Part 10

Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, told us. The

Noble Quran indicates that when Allah Almighty says:

"Say: 'I do not say to you that / have at my disposal the

store-houses ofAllah, nor do / know the Unseen.''' (6:50)

Allah instructed His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant

him peace, to say to all people that he does not know the Unseen

but, nevertheless, Allah informed him of certain matters of the

Unseen, which the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and

grant him peace, then reported to us.

The Jinn Do not Know the Unseen

We know from the Noble Quran that Allah Almighty sent

Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as His

Messenger. He protected the community of Muhammad from the'

shaytans eavesdropping on the Noble Quran when it was

descending from heaven just as the shaytans were prevented from

eavesdropping on the decrees when they were descending.

So the shaytans now have no knowledge of the Unseen to

enable them to convey it to the magicians or soothsayers - and

even before that the shaytans did not know the whole of the

Unseen. The Noble Quran indicates that fact to us in the story of

the death of Sulayman, peace be upon him:

"Then when We decreed death for him. nothing divulged

his death to them but the earth creature eating away at his

stick. Then when he fell down it was made clear to the jinn

that if they had truly had knowledge of the Unseen they

would not have stayed there suffering humiliating punish­

In this noble ayat Allah - glory be to Him and may He be exalt­

ed! - tells us that when Sulayman, peace be upon him, died, he was

leaning on his staff. Allah hid the death of Sulayman from both

jinn and men; and the jinn continued to do what Sulayman had

told them to do before his death until Allah Almighty gave power

to.one of the creatures of the earth, a woodworm. The w.oodworm

ate away at Sulayman's staff until the staff was weakened and

could no longer support him and he fell to the ground. Then the

jinn knew that he had died a long time previously. That happened

so that jinn and men might know that the jinn do not know the

The jinn used to make people imagine that they knew the

Unseen and told them lies about it. A number of people believed

them and believed their lies about the Unseen and the things they

added to Allah's religion, things which lead to disbelief.

So it is clear to us from the Noble Quran that the jinn absolute­

lydo not know the Unseen, and that however great the power of

the rebellious shaytans is they will not attain to knowledge of the

Unseen. Before the Quran came down, they used to eavesdrop in

the heavens but even that was not truly speaking knowledge of the

Unseen. It was eavesdropping and then remembering some things

but not knowing others. When the Quran was sent down, they

were completely stopped from eavesdropping and nothing re­

mained of magic except what the two angels, Marut and Harut,

taught which causes people harm.

So the claims of magicians or impostors or astrologers that they

will able to report about the Unseen, or that they know the Unseen,

are false and without foundation. The Messenger of Allah, may

Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

"Astrologers are lying even when they happen to speak

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him

peace, forbade us to believe astrologers and fortune-tellers or to

frequent them. •Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him,

"Magicians and fortune-tellers are the soothsayers of the

non-Arabs. Anyone who sits with a soothsayer, believing

what he says, is far removed from what Allah sent down

on Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him

The shaytans and the jinn might well have knowledge of the

relative Unseen by virtue of their subtle nature and the speed of

their movement from one place to another. As we said, the relative

Unseen is something that we do not know but some other people

do know. But the jinn and shaytans cannot know the absolute

Unseen. Anything that may be said to suggest otherwise is not

true. The impostors and fortune-tellers are those who try to make

people imagine they know it in order to steal their money. At its

root, this claim is nothing rut desire for money. If a man follows

these impostors, the shaytans will pass him from one to another of

them until he becomes an unbeliever.

The same applies to those impostors who claim to give people

powers by means of amulets and charms. This is also seeking the

assistance of the shaytans who disbelieve and reject Allah's deen.

It is said that the amulets and charms necessarily contain expres­

sions of disbelief in order that the shaytans may assist the fortune­

To sum up, it is best for all people not to learn magic because

Allah Almighty says, "They have learned what will harm them

and bring them no benefit." (2:102). All who practise magic or

teach-it to people or learn it come to a bad end..Their provision is

lessened and evil befalls them. Magic does not bring any kind of

benefit or success. Rather the reverse is the case. The, shaytans,

magicians and soothsayers do not know the Unseen. All that is

said about their knowledge of the Unseen is a lie and a false claim.

We now tum to a subject which few scholars have dealt with

and which is generally avoided. That is the subject of the Jew who

bewitched the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant

him peace. There are many hadiths on this matter, and it is clear

that what happened is attested to by the Messenger of Allah,may

Allah bless him and grant him peace, and there is no testimony

against it. If we look at 'the fine details of what happened and

things which occurred to the previous Prophets, it becomes an eas­

ily understood subject with little scope for debate.

In discussing the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and

grant him peace, and magic, it must stated, before we look at any

hadith on the subject, that all-the Messengers of Allah were human

and that .all human beings are subject to the laws which govern

humanity. That is why when Allah - glory be to Him and may He

be exalted! - wanted to manifest the incapacity of His creatures in

the face of His Strength and Power, He gave them power over one

of His Messengers and then made them powerless to touch him.

An example of this is when the people of Ibrahim, peace be

upon him, decided to bum him in the fire. This was an attempt on

their part to bum one of the Messengers of Allah. It would have

been possible for Allah to save Ibrahim by any number of ways.

He could have concealed him from the eyes of the unbelievers so

that they did not see him. He could have shown him a safe place to

conceal himself where they would not find him or where it would

it not p..;t_ye occurred to them to look. Or the unbelievers could have

brought him to the fire and then Allah could have made the rain

pour down and put the fire out and have saved Ibrahim in that way.

But Allah Almighty allowed the unbelievers to find Ibrahim, seize

him, and throw him into the fire, and He also let the fire bum and

did not send down any rain to extinguish it. Then the miracle was

"We said, '0 Fire, be coolness and peace for

This happened so that the people - all people - would know that

Ibrahim,peace be upon him, had been placed by the unbelievers in

the fire and that the fire did not burn him. Ibrahim was a mortal,

subject to the laws of humanity. When he was thrown in the fire, it

should have burned him. If, for instance, Ibrahim had been an

angel, it would have been possible for the fire not to burn him. The

guardians of Jahannam are angels. Allah Almighty says:

" ...continually scorching the flesh. Over it there are

nineteen. We have designated none but angels to be mas­

We know from this that angels are not burned by fire. That is

why if Ibrahim had been an angel, it would not have been a mira­

cle for him to be thrown into the fire and not be burned.

Musa, peace be upon him, W;lS the Prophet of Allah and him to

whom Allah spoke directly. Allah wanted him to face the test of

the magicians. So He prepared him for what would happen. Allah

taught him about miracles and magic. The miracle was that his

staff turned into a real snake, its nature truly changing from wood

to snake. That is why Allah Almighty asked him to throw down

'We said, 'Throw it down, Musa.' He threw it down and

there it was, a slithering snake." (20:19-20)

This was training for the miracle to show him that his staff

would be transformed into a real snake when Musa cast it down in

front of the magicians. Allah - glory be to Him and may He be

exalted! - wanted Musa not to be startled by that and not to be

alarmed or afraid. He was instructing him about what was going to

happen. Then Allah also instructed him about the magic which the

magicians would confront him with:

"'Throw down your staff!' Then when he saw it slither­

ing like a snake, he turned his back and did not turn round

The important thing to look at here is the expression of Allah

Almighty, "like a snake". This time the staff did not in fact turn

into a snake, but Musa, peace be upon him, saw it as if it W''', a

snake. This was instruction about the magic of the magicians who .

would make Musa see their ropes appear as snakes.

In this way Allah - glory be to Him and may He be exalted! ­

instructed Musa in a practical way before he met the magicians

about what. would happen to him: both about the miracle of the

transformation of the staff into a real snake and also about the

magic which would be shown to him when he met Pharaoh's

magicians. But what happened when Musa confronted Pharaoh's