UNVEILING THE SECRETS OF MAGIC AND MAGICIANS §§§§§§§§§§ Authored By The Great Humane Eminent Scholar Mohammad Amin Sheikho (His soul has been sanctified by Al’lah) 1890-1964 §§§§§§§§§§ Checked and Introduced by The Researcher and Thinker Prof. A. K. John Alias Al-Dayrani §§§§§§§§§§ Published by amin-sheikho.com at Smashwords Copyright 2013 amin-sheikho.com §§§§§§§§§§ Our web sites www.rchss.com www.amin-sheikho.com Foreword by Prof. Abdul-Kadir John Alias Al-Dayrani The Almighty (glory to Him) says: “Their devices are but the deceitful show of witchcraft. Magicians shall never prosper, whatever they do.” The Holy Qur’an, Fortress[1] 20, Ta Ha ‘Ta-ha’ (Pure), verse 69 The ship of Islam moved backwards, and righteousness became frail, having previously been strong in the hearts of people. This ignorance spread widely across the world, leaving no place for faith. That is because people veered off course in their way of thinking and followed the way of imitation, so that the methods of magic prevailed in all fields, and tricksters pretended to be Muslim so as to achieve their malignant purposes. The wolf put on the garment of a man, hiding the violent death that lurked in its fangs. Falsehood was in command, and its followers became masters. The common people were like a feather that was being tossed about by a hurricane, and were finally thrown to the ground, finding no way to escape. But God’s Mercy is the rescuer of those who are obedient, and rejects oppression and degradation on their behalf, and always seeks to uplift them through communication, and makes the sacred light perfect upon them as favor and grace from Him. And here is a high lofty sun that has risen and driven away the black darkness. Springs of Godly Wisdom flowed up over the heart of our venerable scholar Mohammad Amin Sheikho, and passed through his tongue to become a factual and realistic science to unveil the hidden sciences and devilish tricks of the magicians. These are great facts that entirely destroy the falsehood of these magicians, and support the base of righteousness’ edifice. – Prof. A. K. John Preface Excerpts from the Inspired Science of the GreatHumane Scholar Mohammad Amin Sheikho Many people turn to augurs, fortune-tellers and conjuring magicians for help, driven by curiosity, or by the desire to uncover hidden matters and inquire about their prospects for the near and far future. While having their morning coffee, they like to read their horoscopes in the newspapers before going to work and entering the whirligig of daily life, stimulated by an insistent desire for optimism and good omens, and longing for a day full of hope and delight… but…! Some of them continue to search for one who spits over knots, or who will write a spell for them, or for an exorcist who gathers and stirs up discord among people. We also find those who want to cause harm to their enemies by means of those conjuring magicians – because of envy, through cursing them with the evil eye. And there are others who want to see wonders, or watch supernatural trickery – as they suppose it to be – for example, stabbing oneself with skewers, spiritualism, and the telling of unseen things through augury, fortune telling and necromancy. Others covet accumulated hundredweights of gold, and wish to find golden treasures hidden beneath the ground without making any effort, and so they resort to magic and magicians. And there are those who aspire to kingship and superiority over humanity by adopting the principles of the devil. “…I am better than him (Adam)…” The Holy Qur’an, Fortress 7, Al-A’raf (The Heights), verse 12 These people seek mastery and to tower over others. Others desire adultery, but in secret, so they resort to the magicians, and at their hands they learn to join those who commit hidden sins. When do the magicians appear? Throughout the ages, concentrated amounts of spiritual waste and human failure appear in certain societies as a result of an aberration of manners and a deviation from morality and from the right way (which we call the ‘straight path’ in Arabic). Such practices lead their perpetrator to the gulf, where they sacrifice their humanity for enjoyment that is destructive and momentary, and that is inevitably followed by great torment. Such a person becomes devoted to their whims, and aims to fulfill their lusts in a hellish, dirty, vile way, so that they turn into an enemy of everyone else, whoever they might be: their son, their brother or even their mother. Such people seek to destroy others and dispossess them of their characters. They dedicate their existence to depriving others of their will until they become obedient to them. To achieve this evil aim, they veil their face behind a humanitarian mask, faking the ability to do wonders, or claiming to possess wisdom and science, or even to practice spiritual medicine and physical or spiritual therapy. Verily, these are the magicians and conjurers, and as long as people do not think deeply, they will follow them and believe in their abilities and ideas. These magicians will find a good market among such simple-minded people, especially those who are possessed by a love for money that dominates their life. So, it is necessary to reveal to our gentle readers the reality of these magicians and conjurers in consecutive sections. They hide themselves behind religious clothing such as palliums and jubbahs, or behind turbans and beards, or other false faces, and include: hypnotists, spiritual doctors, magicians who spit over knots, astrologers, trick swordsmen who stab themselves with skewers, those who eat glass, who walk over fire, or who stay underwater for a long time, mediums, augurs, fortune-tellers, necromancers etc. Their masks are multiple but their hearts are alike: they are tricksters. They are all melting in a single crucible and drinking from a stagnant spring. Only the scholar’s learning unveils the secrets of the magicians So, he or she who wants to show the lies and disprove the falsehoods of these practitioners of magic has no means to do so except by resorting to the Holy Qur’an and the sacred Sunna of the prophet (cpth),[2] because these will unveil their hidden knowledge and their unseen statues. Only these two holy sources frustrate these magicians’ statements and refute their destructive beliefs. The Holy Qur’an is a book that “falsehood cannot reach from before or behind…” The Holy Qur’an, Fortress 41, Fussilat (explained), verse 42 A strange phenomenon circulates among people nowadays and spreads through different educational, cultural and social classes. It is the faith in those people who deal in magic, and who pretend that they have the ability to harness the world of jinn in order to fulfill people’s hopes and wishes, and to solve the hard problems that people face. Considering the importance and gravity of this subject, we wanted to discuss it according to a set of rules that are aimed at disclosing the purpose of this magic in order to acquaint people with the facts surrounding its current credibility and influence. We found no one to reveal its reality correctly except the great humane scholar Mohammad Amin Sheikho – his soul has been sanctified by Al’lah. Therefore, we borrowed the following elements of research from his thoughts and knowledge, which are inspired by the Holy Qur’an, in which the Almighty does not neglect anything. Thus, the humane scholar is the vanquisher, unveiling the reality of this field of conjuring, and clarifying its reality in detail, with logical and scientific proof, supported by verses from the Holy Qur’an. So the tongue of the heart addresses those who believe in their enemy, as mentioned in the noble verse: “…would you then worship that, instead of Al’lah, which can neither help you nor harm you? Shame on you and on your idols! Have you no sense?” The Holy Qur’an, Fortress 21, Al-Anbiya’ (The Prophets), verse 66-67 Chapter 1 The Claim that Magic Proves the Validity of the Islamic Religion (Each Magician is a Beggar) Many years ago, people would watch those who wandered through the streets and markets performing their trickery in front of people, to see how they could take eggs, golden coins, birds, and razor blades from their mouths. But we wonder: after ending their tricks, why do these magicians, who pretend to create something from nothing and to know unseen things, ask people to give them money for their show so as to allay their hunger?! We see that magic never attains money; otherwise the magicians would create enough money to fulfill their needs, so that they would be prevented from begging. These people are similar to the magicians for whom Pharaoh sent, in order that they use their great magic to frustrate the miracle of the staff that was carried by our master Moses (pth). Describing their poverty and begging, God says: “And when the magicians came to Pharaoh, they said: ‘Shall we be rewarded if we win?’ ”: shall you give us a reward if we win? The Holy Qur’an, Fortress 26, Ash-Shu’ara’ (The Poets), verse 41 So, although they were masters at creating wonders, they asked for money, though each of them was a skilled magician!! And yet they could not provide themselves with that which might have saved them from begging!! This is how magicians are, in every place and time. There are also those people who pretend to be strictly obedient to Al’lah, or to be blessed, although in fact, they are not so. They stab themselves with sharp tools like spears or knives in front of a crowd of people, or they conjure up spirits, or practice necromancy to uncover hidden matters. There are also those who spend days and weeks in a lake without breathing air who make people believe them by using devilish companions, and those who tread barefoot on firebrands or eat glass. These are people who pretend to be strictly obedient to Al’lah. If you ask them about their reason for doing such deeds, they will answer you thus: “it is to confirm and prove the rightness of Islam in front of unbelievers”, even though they carry out their deeds in Muslim villages that include no such unbelievers. In doing so, they treat all people as unbelievers except themselves! Refuting Magicians’ Claims To refuting false claims of magicians that all their actions and practices are but for proving that Islam is true, and that they are the only believers; we mention the following points: Firstly: Pagan worshipers of fire and of cows are able to do greater devilish wonders than those already mentioned Islam is a faith of reason and logic, with rules and laws that should be followed by humanity to establish faith and then realize piety (that is, illumination by Al’lah’s Light). It is not a haphazard course that asks you to break the existing natural laws and the perceptible cosmic discipline, or to oppose the ability for sound thinking with which man has been honoured above the animals. Such acts of the magicians which contradict reality – like stabbing one’s own abdomen with a knife or a spear, or treading on fire – are indeed mere magic and fancy deception, in which magicians give the observer the impression that they are doing this. In fact, Islam is a faith of facts, where man can perceive its sublimity only by following its rules, not by watching the acts of tricksters and charlatans. If Islam can be proved to be correct according to the ability to stab oneself with skewers, we must then follow the worshipers of fire and of cows. Ibn Battuta told us about the magicians in India and China, for he had heard of and seen wonders performed by them. Once, he visited the sultan of a region in India, and there he met two men who wrapped themselves in blankets so as to live with the spirits in a world of devilish and low companions. These were men who had performed strange rites where they had covered their heads and used embers to tear out their hair, as some people do with the hair of their armpit. The sultan ordered them to show Ibn Battuta their wonders, so one of them sat cross- legged and then rose up in the air until he was floating cross-legged over the heads of the people there. Because of that scene Ibn Battuta lost consciousness, and when he came to, the first person was still levitating, and the other took a shoe and began to beat the floor with it. The shoe then floated up to the neck of the cross-legged one and began to strike him as he slowly came down, until it transpired that he was once again sitting on the floor. Ibn Battuta told of another wonder which he had seen when he was in China. That occurred when the prince ordered one of the magicians to show them his wonders, and so he threw a long rope in the air. Its end stretched up into the sky until it could no longer be seen, and he ordered a boy to climb the rope, and the boy did so till he disappeared. Then the magician called on him three times to come down, but the child did not. So the magician took a knife in his mouth and ascended the erect rope behind the child until he also disappeared. Then he threw down the boy’s arm, his leg, the other arm… and his head. Having cut him up with the knife, he came down the rope again with his clothes completely covered in blood. He kissed the floor before the prince and talked to him in Chinese. The prince ordered him to be given money. Then the magician took the boy’s limbs and joined them together. After that he kicked him with his leg and the boy got up, alive and well. A judge who was named Fakhr al deen – who was accompanying Ibn Battuta – said to him: “By God, they were neither ascending, nor descending, and not even cutting off limbs, but it was mere illusion and trickery”. God the Almighty says about Pharaoh’s magicians: “…they bewitched the people’s eyes and terrified them by a display of great wonders.” The Holy Qur’an, Fortress 7, Al-A’raf (The Heights), verse 116 As long as the proof of the correctness of Islam is to be found in doing deeds such as stabbing yourself with skewers, eating glass, and walking over fire, then it would be more deserving to regard the faith of the worshippers of cows and of fire as the right one, as they can perform such wonders. This is so because the wonders shown to Ibn Battuta in India and China, which are still practiced by these magicians to this day, are more amazing than those who are supporters of true faith and Islam. That means that stabbing oneself with skewers would not merit a mention in comparison with the trickery and wonders of India and China’s magicians who worship cows and fire, and so we should wonder whether their faith might be the right one, since those conjurers we mentioned prove that they are in close obedience to Al’lah and His blessedness by stabbing themselves with knives. Some Russian magicians, who call themselves hypnotists, display their wonders in the theatres of Damascus. One of them stares into the eyes of a girl in front of people, and gestures with his fingers in front of her face until she faints and falls down. Then he carries her over to a table with his two hands, and puts her lying on it before the very eyes of the attendees. He starts murmuring, and then the table rises half a meter in the air. He takes a thick rope and binds her well to the table, then pours gasoline over her, and sets fire to it from a distance, so that both the table and the girl are engulfed in flame. After that he claps his hands and the same girl comes out through the back door of the theatre, safe and sound, to greet the attendees. When the show ends, the magician gets his reward. Now, how can stabbing oneself with a skewer or spear deserve to be mentioned in comparison to raising the dead to life after burning their body? Does not this trickery surpass that of those who stab themselves with spears, or eat glass to confirm the rightness of Islam?? How strange their sayings are, and the strangest thing would be to believe them. Secondly: Messengers and prophets are mortal human beings like us The right thinking and sound of mind would not accept that a person could stab their body with a knife without being harmed; if such a thing was so, the noble messengers (far be it for them) would be the foremost in such fields: “Their apostles replied: ‘we are indeed mortals like you’…” The Holy Qur’an, Fortress 14, Ibrahim (Abraham), verse 11. Furthermore, some of their noble companions were martyred in battles as a result of stabbing and wounding. So, these acts are indisputably restricted to magicians. There are some who have tried to explain such acts scientifically, but they have failed, as no science can physically explain the ability to safely tread on firebrands or to pass a spear through the abdomen. It is well known that the human body consists of flesh, bones, blood vessels, and the nervous system. We wonder: have they different physical structures from those of other mortals? Or have they been created differently, or do they belong to another species, so that neither fire nor spears nor knives affect them? They were begotten as we were, and eat the same food we eat. They are human in origin, but they have allowed the spirits of their malignant companions, the jinn, to surround their bodies, and to commit hidden adultery through their spirits. They are accompanied by devilish companions who break laws and come to our world by use of their spirits in response to the call of the human devil magicians, and then these jinn pass through the bodies of these magicians to surround their spirits. Thus they made these magicians into garments for their spirits; hence the control of these spirits of the jinn, whose bodies are originally created from fire, protects these magicians from being burnt by the firebrands on which they tread. So, as a result of this, the magicians are able to start carrying out the deceptive, devilish actions of the jinn, and indeed these are not in fact physical wonders, but rather are spiritual ones. Among those who watch the magician’s wonders, if there was but one Godly and enlightened believer, whose heart was strictly attached to the shining lamp – the messenger Mohammad (cpth) – and if this person was to mention the name of Al’lah within their spirit, then the spirits of the devilish companions would flee from the magician’s body. Thereupon, the magician would be unable to work a single wonder, and would certainly know that if he truly treaded on a firebrand, his feet would burn, and if he stabbed his abdomen with a spear he would die. It is only when the true faith that is based upon the illumination of God’s light is lost that the spirits of devilish companions appear to these magicians according to their whim. But, in the presence of true believers, whose hearts are loyal to their shining lamp (cpth), this magic becomes inactive, the magicians’ trickery is frustrated, and the spreading of their malignant spirits is hampered. In this case, the devilish companions will indeed burn, because the believer is near to Al’lah, and this is exactly what happened to the devils of Pharaoh’s magicians in the presence of our master Moses (peace is through him), so that the magicians believed in Moses (pth). The same thing afflicted the magicians in the Arabian peninsula in the presence of our master Mohammad (cpth), except for a few of them, who were beaten by the noble, righteous companions of the prophet. Where there is no true belief, magic and magicians spread widely, but indeed, they cannot harm anyone with their magic except those who are negligent and disobedient, and who fail to repent and follow the right path. If people truly turn to God in repentance, they will be released from the influence of magic, and then will enter the worlds of everlasting blessings and eternal delight through their hearts, to be with the prophets, the true martyrs, and those who gained the ability to do good deeds. Their life will be good, and they will be heart-cured. Thus, the acts of these magicians are nothing but mere magic and the making of connections with the worlds of devilish jinn, and secretly working together with them so as to bewitch people’s eyes with these deceptions and fancies. Thirdly: Magicians Are the People Farthest from Righteousness It is no miracle for a man to fly in the air or walk over water, because many animals and insects can do so. Righteousness itself is the real miracle. The scholar Amin Keftaroh (may God have mercy upon him) was correct when he said: “The real miracle is to break the habits of your own spirit, not to break cosmic discipline.”