The Science of Quackery in Islamic Review [part 1]
Honorable readers! I hope that Allah will always guide us to learn and practice the teaching of this beloved religion.
Peace and prayer of Allah be upon the noblest of the prophets, our prophet, Muhammad, his family, his companions, and those who devotedly follow his teaching until the end of time.
Honorable readers! In this occasion, I’d like us to discuss about “The Science of Quackery in Islamic Review”. The aspects that we’ll discuss are:
– The essence of a quack and quackery
– Quackery, past and present
– The rulings for quackery in Islam
– How to ward off quackery
The backgrounds of this discussion are:
– The many number of muslims who are still trapped in quackery, whether the healthy or the sick, the wealthy or the poor, the successful or the fail, the authority or the common people.
– The spreading of quackery under disguise of Islamic teaching, which creates more problems among the society. There are so many people that are fooled by headscarf of a quack, plus the beads that hung around his neck or in his palm. Just by using a headscarf and beads, the quack could be the confidant of some people who are lack of knowledge and faith.
– The small amount of the muslims who know about the solution to ward off quackery; those who do not know about it are simply trying to ward it off using the similar quackery. Therefore, in this article, we’ll try to give some solutions which are based on shari’a principles that could ward off the quackery.
– The essence of quack and quackery
There are several terminology that connote with quackery; sometimes those terms are used to depict similar meaning, but most of the time, those terms stand for different meaning.
Those terms are: Kaahin (quack), ‘Arraaf (oracle), Rammal (soothsayer), Munajjim (fortune-teller), Saahir (wizard) and hypnotism. The using of the terms for similar meaning is caused by the similarity viewed from several aspects: First, from the aspect of claiming of knowing the unseen things. Second, from the aspect of receiving the information about the unseen from satan or jinn. As for the using of the terms for different meaning, it is more into the root of the word etymologically, and the process and technique done by the subject in his practice of quackery. Some of them used charms and incantations, or tools such as alphabet, seeing the palm lines, or the pattern of the stars, or by writing on the sand using a staff, etc.
There are two words among the mentioned terms which has the closest meaning to each other, that is: Kaahin (quack) and ‘Arraaf (oracle).
In the following passage, we’re going to reveal several explanations of the scholars about the meaning of those words:
The meaning of Kaahin
Sheikh Sholeh Fauzan explained [1]:” Kaahin (quack) is a person who claims to know about the unseen things in the future, using the help of satan (jinn), where the jinn tells him about things that are unknown to men. Since satan is able to know about something that is hard for men to know. Then he tells man about it, with a consequence that the man should obey him. Thus, he commit shirk and infidelity. The man will try to get closer to the satan (jinn). If the man has obeyed the satan(jinn) in whatever his wishes, then the satan will help him to know the unseen things.
Then Sheikh Sholeh Fauzan mentioned another meaning of Kaahin (quack): It is a man who claims to know about what concealed in one’s heart. Whereas no one knows about what inside other’s heart but Allah, but satan could know about it through the whispers he blowed to that person. Since satan walks inside men just as the blood circulates within their bodies. Hence, satan could know something or several things about a person that other people couldn’t.[2]
The meaning of ‘Arraf
As for the meaning of ‘Arraf (oracle), according to Imam Baghawy, ‘Arraf is a person who claims to know about events with certain methods, to know about the whereabout of stolen or missing goods, and the likes, [3]
According to Sheikh Islam Ibn Taimiyya, ‘Arraf (oracle) is a name given to a quack, fortune-teller, and Rammal (soothsayer).[4]
Sheikh Sholeh Fauzan explained about the person who claims to know about events with certain methods, to know about the whereabout of stolen or missing goods, and the likes with the help of satan (jinn). And it is indeed possible for satan to do such. Outwardly, it seems that the fortune-teller does nothing particular according to common people sense, but it is just a disguise; the truth is he is cooperating with satan. If he is not, then how could he know about the whereabout of the stolen or missing goods? He wouldn’t know it, had it not for the help of satan (jinn).
After that, Sheikh Sholeh Fauzan mentioned about another opinion regarding the meaning of ‘Arraf (oracle), that it has similar meaning with Kaahin (quack). That is because both are persons who claim to know the unseen things through the help of satan (jinn), both are the subordinates of satan; even though the terms are different, but the meaning and the profession are similar; claiming to know the unseen things [5].
Conclusion
Sheikh Sholeh Aal Sheikh tried to conclude the scholarsly views about the meaning of Kaahin and ‘Arraf as follow:
The first opinion: Kaahin is a person who claims to know about the unseen things in the future by using the help of satan. And ‘Arraf is a person who claims to know about the hidden, unseen things from men, also by using the help of satan.
The second opinion: Kaahin is a more general term, while ‘Arraf is more specific. Included in the term “Kaahin”, all people who claim to know about the unseen things, in the past or future, which are unknown to men. Fortune-teller and the likes, such as soothsaying, deciding fate using the alphabet, beads, sand carvings, etc, are classified under this term. Some contemporary scholars also classified hypnotism under this terminology [6].
The Way the jinn get the unseen news and his cooperation with the quack
The existence of cooperation between a jinn and a quack possesses consequences and commitments that must be obeyed by both parties. Among the commitments and consequences are; the quack should obey any stipulations made by the jinn, and only after that, that the jinn will help the quack in his quackery. Usually, the stipulations aren’t very sophisticated; it only takes committing one form of shirk activities or infidelity. Even though the quack is still performing some righteous deeds which people could see, such as praying, fasting, etc. And sometimes, the stipulation is about committing a form of worshipping activities that goes against the teaching of the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-. Thus, unconsciously, the quack is trapped in doing a sin continuously in his life, while he doesn’t aware that it is indeed a sin and a wrongdoing, which the scholars famously dubbed “the innovation”.
When there is a close cooperation between them, after that the jinn will try to help the quack in searching for unseen news. Then how could the jinn know about it? The answer lies in this hadith below:
عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه إن نبي الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: ((إذا قضى الله الأمر في السماء ضربت الملائكة بأجنحتها خضعانا لقوله كأنه سلسلة على صفوان فإذا فزع عن قلوبهم قالوا ماذا قال ربكم ؟ قالوا للذي قال الحق وهو العلي الكبير فيسمعها مسترق السمع ومسترق السمع هكذا بعضه فوق بعض – ووصف سفيان بكفه فحرفها وبدد بين أصابعه – فيسمع الكلمة فيلقيها إلى من تحته ثم يلقيها الآخر إلى من تحته حتى يلقيها على لسان الساحر أو الكاهن فربما أدرك الشهاب قبل أن يلقيها وربما ألقاها قبل أن يدركه فيكذب معها مائة كذبة فيقال أليس قد قال لنا يوم كذا وكذا كذا وكذا فيصدق بتلك الكلمة التي سمع من السماء)). رواه البخاري
From Abu Huraira -may Allah be pleased with him- that the Prophet -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- said, “When Allah decided an order in the sky, the angels would bow low their wings full of fear. The sound was like the cringing of chain on white rock. When the fear was lost from them, they would ask: ‘What did your Lord say?’. Gabriel would answer: ‘About the truth, and He is the High One, the Greatest.’ Then the stealer of news of the sky (satan) heard them. Those stealers were like this -some of them were above others – Sufyan (the narrator) gestured it with his fingers, -then the top most heard a sentence and whispered it to the one below him, and the one below him whispered it too the one below him, and so on until he whispered it to the wizard or quack. Sometimes, he would be struck by flaming star before he could transmit it, or he had transmitted it before he got struck by flaming star. Then, the satan mixed the news with 100 lies. Thus people would say: ‘Didn’t he tell us at this day and that day….and he would be trusted due to that one sentence from the sky that he ever heard.” [7]
In the hadith above there are several points that we could explain here:
First: It is explained in the hadith above about the method of the jinn in searching for the unseen news. That is by perching on the top of another, just as the nut climbing scene or cheerleading activities performed at schools, in which five persons are standing on the ground, and then four persons climb on them and then three other persons climb on the five and the four, and so on.
Second: The unseen news they managed to get came from Allah’s order to the angels to do certain task, then the angels conveyed it among them. Through that conversation, the jinn could eavesdrop the news and later brought it to his partner -that is the quack.
Third: That the jinn couldn’t steal the news all the time, since Allah has made some stars to be a weapon to be thrown to them.
Fourth: If they managed to escape from the flaming star, they have managed to steal one news from the sky news, which means that they didn’t know about the complete news. Then, they mixed it with a hundred lies.
Fifth: That the reason some men trusted a quack is because they didn’t see his lies; what they remembered was just a sentence of truth among a hundred lies. Then the true sentence was exposed anywhere, but the lies were never been exposed.
In another hadith, the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- explained:
عن عائشة رضي الله عنها قالت: سأل رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ناس عن الكهان فقال ((ليس بشيء)) . فقالوا يا رسول الله إنهم يحدثوننا أحيانا بشيء فيكون حقا فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ((تلك الكلمة من الحق يخطفها الجني فيقرها في أذن وليه فيخلطون معها مائة كذبة)). رواه البخاري
It was narrated by ‘Aisha, where the companions asked the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- about a quack. He replied, ‘No need to trust him.’ Then they asked him again, ‘O Messenger of Allah, indeed, they sometimes told us something that really happened?”. The Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- answered, ‘That is a true sentence that was stolen by jinn, then he whispered it to his servant (quacks), and then he mixed it with a hundred lies.”[8].
It is written in another version:
عن عائشة رضي الله عنها زوج النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم: أنها سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول (( إن الملائكة تنزل في العنان وهو السحاب فتذكر الأمر قضي في السماء فتسترق الشياطين السمع فتسمعه فتوحيه إلى الكهان فيكذبون معها مائة كذبة من عند أنفسهم)). رواه البخاري
From ‘Aisha, that she heard the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- said, “Indeed, the angels descended to the clouds, they revealed about the matter that Allah had decided in the sky. Then the satan eavesdropped them, and they heard about it, after that they told the quacks about it. They mixed it with a hundred lies from themselves.” [9]
In this hadith, there is also an explanation about the saying of the quack; that it is possible for it to be proven, but compared to it, the lies are evidently overwhelming; one truth to a hundred lies.
The truth inside the quack’s words that could be proven, couldn’t be the reason to accept and trust every news that he brought. Because if all of his sayings were lies, then no one would trust a quack. this is how the satan performed his trick to mislead men; by disguising between the right with falsehood, between right from wrong.
-Quackery, past and present
In this topic, we’re going to discuss briefly about the similarities and differences between a quack in the past and present time.
– Quackery in the past
In the past, the quacks were mainly operating in remote areas, which were lacking of science and public health facilities. Generally, people who came to them were the unknowledgeable and lived far from the medical center, or lacking of money to finance the treatment there. Their purpose when they decided to come to the quack were confined to certain affairs, such as for medicinal reason, or asking for a talisman power and enchantment. Quacks of the past were easily recognized by their physical looks. They weren’t really enthusiastic in getting money from their patients; instead, the offering or payment that they got were very modest, sometimes it was just a cigarette or small amount of money, without any particular tariff. Quacks of the past didn’t make the quackery they practiced as their main source of living, or their main income to support their daily life. Beside that, they put great concern about the customary norms and moral values in the practice of quackery, and they didn’t disguise as pious men in their practice.
– Quackery in the present time
The modern-time quacks open their practices in the big cities, even started it with official permission. Their quackery are supported with modern science. The patients are educated, middle to upper class society member. Their purpose to come those quacks are not simply about classical business, such as medicinal purpose, but it covers the problems that they faced in works. Some come to the quacks to boost their popularities, to be prettier, to win the local elections, to be able to stay at their current position or even achieve higher, etc. Modern quacks are harder to identify physically, since they might look neat and use luxurious cars, and befriended with the respected, high class people. In their practices, modern quacks set certain tariff, which could reach millions of rupiah. Modern quackery has been a formal profession to earn the living and fulfill the daily needs of the quacks. The modern quacks are more insane, more lecherous, and they care not of the preserving the customary norms and moral values in their quackery practices. Sometimes they rape their patients, or even worse they ask to sleep with their patient’s wife, or marry virgin girls without limit. Beside that, they also disguise as pious men in their practices; they probably claim themselves as wali, Habib, or descendant of the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-.
To be continued, insha Allah…..
Author: Sheikh Dr. Ali Musri Semjan Putra, M.A