Celebrating by striking oneself with a sword is an abominable act

Q: A matter has confused me and all my family, which is that some celebrations and mawlid gatherings are held in our village, and I see some people doing very strange things, namely that some people strike themselves with a sword or dagger and cut their hands and fingers. Are these actions reasonable? Are they the work of Satan and a type of sorcery and witchcraft? And if they are the work of Satan, how do we see that the person who tells them that this action is incorrect and that it is sorcery and witchcraft is struck the next day with a serious illness from which he does not recover unless he apologizes to them? Guide us in this, for these are trials we have been afflicted with? May Allah reward you with good.

A: Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. As for what follows:
These things mentioned by the questioner, namely that some people hold festivals and celebrations and perform abominable acts such as cutting their hands and fingers and the like, and that whoever rebukes them for it may be struck by some illness, all of this is the work of Satan and his beautification of it for people so that they obey him and do what he calls them to, which is obedience to Satan and disobedience to the Most Merciful. These acts performed by these criminals are used to deceive people and bewitch their eyes, so people think that they have cut their hands or cut their legs or fingers, when there is nothing of that; it is all lies, all sorcery, and all nonsense. As Allah the Exalted said in the story of the sorcerers with Moses: [Al-A'raf: 116]. The sorcerer may bewitch people so that they see the rope as a snake and the staff as a snake, as Allah the Exalted said: [Ta-Ha: 66]. The point is that these acts are sorcerous and false witchcraft, and it is obligatory to rebuke their practitioners for them.
And it is the duty of the ruler to prevent them from doing so and to punish them with what deters them and their like. And if the government is Islamic, it is obligatory for it to implement the ruling of the Shari'ah against them to protect the Muslims from their evil.
Also, celebrating birthdays, such as the mawlid of so-and-so or so-and-so, all of this has no basis, and it is all from the religious innovations that people have introduced. There are no festivals in Islam for the birth of so-and-so or so-and-so; rather, there are the prescribed festivals: the Festival of Sacrifice, the Festival of Breaking the Fast, the Day of 'Arafah, and the days of Mina. These are the festivals of the Muslims by the explicit text of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). As for the mawlid of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or the mawlid of al-Husayn, or the mawlid of so-and-so or so-and-so, celebrating them is something people introduced after the blessed centuries. All of it is from religious innovations, so it is obligatory for Muslims to abandon that, repent from it, cooperate in righteousness and piety, advise one another to truth, and return to what Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) have legislated.
All good is in following the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and all evil is in opposing his guidance and what his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were upon. It is authentically reported from him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: It is agreed upon as authentic. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Reported by Muslim in his Sahih. And the meaning of "so it is rejected" is: it is rejected upon its doer.
In the Sahih, from Jabir ibn 'Abdullah al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) , he said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would preach on Friday and say: And al-Nasa'i added with a good chain: And in the hadith of al-'Arba' ibn Sariyah (may Allah be pleased with him) , he (peace and blessings be upon him) says: .
So my advice to my Muslim brothers in every place, in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere, is to abandon these abominable festivals, and to be content with the Islamic festivals, and to hold their gatherings for lessons of the Qur'an, Prophetic hadiths, and beneficial knowledge at appropriate times of night and day for learning and understanding the religion, acting on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the authentic hadith: , and his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , and his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): .
As for gathering to celebrate the mawlid of so-and-so or anyone else, this is a religious innovation from which one must beware and abandon it, and cooperate in that with good manners and kind advice, so that the believing man and woman understand the truth. The gathering should be for the obedience of Allah and His Messenger, and for knowledge and understanding of the religion, and cooperation in righteousness and piety. As for celebrating the mawlid of any of the people, this is a religious innovation that is not permissible, and the greatest of that is celebrating the mawlid of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); it is not permissible to celebrate his mawlid (peace and blessings be upon him), because he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not legislate it for his Ummah, as mentioned earlier. If celebrating his mawlid had been prescribed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would have done it and taught it to the people and taught it to his Companions, and his Companions would have done it after him and taught it to the people. Since none of that occurred, it is known that it is a religious innovation. And Allah is the guarantor of success.