. The Quran 68:48,49,50
After narrating the incident about Prophet Yusuf, the Creator cautions Prophet Muhammad not to be the one like him.
It needs to be understood from such incidents, the Almighty does not tolerate any behaviour by anyone against His pride and sovereignty.
Some people are trying their best to justify this message while waging a war against the dignity of the Almighty.
These people are surmising a situation where they blabber by saying the Almighty would have ordered something like this ‘Go to prophet Musa get slapped by him and come back’.
If that had been pre determined there would not have been any necessity for that angel to return to Almighty and complain about the ill treatment received at prophet Musa’s end. The angel would have rather said ‘I received a slap from Prophet Musa as instructed by you’.
Let us look into yet another message:
Sahla Bint Suhail once came to Prophet Muhammad and said ‘Oh prophet of Allah I observe my husband wincing whenever Saalim bin Ma Akil visits me at home. Saalim (RA) was a slave of Abu Hudaifa. To this Prophet Muhammad told Sahla (RA) to breast feed Saalim, when Sahla replied to Prophet Muhammad saying Saalim is an adult, the prophet said he is aware of that.
Narrator: Ayisha (RA)
Book: Muslim 2878
When a woman breastfeeds a child, she becomes the mother of that child, and later when the child grows up to an adult, she staying alone with the adult is not prohibited, as per Islamic law she attains the status of a biological mother.
Does the message quoted in this haith fit within the purview of this law, let’s look into this in detail.
A woman does not become the mother when she breastfeeds a three year old kid, as can be seen from the following evidence.
Those women who wish to fulfil the desire of their husbands to breastfeed their children, need to continue it for two years.
The Quran 2:233
We have stressed the importance of parents to man. His mother carried him, in her womb, in spite of all drawbacks and weakness after weakness. His breastfeeding period is two years. Be thankful to Me and to your parents, you are to return to me at the end.
The Quran 31:14
His mother carried him in her womb facing difficulties and delivered him with much hardship. The period she carried him in her womb and breast feeding is thirty months.
The Quran 46:15
Prophet Muhammad said breast feeding of a child should be within a period of two years.
Breastfeeding has to be within a period of two years of the child.
Narrator : Ibn Abbas (RA) Book:Al Daraqutni From the above quoted evidence it is made clear that even if a woman breast feeds a one year child she does not necessarily become the mother of the child.
Whereas in this message regarding Saalim, it has been quoted as saying breastfeeding an adult would result in a mother-son relationship.
This is certainly against the tenets of the Quran.
Allah has commanded us to lower our gaze regarding alien women.
The most attractive part of the woman that attracts a man is her breasts, the prophet of Islam would never ever have said to breast feed an adult to create a mother-son relationship. This hadith is unbearable even to listen to, and also ridicules the intellect and civility of Prophet Muhammad.
The people who wish others to believe this message desire it not to be done wholeheartedly needs to be noticed.
These people who believe this message, would dare issue a fatwa allowing like-minded Muslims to follow this procedure, they will certainly not. Hence it has to be concluded that even these people do not endorse this message truly.
To avoid such questions, they offer wonderful explanations.
The explanation goes on like ‘It doesn’t necessarily mean breast feeding directly but drawing milk from the breast and feeding the adult from a container.
No evidence is found in this hadith or through any other source to substantiate this claim by them.
Are these people true to their belief, this is also a lie is proven by the fact that they are unwilling to issue a religious edict to carry out the same procedure for unrelated couples to remain in isolation (i.e,) draw milk from the breast of a woman give it to a man to drink it and remain with the unrelated stranger woman in loneliness. Will they issue a religious edict, authorising a man-woman relation between a couple not related to each other based on this hadith, they will certainly not do such a thing, because they themselves do not believe in this hadith, but want others to believe the same.
Even if they do not issue a religious edict, and when an unrelated couple is caught red handed alone, indulging in immoral activity with the female saying she just breast fed the male, are these people ready to bring in a law saying the male happens to be the son of the female and hence not guilty. They will never do such a thing.
They found a solution from all these queries by saying this law could be exceptional in case of Saalim alone.
Is it said in the hadith it is exclusive for Saalim? Not at all.
In certain situations, Prophet Muhammad has exempted certain people from general laws on some deeds, but this cannot be construed as permission to carry on obscenity and ugliness in the name of religion.
Will anybody accept if it is said, Prophet Muhammad allowed a woman to carry on prostitution. This is similar to saying the prophet allowed a person to look at the breast of an alien woman and also feed on it. Exceptional laws are not to carry on ugly acts.
Find below the verses of the Quran as if revealed exclusively for such people,
‘When they indulge in shameful acts they would say we found our ancestors doing in the same way’ and ‘Allah commanded the same act to us’. And ask them Oh Muhammad, if they are fabricating in the name of Allah, He will not command shameful acts.
The Quran 7:28
Allah commands of you to be just towards your relatives and to be good to them, and forbids you from evilness and transgression, and advises that you may be guided in the right way.
The Quran 16:90
Allah identifies acts committed by Shaitan as obnoxious in verses 24:21, 2:169, 2:268 of the Quran.
Hence this hadith is a fabrication in the name of Prophet Muhammad.The reason we are detailing all these arguments is, the people who believe in sorcery present the hadith that says Prophet Muhammad was affected by it as their pre-dominant evidence. They substantiate their argument by saying when it is possible to destabilase the behavior affecting Prophet Muhammad,there is no reason not to believe all others are vulnerable.
Of all the fake hadiths that we have pointed out, the one that demolishes the very edifice of Islam is about sorcery. We have explained this for you to realize the fundamentals.
Before understanding the fact why and how belief in sorcery demolishes the fundamentals of Islam, we are duty bound to know the facts of the hadith that conveys the message Prophet Muhammad was affected by sorcery. ்.The following are the messages that convey Prophet Muhammad was indeed affected by sorcery.
Ayesha (RA) narrated:
Prophet Muhammad was cast sorcery upon to the extent that he without committing an act would continuously surmise he had done it. Finally he was engrossed continuously in prayers the whole day and later said ‘Do you know the Almighty has revealed the source of relief for me from this affliction. ‘Two persons came to me, one seated himself on my head side and the other by my foot. One questioned the other regarding what I am afflicted with. The other replied by saying ‘he has sorcery cast upon him, by a Jew named Labi bin Ahsam, concealed in male inflorescence with a comb, and his hair. When asked about the location of the materials tied up with sorcery, the other person replied, by saying ‘it is within the well named Darwan in the garden belonging to the Sooraik clan. After narrating this Prophet Muhmmad started towards that location and later returned and said the date palm trees at the well were like the heads of Shaitan. When I asked him whether he removed the date palm trees from the well, he replied by saying ‘No, Allah has cured me of the affliction, and I was apprehensive it would create confusion in the minds of people. Later the well was filled up.
Book : Bukhari 3268
Prophet Muhammad was in a trance like situation where he imagined he committed an act he really didn’t.
In Bukhari 5763 it is stated the prophet was in a dazed condition and believed that he committed an act which in reality did not happen. In Bukhari 5765, the message is Prophet Muhammad was cast with witchcraft as a result he imagined he visited his wives while that was not the case to be.
Bukhari 5766 states Prophet Muhammad came under an influence where he imagined he committed an act that he did not in reality.
Bukhari 6063 states due to sorcery cast upon him Prophet Muhammad behaved oddly ima imagining things that were not committed as executed and remained in state of delirium. Bukhari 6391 states since the time sorcery was cast upon him, Prophet Muhmmad imagined that he committed certain acts which in fact did not take place, and after Prophet Muhmmad was afflicted with witchcraft, he was in a dazed condition that made him believe he had committed a certain act that did not take place. People who trust that sorcery can be used to afflict persons with bad consequences present the above cited hadiths predominantly as evidence. They argue that sorcery can be cast upon others for certain.The above quoted hadiths convey the message the Prophet Muhammad was afflicted with witchcraft. Let us go through the wordings in the hadith that point out the effects of sorcery.The message from this hadith conveys, because Prophet Muhammad was affected by sorcery cast upon him by a Jew, he was in a dazed condition and imagined things that he committed acts that in fact were not carried out by him.
And he was affected to the extent he imagined he had sexual intercourse with his wives without having done so.
The condition of a man who says he had carried out deeds that he did not in reality, is a symptom of ill mental health, and still worse is the imagination when he believes he had sex with his wives, without having committed the act. These hadiths talk of a situation Prophet Muhammad was in after having been affected by sorcery.
In the first hadith quoted by us we also have pointed out the physical pain underwent by him during the period he was affected by sorcery. In the conversation between the angels as cited in this hadith points out to the physical pain suffered by the prophet as is said in the original documents, and not the illness as wrongly translated by some. This kind of situation extended for a period of time and did not end on a single day to be considered as not insane. Though the translation by these people is not on these lines, the word ‘kana’ meaning it continued is found in the original text.
The period to which the situation continued is clearly stated as six months in the following hadith.
Book:Ahmad 23211
These people citing the ill health of Prophet Muhammad that extended for nearly six months allegedly due to effect of sorcery argue that any thing can be achieved with sorcery.
Their ignoring of fundamentals of Islam while approaching the hadiths has made them argue thus. They themselves would come to a conclusion this hadith is nothing but a folklore when approached on the basis of the fundamentals of Islam.
Because when one comes to believe harm could be done to another by practicing witchcraft a situation is created wherein a creation of an equal to the Almighty is executed.
A situation is created where several of the verses of the Quran are refuted.
A big question mark is raised about the safety and protection of Quran if one believes sorcery was cast upon Prophet Muhammad and he was affected by it.
The prophethood of the messenger of God becomes doubtful.
We have pointed out in the beginning a few hadiths that are against the Quran, but this hadith is seriously objectionable.
Let us get into it in more detail.
Creating an equal to God, and believing sorcery can bring effects in a human being is a crime against Allah. Let us see how it amounts to this sort of crime.
Believing sorcery can bring about effects in people is akin to creating an equal to God. Let’s delve into the matter.
We are well aware of the fact there is nothing or none is equal to the Almighty.
Some are of the understanding that believing Allah is a part of two or three gods amounts to equating God. Though this also constitutes equating God with others, it has a much wider meaning.
There are numerous attributes of Allah, and if one believes any one of these attributes is possessed by a human it amounts to equating God with the human posing the same. (i.e,) he has committed the crime of equating God with humans.
This can be seen from verses 36:78, 42:11, 112:4 of the Quran.
The message from these verses is ‘None is equal in hearing like Him, none is equal in seeing like Him, and none is equal in executing like Him.
To cite an example let’s take the power to hear, Allah has the power to hear and so do we. Can we believe our ability to hear is equal to that of Allah? If it is believed the hearing ability of God and man is the same, it amounts to creating an equal to God in that particular attribute which comparison is a crime.
Hearing capability in God is unlimited whereas in the case of men it is very limited.
We have the power to listen to a single person at a given time or two more persons if trained specially. But Allah has the capacity to listen to the entire population at a given time. People who worship those interred in graves call them as saints, and demand many grants from them (interred persons). Are these so-called saints in a position to listen and deliver the grants of their devotees at the same time. These devotees are under the belief the interred person has the capability to listen to all of them at the same time. The message contained in this concept is, the saint can listen to any number of people at a given time. This is without doubt equating God with a person.
If we need to hear a person speaking, there has to be a reasonable distance in between us. It is impossible to hear a person speaking from quite a long distance. If we are to to hear a person speaking the presence of air or electrical waves is a must to carry the sound, and the waves need to be at a particular decibel, If the decibel is below the required level, it renders the sound inaudible, but Allah is devoid of such drawbacks.
If we believe a person can listen to people from wherever, from any number of people at the same time, and however soft the call is, here we are equating the listening capability of the person with that of God, which is nothing but equating God with a person.
Let’s take into consideration the power to see. We have the capacity to see so does God. But believing man has the same capacity to see as God is creating an equal to God.
We are in a position to see something only within a certain limit of distance, without any barrier obstructing the object and also in the presence of light. But, for God to see, He does not require these conditions to be fulfilled. His limits to see are unlimited.
If any one believes a person can see things, irrespective of distance, barriers etc.,then he is creating an equal to God.
There were people from Makkah who did not accept Allah as God, but were worshipping smaller gods, and at the same time believed all the powers and abilities rested with Allah alone. The Almighty refers to them as creators of equals to Him
The verses 10:31, 23:84,85, 23:86,87, 23:88,89, 29:61, 29:63, 31:25, 39:38, 43:9, 43:87 of the Quran convey doubtlessly the message people of Makkah did not accept Islam as their way of life, but understood and believed in the power of the great God.
The belief of these people was that, their smaller gods will recommend them to the Almighty and get to help them can be seen in verses 10:18, 39:3
On the one hand they believed their smaller gods did not possess the required power to help them, and at the same time believed the smaller gods did possess equal powers as God himself.
Their belief was that the smaller gods had the power to listen to people from anywhere, at any time, and from any number of people, in any language. It does not necessarily mean that creating an equal is comparing a person as equal to Almighty in all aspects and attributes as a whole, even believing that the person has a single attribute of God will push him towards infidelity. With this in mind let us analyze witchcraft.
The ability to harm a person can be seen in men as well with Allah.
Let’s imagine Allah wishes to harm a person by breaking his legs, It does not necessarily mean to carry a big billhook for Him to do that. Without carrying any tools He can command for the leg to be broken and it would happen.But if a man decides to break someone else’s leg it is imperative he executes with the help of some apparatus. .
If Allah wishes to turn somebody insane he commands it to happen, the person becomes insane. But in the case of man, when he wishes to turn another into an insane person he needs to necessarily feed the other with medicines and injections to disturb the functions of his brain or damage his brain by hitting on his head.
We can see clearly the vast difference between God and man in executing the same work here. These verses 2:117, 3:47, 3:59, 6:73, 16:40, 19:35, 36:82, 40:68, of the Quran speak of the ability of God Almighty to create something wherein He commands something to be and it happens immediately. Only Allah has the capability to create things on a single command, but people who believe in witchcraft place the sorcerer on the same plane with God Almighty.
They do not believe the sorcerer can break the leg with the help of a tool, but does the way as Allah.
And they believe the sorcerer can make a person insane without injecting any medicine into the person.
They believe a man can cause ill effects on another just by using some magical powers without making use of normal worldly methods.
For example, a man can attack another with a knife or both can attack each other where one or both are injured. Thus each is affected by the other.
One person may curse or slander another thereby giving worries to that person. In this way one can cause damage to another physically or mentally. There is no need for any special training to execute such acts, anyone can do this against any other. In this world, other than the ways God has created for a human to harm another, all other methods belong to God alone.
People believe a sorcerer can harm someone without touching, seeing, or even going near the person.
And people still believe witchcraft can be cast upon persons by making a miniature model of the person and giving the name of the person to it and poking it in various parts to harm the real person in those parts of his body and above this they believe the sorcerer can even mentally damage the person. The sorcerer will never use the methods that Allah has provided to harm a person.
These people believe by paying a sorcerer and he being seated elsewhere can bring about separation between a husband and wife. These people who believe in sorcery are of the opinion that a sorcerer has the ability to function like God.
Hence believing, a Jew named Labid had the power to cast witchcraft on Prophet Muhammad is accepting on the sly that Labid had the power to function like God Himself. There is no doubt the hadiths that convey Prophet Muhammad was affected by sorcery is folklore.
Though this belief is rooted in creating an equal to God, these people offer some evidence to justify the same. Let’s get into them in detail one by one.
The first evidence they present is, the sorcerer is not capable of performing on his own, but with the help of The Almighty he does it.
By this argument they put forward, it can be clearly understood they are unaware of the fundamentals of monotheism.
Though Allah has given numerous powers to humans, he has never given powers equal to His to any man, can be found in His words ‘that none is equal to Him’.
Verses 17:111, 25:2 of the Quran speak very clearly on this point.
That Allah does not give to others attributes exclusive to Him can be seen from the words below:
‘Allah has specialized one person from the other amongst you. People who are bestowed with riches do not share it with their slaves to bring in uniformity amongst’ themselves. Are they rejecting the bounties of Allah?’
The Quran 16:71
This verse clearly conveys the message, Allah would not share his exclusive attributes/powers with anyone.
Anyone who understands this concept would never believe Allah would ever share His abilities with a sorcerer.
If one believes a person can bestow a child for a couple and still says, he does it with the help of Allah does not absolve him of the crime of creating an equal to God.
When one is a Sun worshipper and at the same time says the Sun is powerless on its own, and derives its power from Allah does not equally absolve him of the crime of creating an equal to God
The people from Makkah who did not accept Islam as their way of life believed in the great God, along with some other gods.
The smaller gods they believed in did not have the power and ability to be called as gods according to them, and they also believed these smaller gods did not have the omnipotence to be called as the great God.
Hence they argue this concept does not come under the purview of creating an equal to God Almighty by justifying the same, which was not accepted by God as we have pointed out earlier.
The argument that the sorcerer is executing his deeds with the help of Allah, and the argument of the people of Makkah who did not accept Islam are similar in nature.
After having created an equal to God and arguing it does not come under such an act is deceiving oneself.
The people worship the dead at shrines, when questioned about their belief they reply by saying ‘we do not treat the so called saints in par with the great God’ and ‘did we say the interred person in the shrines have powers to work miracles on their own’. ‘Never’. ‘They perform miracles with the help of Allah’. How can this amount to creating an equal to God? They are good Samaritans of Allah and not Allah themselves, and thus justify their stance on infidelity
They justify their similar stand in the sorcerer’s case as well in the case of shrine worshippers.
When we point out their blatant infidelity, they argue there is a difference between their belief in the great God, and that of the people of Makkah who refused to accept Islam as their way of life.
They also say there is a difference between the belief of the shrine worshippers and them, and because of this difference they do not fall under the category of infidels, and they also contend that Allah did not anywhere say the saints have the power to perform miracles, whereas in verse 2:102 Allah says the sorcerer has power to perform miracles They say they believe the sorcerer has power to perform miracles since it is mentioned in the Quran. But in spite of no mention in the Quran about the powers of saints, others stick to their beliefs on saints, hence both the beliefs cannot be treated as equal, they argue.
They place their argument against the concept that Allah would never share his power with saints, nor with the prophets, or for that matter with sorcerers.
Just as we find verses that give a superficial appearance that sorcerers have power, there are other verses in the Quran that give a superficial appearance that those interred in shrines wield power.
On the basis of the Quranic verses that talk about Allah’s grant of power to saints, do we believe and worship them, they reply.
The evidence provided by these people are stronger than the ones put forward by the justifiers of sorcery.
Let us take for example the below quoted hadith,
To quote Prophet Muhammad:
‘Allah said whoever makes an enemy of those dear to me, and My servant cannot come closer to me in any other way except by means prescribed by Me. My servant will keep on approaching Me by worshipping more than asked for. Ultimately I will begin to like him, and when I start liking him I begin to function as his sense of hearing, as his sense of sight, as his hands that hold, as his legs that walk. And whatever he demands from Me, I grant him. .And when he demands protection certainly, I provide him. I do not hesitate more for anything else, than when I am capturing the life of a believer, But he hates death. I also hate giving him pain through death.
Narrator: Abu Huraira (RA)
Book: Bukhari 6502
This hadith is projected in a big way by those who believe in miracles by persons interred in shrines.
The group of people who worship at shrines argue and contend that the hands of the saint interred are that of Allah, and the legs of this person are that of Allah.
This evidence by these people is stronger than the one presented by those who justify witchcraft.
The shrine worshippers say since the great God has given immense power to the saints interred in the shrine they believe in them, but do they carry the same conviction in the case of the sorcerers.
When this hadith is viewed superficially it seems their argument is correct. But we need to explain this hadith looking into the whole Quran in the context, as monotheism being its lifeline.
These shrine worshippers justify the falling at the feet of elders by citing the command of Allah to bow down to Adam and present verses 2:34, 17:61, 7:11, 18:50, 20:116 as evidence to substantiate their claim. We need to approach these verses of the Quran in a manner that does not go against its fundamentals. We have already explained this aspect in point no 11 of these explanations.
The shrine worshippers who believe Prophet Muhammad has knowledge of the hidden, quote verses 72:26,27, 81:24 of the Quran as to substantiate their stand. We have already explained in point no;104 about how not to understand this against the tenets of the Quran.
Ignoring the numerous verses of the Quran, stating the sorcerer does not possess any power, and citing verse 2:102 of the Quran is not much different from the shrine worshippers’ arguments.
Whether verse 2:102 conveys the message, the sorcerer has powers to conduct miracles has been explained by us in point no;495.
Even the people who visit shrines believe the person interred there is a pious man, a reason God had granted him powers.
But the people who believe in sorcery justify their belief in it even though the sorcerer is in the making of an equal to Almighty. This is a far worse belief than that of the shrine worshippers.
Hence their arguments stating belief in sorcery does not constitute infidelity is a waste exercise.
When we tell them the belief in sorcery amounts to infidelity, they counter by saying the sorcerer does not carry out witchcraft alone but with the help of jinns.
That the sorcerer does not perform all by himself, but carries it out by taking control of the jinns, the effects of which cannot be witnessed with human eyes, people perceive it as the sorcerer acts in par with God Almighty, say these people. We have pointed out in our explanation no;183 that men can never take control of the jinns.
We come to understand these people are speaking outright lies knowingly.What is the evidence these people present to prove the sorcerer possesses power.
They present a message purportedly saying a Jew had cast witchcraft on Prophet Muhammad.
What does the hadith that convey the message about Prophet Muhammad being cast with witchcraft says?
It talks of a Jew by the name of Labid of having cast witchcraft wrapped in a palm inflorescence, with a strand of hair and a comb on Prophet Muhammad and buried it in a well named Darwan, and Prophet Muhammad was relieved from sorcery and felt better only after these objects were retrieved from the well after dredging. They can argue based on this hadith only when the Jew had inflicted mental attacks on Prophet Muhmmad with the help of Jinns, but nothing of that sort is found in this hadith.
From this we find the narration a figment of these people’s imagination.
There is a remote chance of of believing this hadith if the sorcerer happens to be a namesake Muslim who has knowledge about Jinns.
It is believed even others such as Hindus, Christians, Buddhists also practice witchcraft, and Muslims who practice the same also acknowledge the same. How can people who do not have knowledge about Jinns perform witchcraft? The argument by these people does not stand good in the case of non-Muslims.
Are these people ready to accept that only Muslims have the prerogative of practicing sorcery since they know about Jīns, and others cannot practice sorcery because of their ignorance about Jinns. If they accept the above arguments, it amounts to them refuting this hadith.
It could be understood from their arguments that they are liars.
The people who argue that sorcery can affect others do not provide any proof from either the Quran or the sayings of Prophet Muhmmad to substantiate their claim.
Since the actions allegedly of the sorcerer sends a signal that he performs in a superhuman manner we term it as creating an equal to God. To refute our claims they put forth various counter arguments as follows:
You believe in the miracles performed by the messengers of God, as we do, and these miracles do not seem to look like they are by humans, and all miracles performed by the messengers do not look like acts performed by humans but they appear as performed by God. Hence they ask a question whether believing in miracles by messengers amounts to infidelity.
This is an absurd argument.
It is a fact that miracles by messengers do not seem to be like that by humans and it is also certain that humans can perform the kind of miracles carried out by them but those miracles were not by the prophets.
The Almighty sent humans as His messengers and they needed to perform some miracles to prove their mettle that was carried out by them was from God, and the messengers did not have any connections with the miracles.
And God has made the prophets themselves declare the same, which can be seen from many verses of the Quran. The messengers cannot perform miracles as and when they desire or the people require them to be executed, it happens only at times when the Almighty wills and the power to perform miracles rests only with the Creator.
Verses 13:38, 17:90-93, 40:78, 14:11 of the Quran say clearly that miracles cannot be performed by prophets without the permission from Almighty God. We need to view the fact that only God can perform wonders at a different angle.
All the prophets have declared to people they are humans and any execution of miracles by them is carried out only on the orders of the Almighty, and He performs miracles executed by them. And declared, they do have any part in it. But the people who believe in sorcery say, the sorcerer can perform irrespective of time and people as long as he is paid.
Please refer to point 269 to know more about how prophets cannot perform miracles on their own. The belief in miracles performed by the Creator can never amount to infidelity. But the belief in sorcery to harm others is never the same these people should realize.
Do the sorcerers perform sorcery only after getting permission from Almighty God? Is this the ideology of the people who believe in sorcery.
Hence there is absolutely no justification in treating the miracles by the prophets and the sorcerers as the same.
Even worse is their comparison of the miracle by Samiri at the time of Prophet Moses with that of Almighty God. And the term the belief in Samiri’s miracle amounts to infidelity. Believing Samiri performed a miracle does not amount to infidelity, because he did not perform any miracle. We have clearly explained this in point nos 19, and 269.
This belief is not similar to the one they have about saying a sorcerer has enormous powers.
The sorcerer does the planning himself
He performs magic whenever he desires.
He does it any number of times as he wishes.
If this is not blatant infidelity what else is it?
And they also point out the yet to be acts of Dajjal, and belief in them as amounting to infidelity.
We do believe in the advent of Dajjal, and one of the acts to be performed by him is giving life to a dead person. to attract people towards him to believe he is God.
Their question is, does not believing in Dajjal amount to infidelity, when his actions are equal to that of God.
Dajjal is a person yet to perform certain miracles and will argue that he is God, but believing in a sorcerer as having equal powers to God cannot be the same.
The explanation to this question is given in point no;269.
Iblis and his descendants the Shaitans gained power to intrude the minds and hearts of people, does this mean they have the ability to function like God? Or they ask whether we are refuting the power of the Shaitan thereby. The answer to this question which brings confusions and doubts to the Quranic verses can be found in point no;269.
The Quran is a great wonder by itself, different prophets have performed various miracles can be found in it, and people after witnessing them would start believing the particular prophets of the period.
Since Prophet Muhmmad is the last of the messengers of God, there will be no more coming of prophets.
How would people coming after Prophet Muhammad’s period believe he was the last of the prophets, he also needed a miracle and Islam says that miracle is the Quran. Prophet Muhammad said all the messengers of God were sent along with miracles, and the miracle that I was sent along with is the Quran.
Book:Bukhari 4981, 7274
The Quran proves itself it is from God. And once it is confirmed the Quran is from Him, automatically confirms the person who brought the Quran to people is a messenger of God. The Quran declared many things fourteen hundred years ago that are confirmed even today.
We have already explained in a ‘Ramadan’ series of lectures titled ‘Islam the unique’ Quran is a miracle by itself.
Visit:
https://onlinepj.in/index.php/videos/videos/series-of-speeches/thaniuthu_vilangum_islam
If we truly believe the Quran is a safeguarded scripture we should not ignore any message that attempts to create doubts about the Quran.
Because God Himself declares the characteristic of the Quran is its uniqueness in verses 2:2, 10:37, 32:2 of the Quran. There are many other verses in the Quran declaring the same. We are aware some non-Muslims have their own doubts about the Quran, it is not mentioned here that no one nurtures doubts about the Quran, even if there are doubts in some quarters, it is without any basis, and there are befitting replies to those doubts is Islam. Since God has revealed the Quran as a guidance to mankind it has to be in manner trusted by men, as a result they come towards it and believe as a scripture in the straight path. This is the reason Allah stresses the fact the Quran does not contain any obscurities.
Had Prophet Muhammad been afflicted with mental illness as alleged, the chances of raising doubts about verses revealed in the said six months could have been raised.
Since there is no record with those who believe in sorcery about the details of those six months, a doubt could be raised whether all the verses revealed in Madina were during the said six months.
Allah does take it easy to doubts expressed about the reliability of the Quran and throws a challenge to everyone to bring a similar revelation through verses 2:23, 10:38, 11:13, 17:88, 52:33,34 of the Quran. When the enemies of Islam declared Quran as a fabrication by Prophet Muhammad, the Almighty did not let it pass by simply ignoring them, rather He challenges the enemies of Islam to bring a similar revelation to remove their apprehension and confirm the Quran is the word of God. Likewise the enemies of Islam those days raked up another issue, saying Prophet Muhammad being an illiterate, does not have any chance of knowing the contents of the Quran to the extent shown, and that some person from outside his native place has tutored him this aspect, and the prophet is cage parroting the tutor. Thus they raised doubts about the reliability of the Quran.
Allah does not ignore the doubts thus raised by the non-Muslims, and gives a fitting reply. They said this a fable that was written and read out to him, he practiced this in the mornings and evenings.
The Quran 25:4,5
Oh! Muhammad tell, this was revealed through Ruhul Quddus to strengthen the believers, and as a harbinger to guide them in the right path. And We are also aware they say that ‘a person is tutoring him’ And with whomever you are associating this, his language is different from this clear Arabic language.
The Quran 16:102, 103
Allah makes them dumbfounded by saying the Quran was revealed in the Arabic language with high grace, whereas the language of the outsider is a different one.
Whenever doubts were expressed about the reliability of the Quran, Allah has given befitting replies, would he ever make his messenger insane so as to create doubts in the minds of people to question the reliability of the Quran?
On pondering it could be understood the message conveying Prophet Muhammad is nothing but fabrication. The importance given by Allah to confirm Quran is God’s word and to clear any doubt in people’s mind regarding its reliability can be seen in the creation of Prophet Muhammad as an illiterate. Allah has made clear the importance of literacy in men.
The very first verses of the Quran from God speak of the same.
He taught man to write with a pen all that he was unaware of.
The Quran 96:4,5
In the name of the pen and that is being written.
The Quran 68:1
The Almighty Who says literacy enables one to learn, teach, and increasing one’s knowledge did not grant the same to his last prophet.
We have already explained in point no;312 about Prophet Muhammad’s inability to read and write along with adequate proof.
The reason Allah made Prophet Muhammad an illiterate is given in the following verses of the Quran:
‘And thus We have revealed to you the Book. So those to whom We gave the (previous) Book believe in it, And among these (inhabitants of the city) are some who believe in it. And none reject Our Verses except the disbelievers’.
‘And you did not recite before it any Book, nor did you write it with your right hand, in that case the falsifiers would have doubted’.
‘Nay, in it (i.e.,Quran) are clear Verses within the breasts of those who have been given knowledge. And none reject Our Verses except the wrong doers.’
The Quran 29:47,48,49.
Though education enhances the qualifications of a person, for Prophet Muhammad the lack of it is a special qualification.
Prophet Muhammad said ‘I am receiving divine revelations’. These revelations were of high literary grace, and it was of a literary caliber it threw a challenge to everyone to bring out a similar one.
Had Prophet Muhammd been a literate people would have come to a conclusion Quran was his work,there by proving Prophet Muhammad is a talented person and not a messenger of God.
The qualification that Prophet Muhmmad is a messenger than a talented Arabic scholar is a far better one.
Had Prophet Muhammad had the ability to read and write, people who lived in his days would not have accepted him as a messenger of God.
The thinking that, ‘an illiterate person can never produce literature with such high grace, maybe this is not his own work but the word of God as claimed by him, made people accept the Quran. Thus we see Prophet Muhammad’s inability to read and write playing an important role in people reposing their belief on him.
It seems Allah did not grant literacy to Prophet Muhammad that it may hinder people’s belief about Quran being the word of God.
If we happen to believe Prophet Muhammad was afflicted with mental illness for six months in a row, it would generate more and more apprehensions about the Quran. Hence the message Prophet Muhammad had sorcery cast upon him is an outright lie.
Similarly verse (4:82) of the Quran says ‘there is no contradiction in the Quran, do not they ponder’. And verses (4:82, 17:41, 21:10, 23:68, 25:73, 38:29, 47:24) of the Quran say there is no errors in the Quran, and no error could take place in the Quran (41:42), And verses (15:9, 18:1, 39:28, 41:42, 75:17) of the Quran say it is safeguarded and protected scripture.
These verses are the ones that declare emphatically there cannot be any doubts about the reliability of the Quran.
Had Prophet Muhammad been affected for six months with mental illness, as the colluvies already have mentioned, they would have doubted the reliability of the Quran during that period.
Allah would not have given a chance to the enemies of Islam to pose a question why Prophet Muhammad could not have revealed things which God did not ask him to, under the impact of sorcery cast upon him.
Prophet Muhammad was granted more of memory power than others by Allah.
In verses 75:17-19 of the Quran Allah says He granted more powers to Prophet Muhammad than any one in order to safeguard the Quran. But the message he was affected by sorcery portrays him in a very weak position regarding his mental fitness.
When Allah has given a strong will power to the prophet, the group of people that believes in sorcery portrays the Prophet as a weakling.
That Prophet Muhammad can never be subjected to insanity. And those who refused to accept Prophet Muhammad as the messenger of God called him an insane person. This is how the people who believe in sorcery call the prophet in other words.
There are different terminologies for the same word used, this is a feature found in all languages of the world. Though this message does not convey outright the prophet was afflicted with mental illness nevertheless it means the same.
The message that Prophet Muhammad was saying things he did not perform and declaring the prophet was mentally sick, amounts to nothing but indirectly branding him as an insane person. Only the terminology differs.
The Almighty gets annoyed the moment people branded Prophet Muhammad as a mad man.
‘Hence, Oh! Muhammad by the grace of your Lord, you are not a sooth Sayer nor an insane person.
The Quran 52:29.
Allah says clearly in this verse, He will never make the prophet become an insane person.
‘I swear in the name of the writing tool and in the name that is written, Oh! Muhammad by the grace of your Lord you are not a mad man, and there is endless wages benefits waiting for you, and you are of high character’.
The Quran 68:2-6.
‘Do they not ponder, their comrade is not an insane, but the one who clearly warns.
The Quran 7:184
These verses clearly say that Prophet Muhammad can never be be inflicted with any kind of mental illness, by the grace of Almighty. Allah challenges in these verses, to observe the prophet in each of his actions and realize he is not affected with insanity.
Allah deals a death blow to these people by his verse:
‘You in your two’s or in singles set aside a time to realize that I am not a mad man but a warner and to teach you of the immense torment that is lying ahead of you.’
The Quran 34:46
To those who believe that Prophet Muhmmad was cast sorcery upon, come in twos or singles to verify if he happens to be an insane person and question him, whether he committed something which he denies, does he answer like an insane person or like a genius Allah challenges people to make sure, the prophet is not affected with any kind of mental illness.
To prove the message Prophet Muhammad was affected by sorcery is a fabrication, this one verse is more than sufficient.
The jews were bent upon defeating Islam by all means awaiting any small opportunity to achieve their goal, they would not have missed to seize a chance these people alleged the prophet was in. If it so happened Prophet Muhammad was mentally ill for six months continuously that too because of a Jew having cast a spell upon him, they (Jews) would definitely not have missed a good chance as his.
They would have remarked ‘Look at the status of your prophet, we have made him to, do you still believe he is your prophet.’
There was not a single remark of the sort expressed by any.
When we raise such questions the people who believe in sorcery are bent upon portraying Prophet Muhammad as mentally affected person due to witchcraft.
Since the fact the prophet was affected by witchcraft was known only to his wives such remarks did not find the daylight, they say.
Was the Jew who cast the spell on Prophet Muhammad even not aware of the effects of it.
Wouldn’t he have proudly informed his folks.
Are these people so ignorant to ask such stupid questions.
Normally leaders are given more security, making them less accessible to the general public, and with this security cover his mental illness could have been concealed. But did Prophet Muhammad live such a kind of life. Prophet Muhammad lived a normal life in the midst of general public, along with hypocrites he came to the masjid five times a day to attend worship, where any one could meet him. When this was the position, the message of his illness would have spread easily.
Enemies of Islam would have said, ‘earlier we declared your prophet an insane person without any substantiation, but now his wives confirm him as one’ and would have attempted to stop people from coming towards Islam, citing the same. At least some people who came towards Islam would have gone back to their old ways.
Recording of any such incidents cannot be found anywhere.
Allah mentions in the Quran (15:9) as ‘We revealed the Quran and we are the One to safeguard it.
Safe guarding the Quran means safeguarding the heart and mind of Prophet Muhammad. When it is declared the heart and mind of Prophet Muhammad has been deformed due to witchcraft, it means the messages from him are also deformed, creating doubts about the verse of the Quran that declares Quran is being protected by the Almighty.
These people who believe in witchcraft are the ones not bothered about whatever fate and doubts the Quran a great marvel is subjected to. The non-Muslims who come to know about witchcraft being cast upon the prophet by the Jews, would they be lured towards the prophet Muhammad and Islam or the Jews who have supposedly created physical and mental damage to the prophet by sorcery.
For example, when a father bequeaths his property to a son leaving others high and dry, the rest of the sons present a false document to the court of law stating the bequeathal was done while the father was mentally ill, the court would make the bequeathal null and void.
This is the law in all countries including India and Muslim countries.
Once a person attains a position known as insanity all his transactions become null and void.
Though we are aware of this fact in litigations regarding properties, we do not acknowledge the same in matters regarding religion.
Can one say he believes in the fact the Quran is being protected and also at the same believes it is not protected.
Would any sane person say that he believes, none can function like the Almighty at the same time believe a sorcerer can.
How can a person with a high regard for the Quran and Prophet Muhammad believe that Prophet Muhammad was cast sorcery upon.
To this question, those who believe in sorcery throw a counter argument, by saying Prophet Muhammad had memory failure and wouldn’t the non –Muslims question this failure when he could have forgot the verses of the Quran?
The question raised here is wouldn’t have Prophet Muhammad forgotten some verses of the Quran due to memory failure? Or can it be said the prophet never had memory loss at all.
These people treat a person’s forgetfulness and turning insane to be the same.
Forgetfulness is something not saying about things that were already there. Mental illness is saying something that did not take place.
Those who have belief in sorcery say the prophet was affected with this kind of mental illness. Does declaring of having received a message when in fact not received amounts to the same as forgetting a matter?
When Allah makes Prophet Muhammad forget certain verses revealed to him does not have any consequences whatsoever, because Allah says in verse 2:102 of the Quran that in case ‘we make changes in our verses or we make forget them, we would reveal better ones.
What Prophet Muhammad placed in the midst of people though forgetting some as per Allah’s will is the Quran is clearly said in this verse.
There is no confusion whatsoever, in believing that those he did not reveal does not constitute the Quran.
Mental illness in prophet as alleged by these people, is declaring by him something, what Allah did reveal, and in the same way they raise a question why can’t it be that Prophet Muhammad, due to the same illness would not have quoted something which was not revealed to him.
This question could create confusion in each and every verse of the Quran.
The subject of forgetfulness does not or cannot raise any issues regarding Quranic verses.
Hence forgetfulness is not a factor that can bring confusions in the verses of the Quran, but the message Prophet Muhammad was affected by witchcraft will stoke confusion in he minds of the people. We need to understand the basic difference between forgetfulness and mental illness. The belief in witchcraft makes miracles meaningless.
And it is confirmed without doubt Prophet Muhammad cannot be subjected due to yet another reason as follows:
What were the arrangements made by the Almighty to make people believe a person is a messenger of God.
These messengers were chosen from among the men. And they were human in all aspects.
The people of those days could not accept a similar human being the messenger of God.
Allah clearly indicates this fact in the following verses, 17:94, 21:3, 23:33, 23:47, 25:7, 26:154, 26:186, 36:15 of the Quran.
And people at each stage of history believed the messengers of God should be with traits that bypass humans. And there were reasons to justify the same from their end, because if they accepted all persons who called themselves messengers of God, they risked the danger of accepting false prophets.
The Almighty accepts partly the conditions by these people: the messengers of God should be different from ordinary people at least to some extent.
Whenever the Almighty sent his messengers periodically to the people it was made sure they were sent with miracles to be performed by them at times when needed.
On seeing these miracles being performed by the said prophets, the people with truth did not find hesitation in accepting the messengers.
The Quran points out this being the reason the messengers were sent with miracles.
That the messengers were sent with miracles to prove their authenticity can be seen in verses 3:184, 7:101, 9:70, 10:13, 10:74, 35:25, 40:22, 40:50, 57:25, 64:6 of the Quran.
A prophet was sent to the people with a capability to perform miracles to prove himself
When things were at such a pass, had the Jews really cast sorcery upon Prophet Muhammad thereby immobilizing him would have made great news favoring them.
There could have been grave consequences had the news had spread about the immobilization of Prophet Muhammad with witchcraft by the Jews
A considerable number of people would have thought ‘we believed in a prophet who thought being a human had performed miracles, but here we find him made inactive by the Jews, who are more powerful than him.
And whatever miracle he had performed is much less than that of an ordinary sorcerer, hence he cannot be a messenger of God, they would have concluded.
No one remarked, that the Jews had performed a bigger miracle by immobilizing the very person who performed miracles, and we find that no one left Islam citing this as the reason.
It is made clear here that witchcraft practiced without any tools and with the help of a comb, a strand of hair and a palm inflorescence is a folklore.
Allah would not have granted such powers to enemies of Islam that could derail the beliefs of true believers.
The Quran that refutes the spell of sorcery cast on Prophet Muhammad.
The following are the reasons the people cited for not accepting Prophet Muhammad and other messengers earlier to him:
They ate and drank like any other human.
Their appearance was like that of any other men
They were sorcerers,
They were highly talented poets,
They were blabbering because of having been affected by witchcraft.
Of all these criticizations Allah accepts almost everything except the ones that call the prophets as sorcerers and as those affected with sorcery.
Let us get into more details about this.
In verses 17:94, 21:3, 23:33, 23:47, 25:7, 26:154, 26:186, and 36:15 of the Quran Allah speaks about people questioning as to how they can believe a person who is similar to them as a messenger of God. Allah did not reprimand people for their questioning, rather He replied by saying they are indeed humans, and We will send only men as messengers can be seen from verses 14:11, 17:93, 21:7,8, of the Quran. There were people who believed in effects of witchcraft and when Prophet Muhammad spoke of heaven and hell they were unable to comprehend the same and called him an insane person. Allah vehemently refutes the concept the messengers had sorcery cast upon them and they were made to suffer as a reason.
When the unjust people secretly whispered ‘you are following a person affected with sorcery, Oh Muhammad We also heard the same’
The Quran 17:47
‘Shouldn’t he be have been gifted with a treasure or shouldn’t he have been in possession of a fruit garden whereby he can satisfy his hunger’ The dishonest are also saying ‘you are following a person affected by sorcery’
The Quran 25:8
These verses declare people as dishonest who said the prophet was affected by sorcery. The Almighty would not have strongly refuted the incident of Prophet Muhammad being cast upon witchcraft if it was a normal affair that did not have any bearing on the prophethood of His messenger.
The Almighty did not react when these people remarked, Prophet Muhammad ate and drank like any other human, because eating and drinking does not in any way come across prophethood. He replied by saying all His messengers ate and drank. But when it was said the messenger of Allah was cast upon sorcery He refutes it by calling those people dishonest. The Almighty refutes the concept that Prophet Muhammad could be cast a spell of sorcery upon, because it would result in the disruption of the messages revealed.
Some argue he may have been affected after revelation of the Quranic verses. This argument cannot be accepted.
If it was believed the prophet was to be cast upon sorcery later, the Almighty would have had knowledge of the same. There is no use in Almighty refuting something that is yet to take place.
Had these people paid attention to the above cited two verses and the verses that follow they would not have uttered such philosophies. ‘Oh! Muhammad look at the examples they are quoting, they are being led astray, they will not be guided towards the straight path.
The Quran 25:9
Look at the way they are quoting you as an example, hence they are being misled and will not come towards the straight path.
The Quran 17:48
The Almighty declares those who described Prophet Muhammad as the one affected by sorcery as the misled ones, and also says they cannot attain the right path. They are calling you who cannot be affected by sorcery as the one affected by it, and ask the prophet to take notice of it.
As per the verdict of the Quran it is confirmed that either Prophet Muhammad or any other prophet cannot be subjected to witchcraft.
There is absolutely no doubt the message conveying Prophet Muhammad was subjected to sorcery is a fabrication and a folklore.
Prophet Muhammad’s denial of witchcraft.
Prophet Muhammad had clearly said not to believe in witchcraft.
Prophet Muhammad said: The one who refuses to believe in fate, the one who drinks liquor habitually, and the one who believes in witchcraft, and the one who acts against his parents will not enter paradise.
Narrator:Abu Dardha (RA)
Book :Ahmad (26212)
This hadith clearly states that anyone with a belief in witchcraft will not enter paradise. This hadith leaves no space for any other interpretations.
The same hadith is found in a few different other forms, but are considered not authenticated.
But the one found in the book Musnad Ahmad (26212) is an authenticated one.
When we call a person a believer in sorcery, we need to have a clear understanding about it. We believe there exists a trickery known as witchcraft. But this hadith does not about this belief, but about the effects it can cause in humans
This can be seen in the word structure of the following hadith.
Zaid bin Khaled Al Juhani narrated:
The messenger of Allah was the Imam at our Fajr worship at a place called Hudaibiya. That night it rained, and when the worship was over, the prophet turned towards the people and asked them “Are you aware of what your Lord has said? The people replied by saying, “the Almighty and His messenger alone have knowledge of it. To this Allah’s messenger said as conveyed by Allah there are two groups of people in my servants, those that accept Me as their Lord and those that refuse Me. The ones that say it rained because of the grace and mercy of Allah, and accepted Me and denied the stars being the source of rain. And the other ones that declared it rained because of certain stars are those who refute Me and believe in the stars.
Book: Bukhari 1038
The message that is conveyed in this hadith is there is nothing wrong in believing the existence of stars but believing in the concept that stars bring rain and predicting one’s future through them is erroneous.
It must be taken as, those who believe the stars on these fundamentals are in fact believing the stars and not God. And the one who has a similar belief in sorcery will not enter paradise.
This hadith deals a death blow to those who believe that witchcraft can cause effects on others.
The words that ‘one who believes in witchcraft will not enter paradise’ is in clear consonance with the verses of the Quran.
Witchcraft in the eyes of the Creator.
The words sorcery, sorcerer, and on whom sorcery was cast upon can be found in many places in the Quran.
In some places it is used to mean witchcraft causes effects on others, and in certain other places it is used to convey that it cannot cause an effect on others, but is just a trickery. The people who believe sorcery can affect others, in a bid to prove their claim, pick and choose verses that suit their arguments. But when carefully analyzed we can point out these people have understood the Quran erroneously and are arguing on the basis.
We have explained clearly in point No;285 regarding the same.
The people who believed in sorcery, in a bid to support their argument quote that chapters 113, and 114 of the Quran were revealed to redeem Prophet Muhammad from the effects of witchcraft with each verse untying a knot of the spell on him.
We have explained these arguments are fallacious in our explanation point no;499.
Did the good scholars deny witchcraft?
There was a group called Mu’tazila, these people were deniers of hadiths and miracles of messengers of God.
This group was there once upon a time and not now. All the good scholars refer to this group of people as the ones who are led astray. They also refute sorcery.
These people who support sorcery accuse us of denying witchcraft by comparing us to the Mu’tazila’s and also by saying none other than the Mu’tazila are against sorcery. If these people who believe the message that witchcraft cannot affect people is wrong, let them propagate it in the midst of the people with proof or if they fear there would be no takers for their arguments they can put an end to this by debating with us.
But these people in order to retain their stock are clubbing people who are against witchcraft with the Mu’tazila and diverting the public.
It is a fact that the Mu’tazila, a misled group denied witchcraft, but it is not true they were considered as misled because of their stance on witchcraft. These people are unaware of the ideologies of the Mu’tazila.
Similar to the Tabliq jamaat having a six-point charter, so do the Mu’tazila have a five-point one.
Abul-Hassan Alkayyat a scholar who is an important functionary as a Mu’tazila says: The one who does not declare 1. Monotheism, 2. Justice and Unity, 3.
The inevitability of the threats and promises of God (or, the warning and the promise) 4. The intermediary position (I.e.,) Muslims who die without repentance after committing a grave sin are neither Mumeen (believers), nor Kuffar (non- believers), but in an intermediate position) 5. The injunction of right, and the prohibition of wrong, cannot be considered as qualified to be called as a Mu’tazila. If a person has a conviction on all these traits, then he is fit to be a Mu’tazila.
Al Intisar Part 1 page 126.
The explanation of their 5 ideologies is as follows:
Their first ideology on Monotheism, that no one or nothing is equal to the great God is common to all Muslims.
The Almighty does not have a form, and believing God has a shape amounts to creating an equal to Him, this is what is referred to by them as “Tawheed”.
We do not accept this; it is an absurd argument because there are shapeless and those with shapes in creations of God. Though the Almighty does not have a shape for Himself as long as this world is concerned, when we compare Him to forces of nature as wind or to an artificial creation as electricity, which do not have any shape amount to creating an equal to God Almighty. God has a shape but comparing Him or depicting Him as an example should be carried out. This is our stance, and we have explained the same in our explanation point 488.
The second ideology of the Mu’tazila is ‘adele’ the direct meaning of which is ‘justice’, But the Mu’tazila have a different connotation to this word, whereby they allude not to believe in fate. Because it is against the concept of Allah being the deliverer of immaculate justice. They say if everything in this world is taking place because of fate then punishing a person amounts to injustice to him. This is against the concept that Almighty God renders justice to all, and their argument is any injustice committed by men cannot be blamed on God. The argument by them is any guilty act committed by man, the creator cannot be held responsible.
We follow an ideology that has absolute belief in fate.
The third principle of the Mu’tazila is Promise and Warning. (i.e.,) Allah will fulfill his promise and punish the guilty. A further explanation of this principle is that God will never forgive anyone until the guilty seeks forgiveness in this world before death.
On this basis, the stance of the Mu’tazila is, those who have not repented for their grave sins while in this world are to remain in hellfire forever.
We do not form a part of this ideology. Immaterial of the magnitude of the sin a man commits in this world, the Almighty forgives him of all the sins as long as he does not create an equal the great God. The verses 4:48, 4:116, 5:18, 5:40, 33:24 of the Quran clearly indicate this fact.
The fourth principle of the Mu’tazila is the intermediary position of those who do not repent and seek forgiveness from God Almighty before their departure from this world. The message of the Mu’tazila here is that the ones who committed grave sins are neither a Mumin nor a Kafer.
We reject this principle of the the Mu’tazila that a Muslim by his act of committing a grave sin leaves the fold of Islam.
The fifth principle of the Mu’tazila is enjoining the good and forbidding the evil But their actual version of the Mu’tazila regarding this principle is to take up arms against the ruler who perpetrates atrocities. Their principle to kill Muslims in the name of Jihad is totally rejected by us, but these people who implement the policies of the Mu’tazila call us one strangely.
Several scholars who are against the Mu’tazila refute sorcery, and for this reason they were not included in the list of Mu’tazila needs to be understood. It has been declared sorcery as a trickery by the good scholars of Islam, who were against the Mu’tazila and termed sorcery as a figment of imagination, which fact has been concealed by these from the people.
Let’s look into what Ibn Hajr says in his book Fath Ul Bari:
There are differences of opinion regarding sorcery. Sorcery is nothing but imagination. It is untrue. The opinion of the respected scholar Abu Jafer of the Shafi Madhab is also the same. The opinion of the scholar Abubakr Rasee of the Hanafi madhab is also the same and that of Ibn Hasm also the same. Ibn Hasm proved to be a nightmare for those who said Quranic verses and hadiths needed to be accepted without subjecting them to any interpretation and explanations. This is also the opinion of many people. Many of the people are of the opinion, by sorcery one can hurt other people. and this is what the Quran and the Hadiths convey, says Navvi.
Proof : Fatah Ul Bari
It is a fact that people from all the madhab were against the Mu’tazila
Ibn Hajr has pointed out that Ibn Hasm and the scholars of the Shafi and the Hanafi madhabs declared sorcery is a trickery. For having declared this Ibn Hajr did not name these scholars as Mu’tazila. He says one opinion is of a majority and the other is the view of a minority, and he did not mention them by the name of Mu’tazila.
Similarly let us look into the opinion of Ayni Emdadul Query an important functionary of the Hanafi sect:
He declares the first opinion about sorcery as if it is something true. All the other scholars except Abu Hanifa are of the view that sorcery is a fact. And Abul Mula par in his book quotes Abu Hanifa as having said there is no truth in sorcery. Abu Mula par says in his book, there is absolutely no truth whatsoever in sorcery. Kurtubi says ‘our conviction about sorcery is that it is true, and the Almighty can create anything He wills. But the Mu’tazila and those of the Shafi sect such as Abu Ishaque Isbibirayani are of the direct opposite view’.
Proof: Umdhadul Quari.
Are Imam Abu Hanifa and Abu Ishaque of the Shafi sect of the Mu’tazila.
Ibn Kasir also reflects the same opinion. Sorcery is a fact is the first opinion of all others except Imam Abu Hanifa and on the other hand Abu Hanifa says there is absolutely no truth in sorcery as reported by Abul Mula bar.
There are differences of opinions among the scholars regarding sorcery, whether such a thing exists, or a thing can be transformed into another, or the existence of sorcery itself in an imagination. The Mu’tazila along with a sect of the Hanafi madhab known as Jassas and scholar Baqavi, and Abu Jafar of the Shafi madhab have refuted every aspect of witchcraft which is nothing but playing things that are nonexistent and false imagery. They also say sorcery can never bring about changes in a man unless when treated with smoke or poison. This is the stance taken by the people belonging to the Hanafi madhab as pointed out here. A sorcerer cannot change the nature of an object, he cannot transform a cane into a snake, or a donkey into a man, say these scholars.
Proof: Al Mauvsu Athul Fiqhiyya.
Baqavi is nicknamed as Muhis-Sunnah for striving to establish sorcery as untrue. Nobody branded him as a Mu’tazila for refuting sorcery. Since sorcery helped fraudulent scholars to make money and threaten masjid administrators all over, that it may be cast upon them, the message that sorcery can affect people, has widely reached the public.
Although there are people who belong to the Hanafi madhab in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, they do believe in sorcery.This is because the fake scholars have spread the message that sorcery can affect people in spite Imam Abu Hanifa denying the same.
People who deny sorcery do not have any expectations, and hence we find their message reaching a lesser audience. The notion that none other than the Mu’tazila refuted sorcery, and of late, only the ones belonging to the Tawheed Jamaat are opposing it is belied by the above evidences provided. The Arabic academies run by various madhabs have in their syllabus a 7th year text book called “Bailaavi” as explanatory reference.
Though there are opinions expressed against Monotheism in this book, let us look into this book about what it says on sorcery.
Verse 26:46 of the Quran says the sorcerers prostrated by saying ‘We believe in the Lord of the worlds, Lord of Musa and Harun’. Since the magicians believed they cannot achieve the same what Prophet Musa did they prostrated. This verse is stark evidence to prove sorcery is a false pretense and an overlay, without any truth in it.
Is Bailavi who has explained sorcery in the Quran be a Mu’tazila will, they have a Mu’tazila’s book as a text for degree course. Prophet Musa who witnessed the sorcerer’s performance, told them whatever they executed is sorcery, and the Almighty God will defeat them. In verse 10:81 of the Quran Allah says the colluvies will not be victorious. This verse of the Quran is strong evidence to prove sorcery is something that causes confusion in the minds of people and there is absolutely no truth in it.
This is clearly declared in the Bilavi, but he was not branded a Mu’tazila by a single person. The students in their seventh year read from the same book to be graduated from a maulvi. The scholars who were ready to accept things that are not authentic from the Bailavi, refuse to acknowledge those that are in the same book presented with ample proof.
Similarly let’s look into Shavkani’s view in his book Fathul Qadeer.
In verse 7:117 of the Quran while talking about sorcery Allah uses the word yafikhoon. The meaning of this word is spinning tales. Allah has used this word to bring home the fact there was absolutely no truth in the work the sorcerers have have executed, rather it is a bag full of untruths, lies, false imaging, and over layering, these were the reasons the sorcerers were defeated opines Shavkani. Let us look into Tabri’s opinion now:
Allah says in the Quran, whatever they (the sorcerers) fabricated was cobbled up by the miracle performed by Prophet Musa because what all they executed were total untruths and imaginations, and is the reason they prostrated in utter failure. Similar is the view expressed by Ibn Hayyan in his explanatory book Al Muhith:
The interpretation of verse 20:66 of the Quran is as follows:
They cast a spell on the people who were witness to the event by trickery and false imagery
This was the reason they could present an imaginary vision to Prophet Musa.
Similar is the opinion of the author of the book Ruhul Bayan
The message conveyed in verse 10:81 of the Quran that Allah will not make the deeds of the colluvies straight is a proof that sorcery does not contain any truth, says Kallee.
He also presents the same in Ruhul Bayan, the view expressed by Sharani.
The fact the sorcerers prostrated remains solid evidence, there is no truth in sorcery. Had they practiced sorcery wherein they were able to transform one thing into another, they would not have wondered at the transformation of Prophet Musa’s staff into a snake. Since they believed Prophet Musa achieved something that cannot be executed by their sorcery, they accepted their defeat.
Ibn Katama registers the following in his book Sharul Kabeer the following:
The different manifestations of sorcery are, tying a knot, some writings, uttering some words etc.
The message by Imam Shafi is, by sorcery one can hurt another physically or metally without even touching him, and sorcery is true. One can kill another or make him sick by sorcery and can create a rift between a husband and wife, and make them devoid of sexual relationship, create hatred between them. But there are some scholars who deny sorcery and declare sorcery as a figment of imagination. To substantiate this the verses of the Quran are cited by them wherein Allah says ‘there was a false imagery of a hissing’. When some kind of a smoke is made to be inhaled by man it could bring about changes in him, this happens even when something is injected to him through a syringe. But without resorting to any of these acts expecting to bring changes in a human being is absolutely impossible. The students of Abu Hanifa say if sorcery was proved to be true, it invalidates the miracles of the prophets, because when ordinary people could perform impractical feats, it renders the miracles of Prophets meaningless.
The sad state of affairs is many people who after keenly observing the Quranic verses regarding sorcerers of Prophet Musa’s period, and declared there is absolutely no truth in witchcraft, we find them dithering and flip flopping when it comes to explaining verse 2:102 of the Quran.
Abu Bakar, also known as Jassas, very strongly denies sorcery altogether.
Let us look into his opinion.The one who subscribes to the concept of sorcery is not aware of prophethood. Belief in sorcery leads to a concept that is not different from the miracles performed by the messengers of God, and the messengers also practiced a kind of sorcery. In verse 20:69 of the Quran Allah says, a sorcerer will never succeed, but whereas a despicable belief is held by some, the prophet of Islam suffered because of sorcery affecting him severely where he declared that he committed some acts which in fact he did not perform, and that a Jewish woman had cast witchcraft on Prophet Muhammad in a strand of hair, a comb, and an inflorescence of date palm inside a well, and that he returned to normality only on remedy pronounced by Jibril (AS). But Allah in verse 25:8 of the Quran says the dishonest told the people they are following a person affected with witchcraft, thereby identifying those who declared Prophet Muhammad being affected with sorcery as liars. The message that messenger of Allah was cast with witchcraft is a fabricated lie by the enemies of Islam, with an objective of belittling the uniqueness of miracles performed by the prophets. As per these people’s belief the miracles performed by the messengers of God and acts of sorcerers are one and the same.
The controversial view of these people equating sorcery with the miracle of the prophet is surprising. When the Almighty points out in the Quran, the sorcerers will never succeed and proving them as liars, these people portray them as true.
The difference between the trickery of the sorcerers and that of the miracles of the messengers of Allah, is the miracles by the messengers of Allah remain true within and without. The more one ponders over these miracles, the more one realizes its authenticity, and even if the whole world tries to replicate, it turns out to be impossible. Sorcery is nothing but lies and hodgepodge, and exists contravening truth in its external manifestations, when keenly analyzed can be easily deciphered. Jassas further says:
If the sorcerers believe they can achieve anything they desire, and can cause harm to others, and also remain firm in their belief they can make people fly in space, and are aware of hidden matters, and also news from far and wide, it is easier for them to remove governments around the world, and bring out the hidden treasures all around, and assassinate world leaders without harming themselves, and continue to live without expecting anyone’s help, and harm from others. The reality is quite the opposite, they lead a miserable life. They lead a greedy life and dupe people, and live with mere necessities in life. This exposes their empty claims.
Did anyone call Jassas a Mu’tazila because of this declaration ?
One can understand from this, the argument of the people who support sorcery is wrong when they say none other than the Mu’tazila were against them.
Does practicing magic amount to infidelity
A question is put to us as follows:
Does learning magic and practicing amount to infidelity? Since we call sorcery nothing but magic.
This question is widely posed.
Superficially both seem to be the same, but differentiation can be seen depending only on the faith of each.
For instance, let’s take the case of a gold chain, which is worn as an ornament as well as a nuptial seal by women in India, in appearance both are the same, but appear different when viewed in an angle based on faith.
Here the entire nuptial bond rests on the gold chain worn by the woman as a nuptial seal. There exists a blind belief here that when for some reason or other the nuptial seal made out as a gold chain is broken it brings harm to the husband, this is the reason we disapprove of such an ornament as a nuptial seal.
But we welcome the gold chain being worn as an ordinary gold ornament.
Though the gold chain is one and the same in both occasions it is the angle of faith we need to take notice of and the repercussions they bring out.
If one offers us a banana, after performing a puja with it, we will refuse to take it.
And if someone else offers a banana in normal times we accept it.
In both occasions the banana remains the same, but when a false belief is nurtured, a banana offered as a votive offering becomes an object of reverence when it becomes forbidden for us.
And when a banana is not offered as a votive without the belief it becomes revered it is accepted by us a halal.
Similar is the view on magic and sorcery, though the two appear to be the same, they differ only on the basis of our faith in them.
When a person performing magic brings out a gold ring from nowhere, he does not say not say so, and people also do not believe it, he brings out the ring hidden elsewhere without being noticed by anyone. We believe he has performed a trickery
No one asks a magician to find out their cattle has gone missing, or to cause a separation between a husband and wife, or to incapacitate an enemy, even when approached with a request, he will refuse by saying he is unable to carry the task. But the sorcerer says he can incapacitate anyone, anywhere, seated in his place and that he can separate a wife from the husband. People also trust and approach him for the task to be carried out by him. A magician will perform in public as planned by him earlier.
But a sorcerer says he has the power to perform everything required by anyone. This is sorcery.
There is a need to understand that sorcery is infidelity according to common sense, and whereas magic is considered an entertainment or a trickery.
People who perform magic say they do it with sustained training, and any one can do the same with proper practice.
But the sorcerers say it is performed with special powers.
Sorcery has to be proven practically if it exists.
When Allah has revealed certain hidden knowledge to us it has to be taken into confidence, such as angels, celestials, jinns, shaitans, paradise, hell, coming back to life etc.
We Muslims accept all these without undertaking any experiments to confirm the same, because these are not matters that cannot be experimented upon. We trust because God said so.
But there are things that need to be verified and not blindly followed. For example, when someone says a certain oil when used induces hair growth on bald people, it needs to be tested first before use.
When the issue of infidelity arises, it needs to be put to test.
When a sorcerer declares he has extraordinary powers it can be verified immediately. Allah has shown us the methodology.
In verse 35:40 of the Quran Allah says Say, ‘Have you considered your ‘partners’ who you invoke besides Allah? Show me what they have created from earth, or have they partnership [with Him] in the heavens? Or have We given them a book so they are [standing] on evidence from? [No] rather, the wrong doers do not promise each other except delusion. Allah says in verse 46:4 of the Quran Say, [O Muhammad], “Have you considered that which you invoke besides Allah? Show me what they have created of the earth; or did they have partnership in [creation of] the heavens? Bring me a scripture [revealed] before this or a [remaining] track of knowledge, if you should be truthful.”
When an issue arises of someone possessing power equal to that of the Almighty, He requires it to be proved.
If the sorcerer possesses power equal to that of the Almighty, it is for him to prove it, and in case he fails to do so, he becomes a liar is the verdict according to Islam.
Nobody comes forward when challenged to prove his extraordinary powers to perform sorcery.
Allah says in verses 7:191-195 in the Quran:
7:191 Do they associate with Him those who create nothing and they are [themselves] created?
7:192 And the false deities are unable to [give] them help, nor can they help themselves.
7:193 And if you [believers] invite them to guidance, they will not follow you. It is all the same for you whether you invite them or you are silent.
7:194 Indeed, those you [polytheists] call upon besides Allah are servants like you. So call upon them and let them respond to you, if you should be truthful.
7:195 Do they have feet by which they walk? Or do they have hands by which they strike?Or do they have eyes by which they see? Or do they have ears by which they hear? Say [O Muhammad], ‘Call your patners’ and then conspire against me and give me no respite
They make idols with hands and legs and say they fulfill the wants of men and call it their belief.
God does not accept this, He says let them make the idols hold something with those hands, and let them walk with those legs. Here Allah conveys a stance against idolatry.
When we challenge sorcerers to prove their extraordinary power they do not come forward. When this happens, we need to conclude as per Islamic principles that sorcery is a fraud on people.
The foolish who believe in sorcery portray people against it in a despicable way.
In Islam arguments should be presented in an intelligent way.
Let’s look into the challenge thrown by Prophet Hud:
11:54. We only say that some of our gods have possessed you with evil. He said “Indeed, I call Allah to witness, and witness [yourselves] that I am free from whatever you associate with Allah.
11:55, Other than Him. So, plot against me all together, then do not give me respite.
The Quran-11:54, 55
We are throwing a similar challenge like prophet Hud did. A sorcerer does not have any extraordinary power, if he does let him use it on us.
The Quran in its verse 7:194 says: Indeed, those you [polytheist] call upon besides Allah are servants like you. So, call upon them and let them respond to you, if you should be truthful.
We need to ponder the beautiful way in which Allah demands the practical proof of sorcery from those who believe in it.
The issue of infidelity demands practical proof, since sorcery falls under the category, it needs to be subjected to screening is the correct approach. Namesake Muslims also practice sorcery. If these really have the extraordinary power as claimed by them, they should have annihilated the enemies of Islam all over and served the community. And there are non-Muslim sorcerers all over who can be utilized by politicians to serve their ends, but nothing of the sort has happened.
Hence it needs to be concluded sorcery does not work.
Please refer to points 28, 285, 468, 495, 499 to know more about sorcery and our answers to questions regarding the same.
