The other day, I was reading up on Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, an Iranian cleric based in Najaf, Iraq, who, as his lofty title indicates, is one of the foremost authorities within Shia Islam. The man has a pretty impressive internet presence (and not just for an octogenarian), including a wide-ranging Q&A bit, where the faithful get their questions answered.
On the subject of “black magic”, the Grand Ayatollah writes:
Emphasis mine. Also:
Again, emphasis mine.
I was surprised to see that the Grand Ayatollah here seems to* allow for the practice of magic in cases where a “more important interest was served” and “the matter rests upon a greater benefit,” such as to save a life. I would have assumed that magic, in whatever form and for whatever purpose, would have been considered haraam, no matter what, and with no exceptions whatsoever. Apparently not, though, which led me to wonder:
Is this a personal quirk of this specific Grand Ayatollah (as opposed to other high-ranking Shia clerics), or is it a mainstay within either Shia Islam, specifically, or even Islam, generally?
Who is allowed to practice such “white” magic (I’m putting “white” within quotation marks, since this is not the term used by the Grand Ayatollah himself), in the few cases where it is indeed allowed? Cunning folk? Witches? Magicians? High-ranking members of the clergy? The Grand Ayatollah himself? Any random Muslim, or even non-Muslim?
And, last but not least, how is this form of “white,” beneficial, Grand Ayatollah-approved magic actually practiced?
*) “Seems to” = Assuming, of course, that a) the homepage is legit and b) the translation is correct.
“X is forbidden, except in the case of life and death survival” is a common construction in Islam.
I’m a little surprised that Sistani goes out of his way to say that using magic in the service of stopping magic plots is unacceptable. The sixth Shi’i Imam, Ja’afar as-Sadiq, is reported to have allowed this, saying, “Open the knots of magic but do not tie the knots of sorcery.”
Magic has two meanings in the Qur’an, deception/slight of hand; and enchantments. I don’t think there are any specific “approved” ways of practicing one or the other.
Sorry about the late reply, and thanks for the info. Hadn’t heard about Ja’afar as-Sadiq’s saying, very interesting.
On the subject of “using magic in the service of stopping magic plots”, with specific instructions, I found this:
At the end of the page, it says that the “rules discussed herein are quoted from fatwas of Ayatullah Sistani”, so it seems legit.
Now, in both of my original Sistani quotes, from the OP, you’ll note that the injuctions against “using magic in the service of stopping magic plots” are within brackets. This might, perhaps, mean that they are additions to Sistani’s original text - penned, perhaps, by an overzealous assistant, webmaster or some such…?
I’ll try to track down Sistani’s own text in the original Arabic, and perhaps someone who reads the language can lemme know what’s what.
Here (.doc) is a scan of Ayatollah Sistani’s fatwa on “white” magic, in the original Arabic. (Though the homepage I found it on is clearly anti-Shia, I’m assuming that the scan itself is authentic.)
If someone out there reads Arabic, could you and would you please check if these scans include the bits about how magic is forbidden even when “used to invalidate magic plots” and “to undo magic”?
(I realize we are dealing with extremely arcane minutiae here - but that’s the kind of thing I live for! :))