By Tawfik Hamid 

www.tawfikhamid.com  

A few weeks ago the Saudi religious authority was going to behead a Lebanese TV psychic because he had been convicted of practicing witchcraft (1).  While to us this seems ludicrous, the current Sharia Law justifies and promotes killing "witchcrafts" (2).   

It is vital -an innocent person could be killed based on this law-to explore new and different ways to look at the issue of killing sorcerers in Islam.

First of all, it is important to clarify that killing witchcrafts has NEVER been mentioned in the Quran itself. The sources for the law of killing sorcerers are in the Sunna or Hadith (sayings of the prophet) books that were collected more than 200 years after the death of the prophet.  

The following points need to be discussed:

1-Were the acts of this man's 'sorcery' consistent with the type of acts that directly harm others described in the Qur'an as the work of "Al-Naphathati Fi Al-Uquad?" (3) Or instead, were the acts of this man more consistent with a variety of future telling "Istiqsam Bi-Alazlam" (4)  that are only considered haram (forbidden, yet non-punishable in Islam)? The later expression, "Istiqsam Bi-Alazlam", indicates an act of using stones to predict the future luck of a person and  make decisions accordingly. (5)

2. Acknowledging that the acts of the accused were a form of future telling, means they should not be classified as black magic "Al-Naphathati Fi Al-Uquad" [the punishable form of magic in Islam]. This calls for further review and revising of the case.

3.  Since the rule of killing a person for sorcery (black magic) or future telling has never been mentioned in the Qur'an it is fundamental to question the sources for this Non-Quranic law.

4-There are two main sources for the rule for killing the accused in the Sunna,

 A statement by Prophet Mohamed: The only statement about killing the sorcerers that is supposed to be said by the Prophet Mohammed: " The Hadd (punishment) for the magician is striking with the sword" is weak (unbinding) Hadith. (6)

A statement by Sahaba (a disciple) of Mohamed: This statement is considered according to the science of Hadith as accurate. Assuming that this is correct, or in other words the statement is accurate, it is important in this context to mention that some of the top Sahaba such as Umar Ibn Al-Khatab stopped the punishment (Hadd) for stealing [supposed to be amputating the hands of the thief] in "Aam Al-Ramada" (the latter represents a year of extreme poverty) due to the possibility that implementing this law could be unjust for some people (as poverty was prevalent in this year due to lack of rain so a person may steel in order to survive).  Therefore, using the same approach of Umar Ibn Al-Khatab may justify stopping the present beheading of this man since this law is basically not in the Quran. In addition, the statement of the prophet about killing magicians is a weak Hadith, and the act itself can be classified under another category of "Istiqsam Bi-AlAzlam"- which is not considered 'black magic'.   

In short, the concept of killing a person for being a sorcerer or a magician needs to be reviewed by the Islamic religious authority. New Laws in Islam that allow freedom are desperately needed as the current Sharia Laws promote several violent concepts that ultimately help in creating the violent radical minds that underestimate the value of human life.

(1)  http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/31/saudi.arabia.sorcery/index.html   

(2) See Minhaj Al-Muslim by Al-Jaza'iry (lecturer at the Nobel prophetic masjiid) Volume 2 page 527).

(3) (Qur'an 113:4)

(4) (Quran 5 : 3)

(5) See Tafseer  Al-Shawkani  for Sura 5 Verse 3.

(6) See Minhaj Al-Muslim by Al-Jaza'iry (lecturer at the Nobel prophetic masjiid) Volume 2 page 527 -foot note [1]).