On the Deceptive Practices of the Dervishes

Q: What is your opinion of those who call themselves "dervishes" and stab themselves with daggers, knives, and other things? And in doing so, before saying "O Allah," they say "O Rafi'i." What is the ruling of the Shari'ah regarding that? Is there any evidence for their actions? May Allah reward you with good.
A: These are liars and fraudsters. There is no basis for their actions. Rather, they are liars who use tricks to deceive people so that people think they are stabbing themselves, when that is not the case. It is merely deception, forgery of the eyes, and sorcery against people, just as Allah said about the magicians of Pharaoh that they terrified the people and bewitched their eyes. The point is that this type of people—among the wicked and the fraudsters—has no basis for what they do, and it is not permissible to believe them. Rather, they are liars, fraudsters, and deceivers of people. And if they invoke al-Rafi'i, or anyone other than al-Rafi'i, that is major shirk (associating partners with Allah), like the one who says: "O Rafi'i," or "O Messenger of Allah, help us," or "intercede for us," or "O Ali," "O my master Ali," or "O Husayn," or "O so-and-so," or "O my master al-Badawi," or the like. All of this is major shirk, all of this is worship of other than Allah, and all of this is of the same kind as the actions of those who worship graves, and those who worship al-Lat and al-Uzza, and their like. So it is major shirk. We seek refuge in Allah from that.
And these who stab themselves with daggers and knives, it is all deception and trickery with no basis. Rather, by this, they are liars and wicked. It is obligatory upon the rulers, if there is a Muslim ruler in their land, to take action against them, to punish them, and to discipline them until they repent from their evil deeds.