Themythof"sorcerynight":no,thedevilsarenotsetlooseonLaylatal-Qadr

The belief

In parts of North Africa — and in different forms elsewhere — a belief circulates that on the 27th night of Ramadan, which many take to be Laylat al-Qadr, the devils that were chained at the start of the month are set loose for one night. On that night, the story goes, any act of sihr is guaranteed to "take", and its effect lasts the whole year. Press investigations from Morocco and Algeria, which the source reproduces, describe women visiting herbalists and sorcerers in the days before the 27th night to buy strange and expensive ingredients — dried chameleons, birds' heads and claws, tar, mercury and worse — for love-binding charms meant to "tame" a husband, bring back an estranged one, or settle scores. Some burn special incense or coloured candles in empty rooms that night, believing spirits descend and must find the house lit and perfumed.

A sociologist quoted in the reports explains the logic: these women are convinced that on this one night every request can be granted through sorcery, because "the chained devils are released." A Moroccan scholar quoted alongside him calls the whole season exactly what it is — sorcerers exploiting a sacred month, and everyone involved answerable to Allah for it.

What the texts actually say

The belief runs into the Prophet's own words. He ﷺ said:

Someone once asked: does the chaining end after Laylat al-Qadr, or after the month? The question was put to scholars, and the answer (Islamweb fatwa no. 78547) is that the texts tie the chaining to the virtue of the month itself, so it remains until the month ends. Nothing in the sources says the devils get a night off on the 27th.

And of Laylat al-Qadr itself, Allah says:

The correction

The source comments: the truth is the opposite of the folk belief. Ibn 'Abbas and others explained "peace it is" to mean that the night is peace and safety from every evil, every sihr, every devil and every harm. Devils and sorcerers can do least on Laylat al-Qadr, not most.

It adds a sharp observation from practitioner experience: the reason sorcerers work so frantically on that night is fear, not power. They dread that the blessed night will annul their existing works, so they scramble to renew and reinforce them — driven on by the devils they serve, who use the occasion to sink them deeper into disbelief on the very night they can achieve nothing.

The takeaway

• There is no night of the year on which sihr is guaranteed to work — least of all Laylat al-Qadr, which the Quran calls peace until dawn.
• The devils remain chained throughout Ramadan; no text releases them on the 27th.
• Buying charms, burning ritual candles, or slaughtering on the 27th to win a spouse's heart is sorcery and superstition, whatever the season — and turning to it is turning away from Allah.
• If you fear harm, the answer is the same on every night: your adhkār, al-Falaq and al-Nās, Āyat al-Kursī, and trust in Allah.