The Ruling on the Sorcerer and the One Who Goes to Sorcerers

The questioner:
This questioner says: Is the sorcerer subject to Allah's will, or is he a disbeliever who will remain in the Fire forever? And what is your advice to many people who, whenever they are afflicted with any harm, turn to sorcerers to ask about their circumstances?

The Shaykh:
Yes, is it?

The questioner:
Is the sorcerer subject to Allah's will, or is he a disbeliever who will remain in the Fire forever? And what is your advice to many people who, whenever they are afflicted with the slightest harm, turn to sorcerers to seek information about their circumstances?

The Shaykh:
The sorcerer is a disbeliever who has exited the religion, because sorcery is disbelief. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, said: but . And He, the Exalted, said: a trial by which they teach people sorcery, and what was not revealed to the two angels in Babylon, Harut and Marut. And the two angels do not teach anyone sorcery except that they advise him and say to him: "Sorcery is disbelief, so do not learn it, for whoever learns sorcery is a disbeliever." And at the end of the verse it says: "And they certainly knew that whoever buys it" — meaning sorcery, replacing it with faith — "has no share in the Hereafter," meaning he has no portion in Paradise. This is the description of the disbeliever, may Allah protect us from that. The disbeliever is the one who has no share in the Hereafter, meaning in Paradise. So sorcery is disbelief, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) counted it among the seven destructive sins and commanded avoiding them. The sorcerer is a disbeliever; sorcery is major shirk (associating partners with Allah) that exits the religion. The sorcerer is a disbeliever who is killed and not asked to repent, because even if he displays repentance, he is not sincere in his repentance, for he is a zindiq, and a zindiq is not asked to repent; he is killed in all cases. This is the ruling of the sorcerer.
As for the one who goes to him and believes him, if he believes him and agrees with him regarding sorcery and holds that sorcery is permissible, he becomes a disbeliever like him, because he has made disbelief permissible and approved of disbelief, so he is a disbeliever like the sorcerer. But if he holds that sorcery is forbidden and invalid, but he goes to him for his own desire, this is considered committing a major sin among the grave sins. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever goes to a fortune-teller, and the fortune-teller is like the sorcerer, indeed the sorcerer is more severe than the fortune-teller. He said: 'Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and believes in what he says, he has disbelieved in what was sent down to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).'" And in the hadith , it is not permissible to go to sorcerers or seek treatment from them. Rather, it is obligatory to report them to the authorities in order to establish the ruling of Allah upon them and to relieve the people and the land from them, because they corrupt the people and the land and corrupt the religion. So it is not permissible to remain silent about them or leave them alone, even if they claim that they treat people.
Treatment is not done through disbelief, rather, treatment is not done through what is forbidden, even if it is less than disbelief. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Seek treatment, but do not seek treatment with what is forbidden." And Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Allah has not made your healing in what He has forbidden for you." This is regarding what is forbidden, so how about sorcery, which is disbelief, may Allah protect us from that. Yes.