Discussion of the reality of sorcery, its types, the ruling on the sorcerer, and his punishment.

The Shaykh : Sorcery is the most severe of what Allah mentioned here: the blowers into knots, because the blowers into knots seek the aid of the devils against the bewitched person, so he is afflicted either in his mind, or in his body, or in his direction. It has types; for example, what is known as *sarf* and *'atf* is among the most severe types of sorcery. *Sarf* means that a man is bewitched until he becomes completely attached to the one for whom he was bewitched, and its opposite is *'atf*, where he is bewitched until he hates the people closest to him. Listen to the saying of Allah the Exalted: What is it? The relationship between husband and wife is one of the strongest relationships, as He the Exalted said: So the sorcerer is empowered over the man to separate him from his wife. But listen to the end of the verse: Sorcery is a cause of harm, but behind the cause is a Creator who is able to nullify this sorcery. There is sorcery with medicines without blowing; medicines are gathered from here and there, then placed in a certain place, and the bewitched person is affected by them.
The verse just mentioned the most severe type of sorcery, which is the sorcery of the soul, because this is the sorcery of the devils. The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) said that the sorcerer who blows into knots commits disbelief and is killed for his disbelief, but he must be killed, unless he repents with a sincere repentance and we know that he is truthful in his repentance, for then Allah the Exalted accepts all sins.
The second category of sorcerers: those whose sorcery does not reach the level of disbelief, but he must be killed as a *hadd*. How is he killed? Yes, because he is a corrupter in the land and transgresses against the servants of Allah, so he must be killed.
But if he repents before he is caught, repents to Allah, turns back, and nullifies the sorcery he had tied for people, then in that case he is not killed according to the stronger opinion, even though some scholars say that the sorcerer must be killed whether he repents or not, to cut off his evil. But the correct view is that if he repents, we have texts indicating that whoever repents, Allah accepts his repentance .
The third: Yes, yes, yes, we return to it .