Aslam

Praise be to Allah.The

saahir (person who practises

sihr) does things by which he affects people with sihr. Sometimes this

is by illusion or making things appear to be something else, as Allaah

said concerning the sorcerers of Pharaoh (interpretation of the meaning):

“and

their sticks, by their magic, appeared to him as though they moved fast”

[Ta-Ha 20:66]

They

do actions that change how things look in people’s eyes, so that they

see things other than they really are, as Allaah says in Soorat

al-A’raaf (interpretation of the meaning):

“So

when they threw, they bewitched the eyes of the people, and struck terror

into them, and they displayed a great magic” [al-A’raaf 7:116]

So

they do things to bewitch people’s eyes, so that they see a rope as

a snake or a stick as a moving snake, when it is not a snake at all

but only a stick or a rope.

They

may also bewitch people in other ways, so that a man becomes hateful

to his wife, or vice versa. They may do this by bewitching their eyes,

or by giving them evil potions which they get from the shayaateen, or

by tying knots on which they blow and pray to the shayaateen instead

of to Allaah, and seek their help in harming people. So a man may imagine

that his wife is not the wife he knows, and she may appear ugly or hateful

to him, or a wife may imagine that her husband is not the husband that

she knows, and she sees him as something ugly and terrifying, because

of what these criminals have done. So their sihr may be of two types,

one of which involves illusions and tricking the eyes, so that they

do not see things as they really are.

The

other kind includes that which is called al-sarf

and al-‘atf (spells aimed at creating hatred or love), which is

done by tying knots and blowing on them, and using potions which they

make by inspiration of the shayaateen. This second kind may make a man

love or hate his wife, or a woman love or hate her husband. It may also

affect a person's relationship with people other than his or her spouse.

Hence Allaah has commanded us to seek refuge with Him from the evil

of those who blow onto knots, and to seek refuge with Him from every

evil.