Ruling on Visiting Sorcerers

We begin first with a message from Abdullah Saleh Muhammad Abu Safiyyah al-'Umrani from the village of Al-'Atif. He says: What is the ruling on one who resorts to sorcerers who claim to have the ability to cure some people of certain mental illnesses? Some people have resorted to them and been cured of their illness, and it is said that they seek the help of the jinn in doing so. What is their reward with Allah? And what is the ruling on one who resorts to them?
Answer: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance.
As for the answer: Resorting to sorcerers and asking them about the illnesses that some people are afflicted with is not permissible. It is authentically reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: This was narrated by Muslim in his Sahih. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: in other hadiths. The diviner and the soothsayer, and those similar to them, are those who claim knowledge of the unseen through the jinn. Such a person is called a diviner (‘iraf) and a soothsayer (kahin). It is not permissible to ask these people, nor is it permissible to visit them. Rather, it is obligatory to leave off asking them. Whoever asks them and visits them deserves to be disciplined and punished until he abandons that. Likewise, the soothsayers and diviners must be rebuked, disciplined, and prevented from these works. They must be ordered to repent from their claim that they know what befalls people through the jinn they use as intermediaries. All of this is false and all of it is denounced. As for the fact that some people may be cured, this may be because the illness was caused by the jinn and the devils of the jinn. Then, if the one who claims to be a doctor approaches them and approaches them with what they want, they may remove and lift what they themselves did, which was the cause of this person’s illness.
So the result is that they may engage in things that harm the person. If someone who worships them and magnifies them connects with them, they remove that thing they are doing, and the illness subsides. As is narrated from Ibn Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with him): “He said to his wife when she used to go to a Jew who would recite ruqyah for her eye: ‘Indeed, it is Satan pricking her with his hand. So when that Jew recites for you, he stops.’” This means to lure her toward the Jew.
The point is that these people who claim to connect with the jinn and ask them for some needs are not to be asked, nor are they to be believed. Rather, the Muslim must stay away from them and beware of them. It is obligatory for the rulers, if they know of them, to rebuke them and discipline them until they refrain from these works. And if they claim knowledge of the unseen, it is obligatory to order them to repent. If they repent, well and good; otherwise, they are to be killed as disbelievers, because claiming knowledge of the unseen is disbelief. The unseen is not known except by Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). Yes.