Ruling on Consulting Sorcerers and Magicians

Q: The brother S. A. B. from Riyadh says in his question: In some parts of Yemen, there are people called "al-Sadah" (the Nobles). These people do things that contradict the religion, such as sorcery and the like. They claim to be able to cure people of incurable diseases and prove this by stabbing themselves with daggers or cutting out their tongues and then restoring them without any harm coming to them. Some of them pray, while others do not.
They also permit themselves to marry outside their own lineage, but they do not permit anyone else to marry from their lineage. When they make du'a for the sick, they say: "O Allah, O so-and-so," referring to one of their ancestors.
In the past, people revered them and considered them extraordinary people who were close to Allah; indeed, they called them "men of Allah." Now, people are divided regarding them: some oppose them, and these are the young people and some of the educated, while others still cling to them, and these are the elderly and the uneducated. We ask your Eminence to clarify the truth in this matter?

A: These people and their like are among the Sufis who have reprehensible deeds and invalid actions. They are also among the diviners about whom the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This is due to their claim of knowledge of the unseen, their service to the jinn and their worship of them, and their deception of people with the types of sorcery they perform, about which Allah said in the story of Musa and Pharaoh: [Al-A'raf: 116]. Therefore, it is not permissible to visit them or ask them, because of this noble hadith, and because of his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: In another wording: .
As for their making du'a to other than Allah, seeking aid from other than Allah, or their claim that their fathers and ancestors act in the universe, or cure the sick, or respond to du'a despite being dead or absent, all of this is disbelief in Allah and major shirk (associating partners with Allah). It is obligatory to disapprove of them, not to visit them, not to ask them, and not to believe them; because they have combined in these deeds the actions of the soothsayers and diviners with the actions of the polytheists who worship other than Allah, seek aid from other than Allah, and seek help from other than Allah, such as the jinn and the dead, and others who claim to be their ancestors or forefathers, or other people who claim to have a special status (wilayah) or a miracle (karamah). Indeed, all of this is among the deeds of sorcery and the reprehensible soothsaying and divination in the pure Shari'ah.
As for the reprehensible actions they perform, such as stabbing themselves with daggers or cutting out their tongues, all of this is a deception of the people, and it is all of the types of forbidden sorcery that the texts from the Book and the Sunnah have prohibited and warned against, as mentioned previously. Therefore, a person of intellect should not be deceived by this. This is of the same kind as what Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) said about the magicians of Pharaoh: [Ta-Ha: 66].
These people have combined sorcery with charlatanism, fortune-telling, and divination, along with major shirk, seeking help from other than Allah, calling for aid from other than Allah, and claiming knowledge of the unseen and the ability to manipulate the knowledge of the universe. These are many types of major shirk and open disbelief, and they are among the acts of charlatanism that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has forbidden, as well as the claim of knowledge of the unseen, which no one knows except Allah, as He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said: [Al-Naml: 65].
Therefore, it is obligatory upon all Muslims who know their condition to disapprove of them, clarify the badness of their actions and that they are reprehensible, and report their case to the rulers if they are in an Islamic land, so that they may be punished with what they deserve according to the Shari'ah, to cut off their evil and protect the Muslims from their falsehoods and deceptions. And Allah is the guarantor of success.