The Ruling on Removing Sorcery with Sorcery

Question:
Your Eminence the Shaykh, the questioner asks: Is it permissible to remove sorcery with sorcery? And did Imam al-Bukhari and al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on them) permit that?

Answer:
It is not obligatory to remove sorcery with sorcery, because the wrong is not removed by the wrong. However, sorcery is removed by the lawful ruqyah (healing by Qur'anic recitation), lawful supplications, and permissible medicines. It is not removed by sorcery. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about that, he said that the nashrah (removal of sorcery) is from the work of Satan. The nashrah is the removal of sorcery, and he called it the work of Satan. The work of Satan is removing sorcery with sorcery, for example, and it is the work of Satan. But it is removed by the Qur'an, the lawful ruqyah, and supplications—calling upon the Lord and humbly beseeching Him—and by permissible medicines. When some of the Jews cast a spell on the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), Allah revealed the ruqyah of the two Mu'awwidhat (protective chapters), so he recited them over himself, and with "Say: He is Allah, the One," Allah cured him of all evil (peace and blessings be upon him). He said that the protected ones do not seek protection with anything like them. If a person is afflicted with something of this, or suspects something of this, let him use the lawful ruqyah: reciting al-Fatihah over himself, reciting Ayat al-Kursi (the Verse of the Throne), reciting "Say: He is the One" and the two Mu'awwidhat three times at night, and repeating them in the morning and evening. All of this is among the causes of healing and well-being: the lawful ruqyah and lawful supplications. The greatest of these is al-Fatihah, for it is the greatest surah in the Book of Allah. Likewise, the three surahs: "Say: He is Allah, the One," "Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of the Daybreak," and "Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of mankind." He reads them in his hands, in his palms, reading the three surahs in his hands, in his palms, three times, then he wipes over his head, face, and chest three times at night. By this, what he is experiencing will be removed, by the permission of Allah. He does this two or three times until the harm he is suffering is removed. There is no objection to the permissible medicines that some doctors mention. There is no objection to them along with humbly beseeching Allah, supplicating to Him, and asking Him to cure what ails him, and to protect him from the evil of Satan and his whispers. Iham.