Note: Amulets & Talismans

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Amulets & Talismans

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Note: This lecture summary is generated by Google NotebookLM and was not available on the Ustaz's Original Note site.

Here is a detailed description of the lecture "Types of Magic + Amulets & Talismans", expanding on the concepts and examples presented: This lecture delves into the intricate world of magic, as understood from an Islamic perspective, explaining its types, the methods and beliefs of magicians, and practical guidance on identifying and destroying magical items.

1. Types of Magic

Magicians, in their own books, primarily categorize magic into two major groups, with several subcategories:

• Solf (Turning Away/Repelling): This type of magic aims to create separation, hatred, or repulsion.
  • It can be used to break up marriages, cause a child to hate their mother, or separate family members.
  • Beyond human relationships, Solf can also be used to repel or push away Jinn that are bothering someone, though this is done by using other Jinn and often involves the client in acts of Cofer (disbelief).
• Aqlf (Bringing Together): This is the opposite of Solf, focused on fostering love, uniting families, or even aiding conception.
  • While seemingly positive, the lecture stresses that magic brings no good and ultimately leads to destruction. Even when magicians try to bring people together, it often ends in families separating because "the magician will never be successful". Such magic might work for a limited time, but eventually, the Shaitan will make the situation worse.
• Other Subcategories:
  • Magic for Protection: Magicians use this to protect themselves from Jinn by bringing "protector" Jinn and pushing away harmful ones.
  • Medicinal Magic: Aims to "fix" or "undo something medically" by bringing Jinn into a person to affect their physical well-being. For example, Jinn might be brought in to "study" a person's heart rhythm if they have a heart problem.
  • Magic for Killing: This is considered the strongest and worst kind of separation magic, explicitly mentioned in the Sunnah (Prophetic tradition) as the type of magic used against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Magicians often mix these types of magic within a single charm, for instance, by creating a charm that repels a new spouse while simultaneously bringing an old spouse back.

2. Magicians' Practices and Beliefs

The lecture exposes the dark and often immoral practices magicians engage in to gain power:

• Reliance on Jinn and Cofer (Disbelief): Magicians use Jinn to perform their magic and require clients to participate in acts of disbelief, such as sacrificing to entities other than Allah.
• "Kufur (Disbelief) is One Religion": The lecture highlights that magicians worldwide operate on a unified system, cooperating with each other regardless of their geographical location or apparent religious background (e.g., magicians in Cornwall, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Africa, South America use the same numbers and information). There are only two religions: Islam and disbelief, and magicians fall into the latter, cooperating as "helpers of each other".
• Fortune-Telling and Astrology: These practices are integral to magic.
  • Methods: Magicians use mirrors (like a "reverse mirror" to "see the future"), throw coals or burn paper/charcoal and read the ashes, read tea leaves, throw seashells or date/cardamom seeds, and make pictures in sand or ashes to tell fortunes.
  • Astrology and Elements: They divide people into four elements: earth, fire, air, and water, based on their star signs. This is done to determine how the magic should be deployed. For example, if a person is "earth," the magic will be buried in the ground; if "fire," it will be burned; if "water," put in water; and if "air," hung up. The lecture emphasizes this elemental division is "complete rubbish".
  • Islamic View on Fortune-Telling: Even reading horoscopes or watching a magician for "a laugh" or entertainment can have severe spiritual consequences, such as prayers not being accepted for 40 days. Believing in a fortune-teller is considered disbelief in what was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
• Disgusting and Immoral Acts: To seek closeness to the Shaitan, magicians engage in abhorrent acts:
  • Use of Filth: They may be commanded to urinate and defecate within a circle and sit in their own waste while performing rituals.
  • Sexual Immorality: Magicians practice fahisha (immorality), including incest, homosexuality, and child abuse. Some even claim they only became powerful magicians after practicing homosexuality.
  • Disgracing Sacred Texts: They may write Allah's name on pictures of naked women's genitalia or insert names of devils/Shayateen into Quranic verses, changing just one letter to disgrace it. For example, changing "Hittah" (meaning "wipe out my sins") to "Hintah" (meaning "wheat grain").
• Calculations Based on Names: Magicians take a person's name and their mother's name.
  • They assign numerical values to each letter (using a system like Abjad where Alef=1, Ba=2, etc.).
  • They add these values together, then divide the sum by 12 repeatedly until they get a number between 1 and 12. This final number is used to determine the person's elemental association (earth, fire, air, or water), which then dictates where the magic will be placed (e.g., buried in the ground, burned, put in water, or hung in the air).
• Specific Numbers, Symbols, and Codes:
  • They use Al-Kalam Al-Rouhani, a system of symbols that they believe correspond to guardian spirits (rouhani) of Quranic verses, which are in reality Jinn from the Shayateen.
  • Symbols from the Seven Stars of Babylon are also used, with each star having a corresponding symbol and the name of a Shaitan. These symbols and names are found in amulets intended for protection or bringing people together.
  • Often, the letters are "broken up" or rearranged to spell names of Shayateen or to form numbers that relate to the magic.
• Source of Magician's Strength: A magician's "strength" is said to come not from themselves, but from how many followers they misguide into worshipping other than Allah.

3. Identifying Magical Items (Amulets & Talismans)

Magical items can take many forms and often contain specific indicators:

• Forms:
  • Hair wrapped in coils.
  • Stitched items in clothing or shoes.
  • Pouches containing various materials.
  • Metal containers, locks, and keys with magic built in.
  • Dead birds or animals (e.g., a talisman tied to a bird's foot so the magic affects the person wherever the bird flies).
  • Eggs with writing on them, meant to be smashed or placed in specific locations.
  • Papers:
    • Meant for burning at specific times (often with incense).
    • Put in water for drinking (sometimes without the person's knowledge).
    • Folded or written on and hung.
  • Rings with names of Shayateen written inside.
  • Stones with inscriptions, used to come close to the Shaitan.
  • Candles: White, red, and green candles are significant; red is associated with love and bringing people together.
• Specific Numbers and Symbols: The number of knots, pins, eggs, or squares in a charm indicates its purpose.
  • 7: Associated with bringing people together, love, or protection (related to the Seven Stars of Babylon). Examples include a voodoo doll with 7 pins or a rope with 7 knots.
  • 9 or 15: Done for separation, breaking up families, or harming. Often found in squares (like Al-Mosalif Al-Ghazali) where numbers add up to 9 or 15.
  • 11: Used for killing. An example given is a comb tied 11 times with 11 knots, with hair from the victim.
  • 3: For medicinal purposes.
  • 5: To protect the magician.
  • Appearance: Often contain symbols, signs, the target person's name, or broken/disgraced Quranic verses. These may appear as squares, triangles, circles, or other "seals of the magician".

4. Destroying Magic (Ruqya)

The lecture provides practical guidance for destroying magic, based on the expert opinion of Sheikh Adil ibn Tahir Al-Mubarak:

• Do Not Burn Magic Meant for Burning: If the magic contains incense, powder, or is explicitly meant to be activated by burning, do not burn it. Instead, place it in water over which Quranic verses have been recited (like Surat Al-Fatiha, Al-Falaq, and An-Nas). The water should then be disposed of in an uninhabited area, like a park corner or rubbish ground, as a precaution.
• Metal or Brass Items: Inscriptions on these items must be ground or sanded down until they are no longer visible. After this, they can be discarded or placed in water.
• Pouches: These must be carefully opened (using pliers or scissors) to access and destroy their contents.
• General Burning: For most other types of magic, especially paper-based, the Sheikh advises to burn them while reciting Surat Al-Fatiha and Surahs Al-Falaq and An-Nas. The lecture addresses the controversy surrounding burning, with Sheikh Adil stating that the advice not to burn due to fear of affliction is "ignorance and falsehood".
• Items with Impurities: If a magical item has impurities like menstrual blood or feces, these must be cleaned off with water (preferably rose water if Quranic text is present) before reciting Quran over the item or burning it. One should never recite Quran over filth.
• Soluble Ink: If the ink on the paper is soluble, the item should be placed in water to dissolve the ink, then the water is discarded, and the paper can be burned if desired.
• Knots: For items with knots (e.g., ropes, combs), each knot must be individually cut while reciting Quran and blowing on it.

Magicians follow these specific "rules" because magic is considered a "knowledge" or "science" with established methods, rather than just simple requests to the Shaitan.