[MUSIC] The word <i>siḥr</i> ("magic") is formed on the Arabic root 's-ḥ-r'. This root which conveys the meaning of "bewitchment", "enchantment", "fascination", and "charm" appears about 60 times in the Qur’ān, under one or another of its lexical derivations. In the Meccan <i>sūras</i>, the earliest chapters of the Qur’ān, where it appears with the greatest frequency, <i>siḥr</i> or one of its derivatives is most regularly mentioned on the occasion of narratives that aim at demonstrating that all the prophets, having espoused the monotheistic view, have inevitably been met with the accusation of bewitching their own people. Interestingly enough, these narratives concern not only biblical figures such as Noah, Abraham, Lot, or Moses, but also Arab ones such as Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, Shu‘ayb and, of course, Muḥammad himself, the seal of prophethood according to the traditional view. Indeed, as was recently observed by Constant Hamès, the prophet of Islam is there frequently referred to by his opponents as a <i>sāḥir
("magician" or "sorcerer") a qualification which one usually finds in combination with one of the
following words: kāhin (“diviner” or “soothsayer”), shā‘ir (“poet”), or majnūn (“fool”). In comparison with the Meccan period of revelation, the Medinan <i>sūras</i> contained far fewer reference to magic, but they do include the most illustrious Qur‘ānic statement about magic, and do this, through the famous story of the angels Hārūt and Mārūt, as given in the second <i>Sūra</i>. A story whose ultimate background is possibly to be found in ancient Indo-Iranian traditions. The beginning of the verse, namely 2:102, brings us to the time of Solomon and reads (I quote): "and they followed [instead] what the devils had recited during the reign
of Solomon. It was not Solomon who disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Hārūt
and Mārūt. But the two angels do not teach anyone unless they say 'We are a trial, so do not disbelieve [by practising magic]'" (end of quote). Whatever the way this verse may be interpreted (and it indeed appears that the verse was interpreted in many different ways, by Ṭabarī, Razī or Zamakhsharī) it should definitely be regarded as the <i>locus classicus</i> of Islamic exegesis with respect to magic. What is clear in any case is that the Qur’ān nowhere explicitly condemns or forbids the use of magic. At a more practical and popular level, we may even observe that certain specific verses and also entire <i>sūras</i>, such as the last two <i>sūras</i> of the Holy Book, have frequently been used for magical and more especially, prophylactic purposes. And neither should we forget to mention here the extensive literature devoted in medieval Islam to such "magical issues" as the opening letters of the Qur’ān, the names of the "Companions of the Cave" in <i>Sūra</i> 18, or the 99 epithets of God. Now, it is also true that we may find in Islamic orthodoxy a much less favourable judgement about magic and its practitioners, who have generally been considered a major threat to the community of believers. Already, at an early stage in the history of Islam, various prophetic traditions must have circulated with stories in which magic was severely condemned. The ninth century traditionalist, Tirmidhī, the author of one of the six canonical collections of Ḥadīth in Sunni Islam, affirms, for instance (I quote): "the penalty for the magician is death by the sword." This kind of condemnation was in turn repeated over the centuries by the greatest majority of the jurists and theologians who have all warned against the dangers of <i>siḥr</i>, in the same way as in the Christian Latin Middle Ages, magicians, witches, and sorcerers were regularly accused of following the Devil. And some of them were persecuted, sent to jail, or even executed. The practitioners of magic were generally accused of <i>bid‘a</i> (that is, in other words, of bringing heretical innovations) a very serious reproach indeed, according to Muslim orthodoxy. In his famous and most influential "Revival of the Religious Sciences," Ghazālī unambiguously ranges magic, talismans, prestidigitation, and sortilege as blameable sciences. And yet, it may be affirmed that the greatest majority of jurists and theologians, even among the most traditional ones, did make some effort at distinguishing between the different categories of magic, and that their primary objective in doing so was to intend to separate from one another the permitted recourse to magic and a forbidden one. To take up Toufic Fadh's formulation on this point (I quote): "what is permitted is natural magic, known as 'white', including, among other elements, charms; imaginary phenomena produced by natural means, on the basis of properties, having no connection with religion; psychic phenomena materialized by the use of filters and amulets activated by means of absorption or fumigation of powders and fats. The practice of this magic is tolerated insofar as it causes no harm to others. But when the magician influences nature with the object of doing harm, he is exercising prohibited magic. This implies recourse to demoniacal inspiration (black magic) and to the invocation of the planets (theurgy)." All things considered, what appears with great clarity to any modern investigator in this field is that there has always existed in Islam an enormous gap between the theoretical views on magic as professed by the jurists and the traditionalists from the Middle Ages, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the actual practices as they have continuously been performed until the present time by magicians, sorcerers, and specialists in talismans in many parts of the dār al-islām. This can probably be explained first and foremost by the divergence of opinions even among the best qualified representatives of the legal theory. Thus, for instance, the 13th-century Andalusī author Abū ‘Abdallāh al-Qurṭubī, who is one of these authorities to have commented extensively on the famous Qur’ānic passage on Harūt and Marūt, is known for having adopted a far more tolerant and conciliatory position than the majority of his predecessors. Another important reason is certainly to be sought for in the curative virtues that many of these practices were suppose to possess. As has already been stressed, the legal theory of magic proved to be particularly severe, whenever and wherever magic could be seen as a threat or a danger to the community of believers. But insofar as he did not transgress too patently the limits of the forbidden, a local magician possessing esoteric knowledge was usually much respected for his ability to contribute to the village's welfare. And this is something which can be observed even today in most countries of the Muslim world. In the next video, we shall be dealing with magic, and other occult sciences according to the Ikhwān
al-Ṣafā’. [MUSIC]
