Pious men can control good jinn: a Refutation

By Mohamed Tariq Kahn

Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem.

There is a popular claim amongst many Muslims that pious men can control good jinn. A necessary
corollary follows: Hence good jinn can be put to good work or placated. This good work would
inevitably be the use of jinn to effect some cause or event (the intervention), in order to avert harm
or create an opportunity for benefit for an individual or group, outside the material conventions of
the physical world.

On the face value, this may seem useful or even harmless, but even a cursory investigation further
leads one to another term for supernatural intervention by means of a human : magic. What then
constitutes magic? This question raises a plethora of problems for a pious Muslim. Magic for the
most part is the ability to tap into supernatural powers to change the course of events. The
Cambridge English Dictionary refer to it as:

Magic, noun - (SPECIAL POWER) ,

" the use of special powers to make things happen that would usually be impossible,"

Those who know this knowledge is known for their belief in witchcraft and summoning jinn. One
aspect of the abilities claimed by those who practice magic for "good purposes", is the ability to heal
the sick. In that case the effect of the natural sciences, such as Tibb Unani or Western Medicine,
which are usually employed to provide curative treatments to ailments is cited as an accepted
practice of which healing by means of supernatural forces are only an alternative.

Prominent among the books on magic in the Muslim world is the Shams al-Ma'arif al-Kubra
of Ahmad Ali al-Buni (d. 622/122), the Ain al-Amaliyat of Azizurahman Panipati, and the Naqsh
Sulaymani of Khuwaja Ashraf Ali Lucknowi. A substantial part of these works is devoted to hidden
properties of various Qur'anic chapters and verses and of Allah's names, and describe how they can
be put to use with the help of invocations, amulets and spells. Then is introduced instructions about
how to banish, how to gain power over someone, how to destroy and kill enemies and how to tear
people apart (tafriq), the latter often in connection with love sorcery, amulets and numerology.

It is evident from these books that a belief in seeking the aid of jinn in the help of human plight from
calamities, bad economy or bad health was attempted to be normalised as part of Islamic teachings.
Al-Buni even have dubious ijazah's traceable to Sahabah and even the Prophet! (Wicam,2007)

Evidence against working with Jinn from Quran and Sunnah

In a very thorough treatment of man's protection against dabbling with the unseen world of the Jinn,
Shaykh Wahid Abdussalam Bali, sought to redress this terrible calamity by developing a
policy to show people how utterly reprehensible the methods of sorcerers are. His extensive
treatise, Waqiyat al Insaan minal Jinn wa -Shaytaan (Man's protection against jinn and shaytaan)
describes the types of means that magicians use in order to command the jinn. Bali attempted to
show the Shirk nature of these practices, and through that he exposed the reader to the unfounded
and horrible practices used by magicians. These include reverse writing of Quranic texts, the use of
impure substances such as menstrual blood, chicken or goats blood and blasphemous acts such as
putting Quranic texts on one's feet and then entering the toilet.

In contrast the promoters of "amaliyaat" or "good works" such as al-Buni and Panipati say almost
the opposite with regarding to the preparation for invoking jinn (Dehlvi, A.S.,2013). Their emphasis
was on purification, which included washing, prayer chanting, and fasting, as preludes to casting
spells. What these methods evoked was a kind of Islamised magic (good magic??) which often
involved practices of idolising and seeking "barakah" from Jinn (Witkam JJ., 2007). The Zara methods
in parts of the Sudan, Egypt and the visitation of the Tomb of Sidi Shamarush, a Jinn purportedly
granting wishes in the desert of Morocco and Algeria are a case in point (Remke Kruk,2005).

The command of the Messenger of Allah is however clear. He explicitly prohibited all magical Ruqya
or involvement with the unseen of the jinn in affecting matters of one's life. Jabir reported that the
Prophet (Peace and Blessing upon Him) said: ‘Nashrah (a counter magical spell) is of the doing of
Satan.’ Recorded by Ahmad and Abu Dawud. Verified to be authentic by al-Albani (as-Sahihah no.
2760). It is inferred from this that the means of seeking help and protection should be from Allah
alone.

Abdullah ibn Mas`ud is reported to have heard the Messenger of Allah saying: “Spells, amulets and
love-charms are forms of shirk.” (Reported by Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah)

Quran [31:13]
"Remember when Luqman said to his son, while he was advising him, .My dear son, do not ascribe
partners to Allah. Indeed, ascribing partners to Allah (shirk) is grave transgression." [Taqi Usmani
Translation]

Quran [4:48]
"Surely, Allah does not forgive that a partner is ascribed to Him, and He forgives anything short of
that for whomsoever He wills. Whoever ascribes a partner to Allah commits a terrible sin." [Taqi
Usmani Translation]

These are enough to refute the methods of those who ascribe help from the unseen, which in all
cases is akin to seeking help by other than Allah.

Conclusion:

When treating illness and when seeking aid in maladies weather induced by causes natural or
unnatural, we have to call on Allah. Ruqya is in itself not reprehensible provided that it follows the
methods outlined by the Sunnah.

It is reported by Abu Sa'id al-Khudri that Jibreel came to the Prophet and said: "Muhammad! Did
you undergo suffering?' When the Prophet affirmed Jibreel said: [bismilla hi arqeeka min kuli shay'in
yu'dheeka, min sharri kulli nafsin aw 'ayni hasidin, Allahu yashfeeka, bismilla hi arqeeka] In the
name of Allah, I treat you with ruqyah from everything that harms you: from the evil of every soul or
the eye of an envier. May Allah cure you. In the name of Allah, I treat you with ruqyah]'. Muslim (no.
2186). (Abdul-Razzaq Abdul-Muhsin, 2004)
Also the wife of the Prophet, Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, narrated that: 'When ill, the
Messenger of Allah used to recite al-Mu 'awwidhat (al-Falaq and an-Nas) and blow. When his
sickness got worse, I used to recite them on him and rub [his body] with his hand seeking its
blessings'. al-Bukharl (no. 5016) and Muslim (no. 2192).

Some orthodox methods of exorcising jinn and curing those afflicted by spells are given in whole
chapters of the book by Shaykh Bali (Bali, W.A., 2007). These methods based on Quran and Sunnah
should be adhered to rather than the dubious methods by the proponents of the contrary theories
which is the methods of the magicians.

In matters of the Dunyah, seeking support from the cures of the Dunya in what is permitted by the
Shariah, such as honey, dates, black seeds or medicines is allowed and governed by Shariah. In
matters of the unseen, only calling on Allah and making use of methods that clearly avoid Shirk is
permitted. Setting up another that has power over matters from the unseen is strictly prohibited
from the clear Quran and the Sunnah.

One has to further bear in my the statement of the Messenger of Allah “The hadd (prescribed
punishment) for the practitioner of magic is a blow with the sword (i.e., execution).” This hadidth
was narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 1460 , al-Daaraqutni, 3/114, al-Haakim, 4/360 and al-Bayhaqi, 8/136;

Bad
men

Pious Forbidden Good

men interaction Jinn

Evil
Jinn

Thus Pious Men and Good Jinn avoid interaction which can lead to shirk, and the converse is usually
guaranteed. May Allah protect us.

References:

Dehlvi, A.S.,2013, Prophetic Medical Sciences, Saeed International, New Dehli, India

Bali, W.A., 2007, Waqiyat al Insaan minal Jinn wa -Shaytaan (Man's protection against jinn and
shaytaan), Dar Al-Kotob Al-Ilmiyah, Lebanon

Al-Asqar, U.S., 2005, Belief in Allah in the light of the Quran and Sunnah, IIPH, Riyahd
Al-Asqar, U.S., 2005, The World of the Jinn and Devils, IIPH, Riyahd

Remke Kruk,2005, Harry Potter in the Gulf: Contemporary Islam and the Occult, British Journal of
Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 32, No. 1 (May, 2005), pp. 47-73

Witkam JJ., 2007, Gazing at the Sun: Remarks on the Egyptian magician al-Buni and his work, Brill,
Leiden

Abdul-Razzaq Abdul-Muhsin, 2004, The Book of Dhikr and Supplication in Accordance with the
Quran and Sunnah. Abdul-Razzaq ibn Abdul-Muhsin Al-Badr; translated by: Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Al-
Amri, AI -Madinah Munawarah.

Al Quran Kareem, translation by Mufti Taqi Usmani, available at [http://www.central-mosque.com/]