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Black Art: It is the real sorcery. People who do it claim that they can do some
things with the help of evil powers, especially with the help of demons.
White (or natural) Art: Job of doing things which are realized with natural
reasons, yet which look unnatural in appearance. Such as magic done for show
business.
Egyptians before Moses used to accept a kind of sorcery legal in Egypt. However,
they equally knew all ways of performing the illegal sorcery, too. They used to
believe that witches/spellbinders could affect life and death that they had the
power of calling good or evil powers to help and that they could use natural forces
however they wanted.
As for sorcery in the Far East, the Chinese were deeply indulged in all kinds of
sorcery. A witch/spellbinder called Wu in the times before Confucius had an
important official position in governments social structure. There were kinds of
sorcery which people used to predict future and send demons away.
As for Greek-Roman sorcery, the art of taking secret forces under human beings
control was not less popular in Greek-Roman civilization than it was in the East.
Greek spellbinders generally appealed to foreign gods hoping that they could serve
them. Theselia region was famous for training the most renowned men who owned the
knowledge of secret arts. Sorcery gained great importance in the time of Emperor
Augustus.
Sorcery was so wide spread in Judaism. Inviting fairies, taking demons under human
beings control, all kinds of wonders, all of beliefs which were well-known in
certain civilizations were applied in Judaism. Jews used names of demons and
fairies coming from ancient traditions or from foreign religions in their spell-
making formulas.
Sorcery in Islamic Communities: some Muslims took lessons on sorcery from Jews,
Syrians, Iranians, Chaldeans and Greeks. Incense sticks, talismans, amulets,
witchcraft, telling fortunes all come from those communities. As Muslims believed
in jinn (demons), this belief also paved the way to believing in sorcery. The
Messenger of Allah (pbuh) considered it permissible to use ruqya (prayers) against
the evil eye, snake bites and illnesses. However, there is no slightest relation
between our Prophets prayers and sorcery. There are some books of fortune-telling
which use words and letters to predict future.
Sorcery in Western Civilization: when the archives of all nations are searched,
beliefs related to sorcery are encountered. Celtics, Teutons, Scandinavians, Finns
have many similarities with eastern civilizations in terms of sorcery. It would be
too daring to state that sorcery disappeared with the advance of wit and reason
(i.e. science and knowledge) today.
It is indicated in another hadith (Abu Dawud, Tib, 21) that whoever believes in
spellbinders, fortune-tellers or anyone giving the news of unknown is considered to
deny the Quran.
Samil IA