A man whose wife is afflicted with sorcery and has tried every method to treat her without success: is it permissible for him to take her to a man who treats sorcery with sorcery, and is it permissible?

The questioner : He says, "I have a friend whose wife was bewitched by people who are enemies to him and his family. He tried to treat her by various means, such as cauterization and others, but to no avail. A man referred us to a person who treats sorcery with sorcery. Is there a sin upon him because he uses sorcery to benefit people from other sorcerers, and no one has been harmed by it? And is there a sin upon this friend because he went to this sorcerer to treat his wife from the sorcery that afflicted her?"

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. As for what follows, before answering this question, I would like to clarify that sorcery is among the greatest of forbidden things; indeed, it is disbelief if the sorcerer seeks the aid of satanic states in his sorcery or reaches thereby to associating partners with Allah. Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said: This is evidence that learning sorcery is disbelief, specifically the sorcery received from the jinn. Accordingly, one must be cautious of it and stay away from it so that a person does not fall into the disbelief that expels one from the religion, may Allah protect us from that.
As for removing sorcery from the bewitched person, it is divided into two categories. One is that it is done through supplications and permissible medicines and the Qur'an; this is permissible and there is nothing wrong with it.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : And among the best things recited over the bewitched person are and , for no one seeking protection has ever sought protection with anything like them. Sometimes, removing sorcery is done with sorcery, and there is scholarly disagreement on this, both among the Salaf and the Khalaf. Some scholars have granted a dispensation for it because of the removal of harm from this bewitched person, while others have prohibited it and said: "It is not permissible to remove sorcery except by a sorcerer".

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : And this is better, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about the removal of sorcery and said: The work of Satan is what is done with sorcery. As for what is done with the Qur'an or with permissible supplications, there is nothing wrong with it and no blame. Upon the one afflicted with this matter, it is incumbent to be patient and to increase in recitation and permissible medicines and permissible supplications until Allah the Exalted cures him of it.