Is slight of hand kufr that gets u outside the fold of Islam?
Before we start answering, may Allah forgive anyone that is indulging in my honor because of this matter, but know may Allah protect us and you that you are not aware of the many different views of the fuqaha' regarding this matter, and my answer was the answer of my sheikh Sulayman Alruhaily and many scholars before him, as I will show soon:
1.Ibn Abī Zayd Al Qayrawani was asked about those who sit in the roadways and have tricks, showing people that they cut off a person's head and then call him, whereupon he comes to them alive; and they turn cloths into dirhams and dinars; and they cut a chain [and rejoin it]. Does he consider them, by this act, to be sorcerers? He replied: If there is no disbelief (kufr) in it, then there is nothing held against them; it is merely sleight of hand and tricks.
[Al-Fatāwā al-Ḥadīthiyyah by Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī (p. 87)]
2. The Shaykh Sulaymān al-Ruḥaylī said in his commentary on Kitāb al-Tawḥīd (Irshād al-Murīd), vol. 1, pp. 721–722:
The fourth type: the magic of illusions, captivating the eyes, and what is called sleight of hand. This is a magic that has no reality beyond illusion and the captivating of the eyes. This "magician" captivates people's eyes, until a thing is made to appear to them as being a certain way when it is not so. He may employ in that his sleight of hand, or the like. It was called "magic" on account of its hiddenness and subtlety, for it is something concealed from common people, and when you look at it you suppose it to be magic in reality, whereas it is merely illusion.
That is like what the magicians of Pharaoh did, for their magic was of the category of the magic of illusions.
Allah (the Exalted) said: ﴿So when they cast, they bewitched the eyes of the people﴾ [al-Aʿrāf: 116] — so their magic was directed at the eyes.
And Allah (the Exalted) said: ﴿Then suddenly their ropes and staffs, by their magic, appeared to him as though they were moving swiftly﴾ [Ṭā Hā: 66].
So they captivated his eye and the eyes of the people, until it was made to appear to the onlookers that the ropes and staffs were snakes moving swiftly, whereas they were not so.
The ruling on this is according to what is intended by it, and according to what it entails and what it leads to:
If what is intended by it is harming people — such as theft — then this is forbidden. If it entails something forbidden — such as seeking the aid of the jinn — then this is forbidden, and it may be polytheism (shirk), depending on the type of aid sought. If it leads to evil, it is forbidden. And if it is free of [all] that, then it is [still] not among the deeds of people of chivalry/honor (ahl al-murūʾāt). And there will come — Allah willing — other types of magic in the following chapter, which we will discuss in their place.
3.Some jurists distinguished between magic that is mere deception and trickery and that which is otherwise, saying: The former is permissible — that is, because it is a type of diversion, so it is permitted as long as it is not used as a means to something forbidden, such as harming people or terrorizing them. [Al-Mawsūʿa al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaytiyya (24/263)].
I will quote more in the comments.
🇫🇷 DISPARITION | Yassub M’Hadjou, 21 ans, a quitté le domicile de son frère au milieu de la nuit, le 30 mars dernier. Yassub est susceptible de se mettre en danger. Il a été vu pour la dernière fois à 2 heures du matin, la nuit de sa disparition, à Bougival. (autorités)
My tweets about religion are not an indication that I am religious
My public calling to good does not mean that I am privately free from sin, or even publicly free from sin
My tweets about Islam are not evidence of me being a good Muslim
The fact I don’t openly publicise my sins does not mean I don’t struggle with them
The fitnas of this life afflict all. Whether it’s the want for women, attention, money, whatever
People like to say “it’s always the religious accounts that have the most skeletons in their closet”
1) I’m not a ‘religious’ account, I’m a flawed Muslim
2) the skeletons in my closet are there because I’m trying to deal with them in private, rather than publicise them - something that is forbidden in Islam
3) I am up to my neck in shortcomings, and just because I criticise haram and call to halal on one hand, does not mean I am free from sin on the other
This is not hypocrisy
This is me trying to do a good thing whilst trying to deal with my sins
“Some scholars held that the original ruling in marriage is polygyny, but this is weak.
The foundation of marriage is one wife, whereas polygyny is incidental.
Polygyny depends on each individual’s circumstances.
Unfortunately, some people marry multiple wives merely out of imitation, and end up harming themselves and others.
There are those who marry more than one wife without reflection or wisdom, thus they oppress others and oppress themselves.”
– Shaykh Aziz Farhan
We have seen our sheikhs do that may Allah reward you and their students as well beautifying their voice in reading whether hadeeth or matn. And this is a habit, and the continuous rule regarding habits is that they are allowed unless there is evidence otherwise.
Shaykh Ibn ʿUthaymīn (رحمه الله) said:
“It is not appropriate for a person to perform a Sunnah in a way that causes harm to others.”
📚 Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ 90/3
Examples:
- Praying long voluntary prayers in a narrow passageway of the mosque, blocking people.
- Reciting Qur’an aloud in a place where others are praying or sleeping.
> “Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the rewards of those who follow him, without that diminishing their rewards in the slightest.”
(Narrated by Muslim)