The Ruling on Holding Festivals and Deceptive Games
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The questioner:
The Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, says: During the summer vacation, festivals are frequently held for the purpose of entertainment, and in them there occurs
The Shaykh:
Yes.
The questioner:
He says: During the summer vacations, festivals are frequently held for the purpose of entertainment, and in them there are circus games, and the bringing in of people where some of them walk on ropes, perform car magic with their hair, eat coals, and other such matters, knowing that some of them appear to have the signs of righteousness. What is the ruling on their doing this?
The Shaykh:
This is from Shaytan. This action is from Shaytan. No one eats coals. No one—I challenge anyone who says he drinks from something hot. If you bring him something hot and pour it on him, he will scream, or if you bring him a coal and put it on his leg, he will scream. So how does he eat coals? He lies, but he shows the people that he is eating coals, while in reality the coal does not reach him. The coal does not reach him or his body. Likewise, the car is beside him; it is not under him. He lies, showing the people that it is under him, while it is beside him and not under him. This is a form of deception upon the people. So, stop with these myths of yours, lie down on the ground, and let the car run over your back. It will not obey, it will not obey, it will not obey, absolutely not.
The one who feeds himself with a sword or a knife says to him: I will bring a small knife and stab you with it, and he cannot bear it.
Because you are not actually reciting incantations; you are truly stabbing, truly. And he stabs with a stab that is not real, but rather deceptive. So there is a difference between this, and it is not permissible for Muslims to approve of this thing, even if they call it one of the tricks, or call it one of the arts, or call it whatever they call it. It means opening the door to sorcery, opening the door to witchcraft.
This is a matter that is not permissible, and it is obligatory for the rulers to prevent it. It is obligatory for them to prevent it immediately, and not to approve of it. And no one from the students of knowledge should remain silent about this thing.
The Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, says: During the summer vacation, festivals are frequently held for the purpose of entertainment, and in them there occurs
The Shaykh:
Yes.
The questioner:
He says: During the summer vacations, festivals are frequently held for the purpose of entertainment, and in them there are circus games, and the bringing in of people where some of them walk on ropes, perform car magic with their hair, eat coals, and other such matters, knowing that some of them appear to have the signs of righteousness. What is the ruling on their doing this?
The Shaykh:
This is from Shaytan. This action is from Shaytan. No one eats coals. No one—I challenge anyone who says he drinks from something hot. If you bring him something hot and pour it on him, he will scream, or if you bring him a coal and put it on his leg, he will scream. So how does he eat coals? He lies, but he shows the people that he is eating coals, while in reality the coal does not reach him. The coal does not reach him or his body. Likewise, the car is beside him; it is not under him. He lies, showing the people that it is under him, while it is beside him and not under him. This is a form of deception upon the people. So, stop with these myths of yours, lie down on the ground, and let the car run over your back. It will not obey, it will not obey, it will not obey, absolutely not.
The one who feeds himself with a sword or a knife says to him: I will bring a small knife and stab you with it, and he cannot bear it.
Because you are not actually reciting incantations; you are truly stabbing, truly. And he stabs with a stab that is not real, but rather deceptive. So there is a difference between this, and it is not permissible for Muslims to approve of this thing, even if they call it one of the tricks, or call it one of the arts, or call it whatever they call it. It means opening the door to sorcery, opening the door to witchcraft.
This is a matter that is not permissible, and it is obligatory for the rulers to prevent it. It is obligatory for them to prevent it immediately, and not to approve of it. And no one from the students of knowledge should remain silent about this thing.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [251 /1350] تقام مهرجانات بقصد الترفيه ويحصل فيها مشي على الحبال وأكل الجمر...! الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.