Theeightkindsofsihr—IbnKathir,afteral-Razi

This is a classical text, translated for the library: Ibn Kathir’s discussion of the kinds of sihr from his tafsir of Sūrah al-Baqarah 2:102, in which he reproduces the eight-fold classification of Abu ‘Abdillah al-Razi and adds his own comments — marked here, as in the original, by “I say” (qultu). It shows how broadly the classical scholars used the word “sihr”: from star-worship and jinn-summoning to stage illusion, drugs, machines and even malicious gossip. Only some of these kinds involve shirk and the jinn; the rest are tricks and natural causes given the name sihr because their workings are hidden.

The first kind: the sihr of the Chaldeans

Al-Razi mentions the sihr of the Chaldeans and Kasdeans, who worshipped the seven moving planets, believing them the governors of the world, bringing good and evil. It was to them that Allah sent Ibrahim al-Khalil (peace be upon him), refuting their doctrine. The book al-Sirr al-Maktum fi Mukhatabat al-Shams wal-Nujum (“The Hidden Secret, on Addressing the Sun and the Stars”), attributed to al-Razi himself — as Ibn Khallikan and others record — treats their methods exhaustively: how they addressed each of the seven planets, what they did, what they wore, what rites they performed. It is said al-Razi repented of it; and it is said he wrote it only to display learning, not out of conviction — which, Ibn Kathir says, is what one would assume of him.

The second kind: the sihr of powerful souls and imaginations

Al-Razi argues that the imagination has real effect: a man can walk along a plank laid on the ground, but not the same plank stretched over a river. Physicians agree that a man with a nosebleed should not look at red things, nor the epileptic at bright, spinning objects — because souls were created obedient to imaginings. And the rational, he says, agree that the striking of the evil eye is real. This is supported by the authentic hadith: “The evil eye is real, and if anything were to outrun the decree, the eye would outrun it.”

So, he says, a soul may be so strong that it works these effects without instruments and aids, while a weak soul needs them. When the soul dominates the body and is strongly drawn to the higher world, it becomes as one of the heavenly spirits and acts powerfully on the matter of this world; when it is weak and clings to the body, it has no reach beyond its own frame. He then prescribes, as treatment for this condition, reducing food and withdrawing from people and from ostentation.

Ibn Kathir comments: what al-Razi is pointing to is action through a spiritual “state” (hal), and it is of two kinds. Sometimes the state is sound and lawful, its possessor acting by what Allah and His Messenger ﷺ commanded and leaving what they forbade — such states are gifts from Allah and karamat for the righteous of this Ummah, and the Shariah does not call this sihr. And sometimes the state is corrupt, its possessor defying the command of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. That such people are given extraordinary feats does not indicate Allah’s love for them — the Dajjal, may Allah curse him, will be given wonders attested in many hadith, though the Shariah condemns him; and the same goes for everyone like him who breaks the law of Muhammad ﷺ.

The third kind: seeking the help of the earthly spirits — the jinn

This is summoning the jinn — contrary to the philosophers and the Mu‘tazilah, who denied them. The jinn are of two sorts: believers, and disbelievers, who are the devils. The rational soul’s contact with these earthly spirits is easier than its contact with the heavenly ones, for the kinship and nearness between them; and the practitioners of the craft have found that contact with them is achieved by rather simple works — incantations, fumigations and isolation. This kind is what is called ‘aza’im (conjurations) and the work of taskhir (subjugation).

The fourth kind: illusion, capturing the eyes, and sleight of hand

This rests on the fact that sight can err and be occupied with one particular thing to the exclusion of others. The skilled illusionist does something that dazzles the onlookers and seizes their eyes; when their attention is fully spent staring at that one thing, he does something else, very quickly, and something appears other than what they were expecting — to their great astonishment. Had he kept silent, and not spoken the patter that steers minds towards the opposite of what he intends, the watchers would have caught everything he did. The dimmer the light — or the more blinding — the better his work goes, for the eye’s power cannot settle and fix itself.

Ibn Kathir comments: some of the mufassirin said the sihr of Pharaoh’s magicians before Musa was of this kind — “they bewitched the eyes of the people and struck terror into them, and they brought a great sihr” (al-A‘raf 7:116); “it seemed to him, from their sihr, that they were moving” (Ta-Ha 20:66) — and they said the ropes and staffs did not really move. And Allah knows best.

The fifth kind: marvels from engineered devices

Wonders produced by machines built on geometrical proportions — such as a horseman of brass with a trumpet in his hand, sounding it at the passing of each hour with no one touching it; or the figures the Byzantines and Indians make so lifelike that the onlooker cannot tell them from a man, even fashioning them laughing and weeping. These are among the subtleties of contrivance. The sihr of Pharaoh’s magicians, al-Razi says, was of this sort. He adds the clock-chest, and the science of lifting great weights by small devices — though this, he says, ought not really to be counted as sihr at all, for it has known, certain causes, which anyone who studies can master.

Ibn Kathir comments: that is, as some mufassirin said: the magicians filled their ropes and staffs with mercury, so they writhed and it appeared to the beholder that they moved of themselves.

Ibn Kathir continues, faithfully rendered: Of this same kind are the tricks the Christians play on their common folk with the lights they show them — like the affair of the church they have in Jerusalem: they smuggle fire into the church secretly and light that lamp by a subtle contrivance, and it passes for a miracle among their common people. Their elite admit the trick, but excuse it, saying that they are gathering their co-religionists and holding them to their religion, and so count it permissible for themselves. In this, Ibn Kathir says, they resemble the ignorant fools among the devotees of the Karramiyyah who held it lawful to fabricate hadiths of encouragement and warning — entering thereby among those of whom the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever lies about me deliberately, let him take his seat in the Fire,” and he ﷺ said: “Narrate from me, and do not lie about me; for whoever lies about me enters the Fire.”

Ibn Kathir then relates the story of a certain monk: the monk heard a bird whose cry was mournful and feeble, and when the birds heard it they pitied it and brought olives to its nest to sustain it. So the monk made an artificial bird of the same shape, hollow, so that when the wind entered it, it gave the same cry. He shut himself in a hermitage he had built, claiming it stood over the grave of one of their righteous men, hung the artificial bird in a spot inside, and when olive season came he opened a window so the wind entered the figure and the cry sounded — and the birds came, carrying quantities of olives. The Christians saw nothing but olives arriving at the hermitage, knew no cause, and were seduced: they took it for a karamah of the occupant of that grave. “Upon them,” Ibn Kathir writes, “the curses of Allah, one after another, until the Day of Resurrection.”

The sixth kind: exploiting the properties of drugs

Using the special properties of substances — in foods and in oils. There is no way, al-Razi notes, to deny that such properties exist: the effect of the magnet is there for all to see.

Ibn Kathir comments: under this heading come many of those who claim spiritual poverty (dervishes) and deceive the ignorant with these properties — claiming as personal “states” their handling of fire, snakes and other such stunts.

The seventh kind: binding the heart

The sorcerer claims to know the Greatest Name of Allah, and that the jinn obey him and submit to him in most things. If the listener is weak of mind and poor in judgement, he believes it; his heart binds itself to the claim, and fear and dread settle in him — and when fear takes hold, the senses weaken, and then the sorcerer can do with him what he pleases.

Ibn Kathir comments: this type is called tanbalah (mesmerising by imposture), and it works only on the feeble-minded among the children of Adam. In the science of physiognomy there is guidance for telling the sound of mind from the deficient; if the impostor is skilled in physiognomy, he knows exactly which people will submit to him and which will not.

The eighth kind: tale-bearing and subtle sowing of division

Going about with gossip and setting people against one another by light, subtle means — and it is widespread among people.

Ibn Kathir comments: tale-bearing (namimah) is of two kinds. If it aims at setting people against each other and splitting the hearts of the believers, it is forbidden by agreement. But if it makes peace between people and mends the word of the Muslims — as in the hadith, “He is no liar who carries good words to make peace” — or serves to break up and divide the gathered ranks of the disbelievers at war with the Muslims, then it is sought; as in the hadith, “War is deception,” and as Nu‘aym ibn Mas‘ud did in splitting the confederates from Banu Qurayzah: he carried a word to these from those, and another back again, and joined one thing to another, and their hearts turned suspicious and they scattered. Only a man of sharp intelligence and penetrating insight can walk that line — and Allah is the One whose help is sought.

Ibn Kathir’s closing note on the word itself

Al-Razi concludes: these are the divisions of sihr and its kinds. Ibn Kathir adds: many of these kinds were entered under the art of sihr only because of the subtlety of their workings — for sihr, in the language, is whatever is subtle and hidden in its cause. Hence the hadith, “Indeed some eloquence is sihr.” The pre-dawn meal is called suhur because it comes hidden at the end of the night; the lung is called sahr for its hiddenness and the fineness of its channels into the body — as Abu Jahl said to ‘Utbah at Badr, “your sahr has swollen,” meaning his lung had swollen with fear; and ‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ died between my sahr and my nahr” — against her chest and throat. And “they bewitched the eyes of the people” means: they hid their trick from them. And Allah knows best.

A note from us: the value of this text today is its sober breadth. The classical scholars did not see “sihr” everywhere — they saw a spectrum, most of it fraud, stagecraft and manipulation, and only part of it the shirk-craft of jinn-summoning that the Shariah wages war on. Knowing the difference is half of not being fooled.