Part 3
A Quick Recap and Where We’re Headed
This is Part 3 of a blog series on mystical afflictions in Islam, strictly within the boundaries of the Qur’an and Sunnah.
In Part 1, we established that the unseen is real, that harm only occurs by Allah’s permission, and that we must avoid two extremes, denial and obsession.
We also introduced a simple map: the three main channels through which unseen harm can occur. These are ‘ayn (the evil eye), sihr (magic), and jinn interference. If you have not read Part 1 yet, start here.
In Part 2 we looked at ‘Ayn and Hasad, view the post here.
Now we move on to the second channel harm through magic or witchcraft.
Pathway 2: Harm through ritual contracts (sihr / black magic / witchcraft)
Classically, scholars define sihr as a type of hidden, unusual effect that appears in the created world through specific statements or actions, usually involving cooperation with devils. It is not simply a label for “anything strange that happened.” Sihr is a deliberate, structured act of disobedience and spiritual crime.
Allah says:
“They followed what the devils recited during the reign of Sulayman. Sulayman did not disbelieve, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic… And they learn from them that by which they cause separation between a man and his wife. But they do not harm anyone through it except by permission of Allah…”
(Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:102)
He also commands us to seek refuge:
“…from the evil of those who blow upon knots.”
(Surah Al-Falaq, 113:4)
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Whoever blows on knots has practiced magic, and whoever practices magic has committed shirk.”
(At-Tabarani)
From these evidences we learn that the one who practices sihr, in the way described in the texts, has fallen into disbelief or major shirk; that sihr can cause real harm to its victim; and that no matter how dark or powerful it appears, it never escapes the permission and control of Allah.
Four Core Elements
In practical ruqyah work, real sihr almost always involves four core elements.
- A target
- The shirki asking of Jinn
- The medium
- The Jinn who respond to the call
The first is a target: a specific person, couple, family, business or aspect of life that the magician wants to affect.
The second is shirki incantations and invocations. This is the soul of the witchcraft. The magician calls upon “spirits,” “gods,” “saints,” “angels,” “ancestors” or “demons” – all of which, in reality, are shayateen responding. He or she uses incantations that may be spoken or written: chants, mantras, “prayers,” sigils or texts that contain shirk, kufr or major sin, and may perform acts of clear disbelief such as insulting or desecrating Qur’an, making offerings to other than Allah, prostrating to stars or idols, or writing Qur’anic verses in filth or reversed. This is the point at which the magician seeks help from shayateen instead of Allah. Without this core of shirk, we are not speaking about the same category of sihr, no matter how strange or “energetic” something feels.
The third element is a medium: the physical “container” that carries and anchors the sihr. This can take many forms – knots and threads, powders, liquids or oils, buried or hidden objects, food, drink or “medicine,” clothing, hair, nails, personal items, paper, dolls and effigies.
The fourth element is jinn assigned to enforce it. In response to the shirk and rituals, shayateen accept the “contract,” attach themselves to the target (or to their home, marriage, business, womb and so on), read and respond to what has been encoded in the sihr and begin pushing the person’s life, thoughts, emotions and circumstances toward the intended harm.
At the heart of sihr is not the knot, the powder or the doll. The central crime is the magician turning to and beseeching from the shayateen. Everything else – the medium and the jinn activity – grows out of that core act of shirk.
Four types of intentional sihr (deliberately made for a specific person)
The Qur’an does not give us a technical manual of every method used, and techniques change across cultures. However, over time, we practitioners have observed common patterns through which sihr is applied. These observations are not revelation, but they are useful for understanding how sihr may be acting in a person’s life. One practical way to classify sihr is to look at how it reaches the person. From this angle, we can speak of four main forms of intentional sihr, and two forms of what we might call secondary or unintentional exposure.
The first is eaten sihr.
Here the sihr is prepared with the intention that the victim will consume it. It may be mixed into food, dissolved into a drink, disguised as “medicine” or sprinkled onto something that will be licked or tasted. From a ruqyah perspective, the sihr is consumed and enters the digestive system; jinn tasked with the sihr cause it to settle at some point along the tract; and it may lodge or act anywhere from the mouth down to the rectum.
Because the medium of sihr is now inside the digestive system, two layers of effects often appear. The first is the intended goal of the magician: for example, blocking studies or marriage, destroying appetite for Qur’an, tying a person away from their spouse or blocking rizq. The second is a cluster of side effects related to the digestive system itself. These can vary in intensity and may include pain or cramps, indigestion or heartburn, diarrhoea or constipation, bloating, gas, nausea and fluctuations between these states.
In many cases, these symptoms may be diagnosed medically as conditions such as IBS, functional bowel disorders or even inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. Medicine will treat what it can see: inflammation, ulcers, motility issues and so on. From a spiritual perspective, in some cases the underlying trigger may be eaten sihr. It is important to keep both perspectives together. Medical investigations and treatment remain essential and must not be abandoned. At the same time, if patterns are strange, stubborn or strongly linked to spiritual signs and ruqyah reactions, sihr may be one of the unseen causes feeding the condition. Digestive symptoms may appear soon after the sihr is eaten, come and go over months or years, remain mild for a long time and then worsen, or flare during periods of spiritual weakness and ease during times of strong ‘ibadah. The original intention of the sihr, however, is usually broader than just stomach pain. The digestive problems are often “smoke from the fire,” not the main target.
The second form is touched sihr.
This is sihr that activates through physical contact. The victim does not need to ingest anything. Instead, the sihr is thrown or sprayed onto them, placed where they will step on it or brush against it, or put onto clothing, bedding, towels, hijabs, caps, jewellery, gifts or objects they frequently handle. When the person touches or wears the affected item, the sihr takes hold and the assigned jinn begin their work.
Physically, this can result in pain or heaviness in the limb or part of the body that made contact, persistent skin problems at that area – rashes, strange wounds, itchiness, eczema or psoriasis-like patterns that are stubborn – and sensations of burning, crawling or stabbing without clear medical explanation. These physical symptoms may co-exist with genuine dermatological conditions, and medical assessment is still necessary. When combined with clear ruqyah reactions and other spiritual signs, touched sihr may be part of the picture. Often the intended spiritual effect is broader than the local skin reaction: creating fear, anxiety or humiliation, tying a person’s hands in their work, isolating them socially or causing them to avoid certain places or people. The skin reaction is the footprint showing that something was activated through contact.
The third form is sihr placed inside the body by jinn.
In this case, the victim may not eat or touch anything unusual at all. The magician performs the ritual; jinn are sent directly to the person with a portion of sihr; and those jinn place, embed or seal the sihr inside specific areas of the body. Common targets include the womb of a woman, to tie it, block conception, cause repeated miscarriage or create chronic gynaecological issues; the sexual organs of a man, to cause impotence, inability to be intimate with his wife or aversion; the head, to create confusion, forgetfulness, mental fog, severe headaches or inability to focus and learn; and the chest, to cause tightness, constant anxiety, panic-like symptoms or aversion to Qur’an and salah.
Doctors may find no clear cause, or may treat what they see – hormonal imbalances, migraines, pelvic pain and so on – with limited success. From a ruqyah perspective, you will often see strong reactions during recitation focused on the affected area, sensations of movement, pressure or heat in that region, and symptoms that shift under ruqyah but then try to return. Here it is crucial not to fall into the extremes of saying “it is all jinn, there is no need for doctors” or “it is all medical, ruqyah has nothing to do with it.” A mature approach is to carry out medical checks and follow treatment where needed, while recognising that sihr placed by jinn can be one of the hidden reasons why certain dysfunctions resist normal treatment and behave in a very patterned way.
The fourth form is sihr at a distance, sometimes called symbolic or linked sihr.
In this type, the person does not directly eat or touch anything. The sihr operates remotely, using a link. That link may be the person’s name, hair, nails, clothing, personal items, photos, signatures or an effigy, doll or figurine made to represent them. The magician then uses symbols and actions that stand in for what they want to happen: tying knots to symbolise blocking or strangling part of the person’s life; locking a padlock and burying it to represent a locked marriage, womb, career or rizq; or burying sihr in a graveyard to represent the “death” of a relationship, project or opportunity.
Because much of this happens away from the victim, effects may seem to come “from nowhere.” Problems may not respond to changes in environment or lifestyle because the physical sihr remains anchored elsewhere. Ruqyah practitioners often note that this type of sihr can show itself in dreams that reflect the symbolism used. Sihr buried in a cemetery may be accompanied by frequent dreams of funerals, graves, dead bodies, the death of loved ones or the dreamer dying themselves. Sihr with knots may show up as dreams of snakes, ropes, chains or strangling. Dreams on their own are never a proof, but when they align with symptoms and ruqyah reactions, they can be clues to the “style” of sihr at work.
Two forms of unintentional exposure (sihr not originally meant for you, but affecting you)
Not every case of sihr affecting someone was targeted at them directly. There are situations where sihr appears to spill over to others.
One pattern is what we could call inherited effects. When a mother is under sihr before or during pregnancy, some practitioners observe that elements of that affliction can affect the unborn child.
This can happen in two overlapping ways. The first is a more direct spiritual effect: the sihr and jinn are already strongly attached to the mother, and the child grows in an environment where these influences are present from the earliest stages of life. The second is an indirect environmental effect: a home in which one or both parents are afflicted often has more jinn activity and disturbances, more conflict, fear and instability, and more neglect of protection when the parents are overwhelmed.
Children raised in such an environment may experience more frequent illnesses or weak health when young, show strong emotional reactivity, anger or rebellion as they grow older, be more sensitive to jinn interference and fear at night, and show early signs of spiritual disturbance. This does not mean the child is cursed or doomed, nor does it mean every sick or rebellious child is a case of “inherited sihr.” It means that sihr on parents can increase the spiritual vulnerability of children, and that early protection, ruqyah and healthy parenting become even more important.
Another form is eaten or touched sihr that was meant for someone else. A person may consume or touch sihr that was not prepared for them at all. Food prepared for one person may be shared by many; an item carrying sihr may pass through different hands; or sihr may be hidden in a common area such as a workplace, masjid or student residence. In such cases, the link between the sihr and its intended target is weak or absent for the bystander. What often appears is side effects related to the form of sihr – digestive problems for eaten sihr, skin issues or localised pain for touched sihr – but not the full intended psychological or life-damaging effects.
For example, sihr may be placed in food to make somebody fall desperately in love with the magician. You eat from that food. You might experience stomach issues or a temporary shift in mood, but you do not develop the same level of obsession and attachment, because the sihr was not bound to you. Or sihr may be placed on someone’s clothing. You handle the clothing briefly, and you develop a rash or pain in the hand or arm, but you do not experience the full marriage destruction that was intended for the original wearer. In such cases, the sihr still has a kind of “toxic” presence, but without a strong contract directed at you. With ruqyah and purification, its grip often loosens more easily.
Regardless of the delivery method, the goals behind sihr are often similar: separation and hatred between spouses; blockages in marriage, work, study or travel; obsession or forced attachment; chronic illness, exhaustion or weakness; and general destruction of stability, reputation or sanity. Sihr interacts with the victim’s spiritual state (strength or weakness in salah, adhkar, tawbah and tawakkul), their habits (persistent sins that open doors to shayatin, or protective routines that limit access), their environment (a home filled with Qur’an, modesty and order, or a home filled with neglect, shouting, sin and chaos) and their physical and psychological vulnerabilities (existing illnesses, trauma, sensitive temperament). This is why two people can be hit by similar sihr but experience it very differently. Sihr is one layer; the rest of the person’s life and iman either weakens or strengthens its impact.
Daily protection from Sihr (prevention before treatment)
Islam does not leave a believer exposed to sihr. The Qur’an teaches us to seek refuge from it explicitly, and the Sunnah teaches daily protection that is simple, consistent, and free of superstition. The goal is not fear or obsession. It is steady protection, and a clean heart that stays attached to Allah.
Morning and evening protection (your daily shield)
Make your morning and evening adhkar non-negotiable. Sihr is real, but it only operates within Allah’s permission, and the believer’s first response is always to return to Allah with protection and tawakkul.
The Mu‘awwidhatayn for protection from sihr
Surah al-Falaq is particularly relevant to sihr, because Allah explicitly teaches us to seek refuge:
“And from the evil of those who blow upon knots.” (Al-Falaq, 113:4)
Recite the Mu‘awwidhat (al-Ikhlas, al-Falaq, al-Nas) as part of your daily routine, especially morning/evening and before sleep. This is one of the strongest general protections against harm from the unseen.
Ayat al-Kursi and the last verses of al-Baqarah
Ayat al-Kursi is a core protection from shaytanic harm, and the last two verses of Surah al-Baqarah are also widely used as nightly protection. Work them into your day: after salah if you can, and especially before sleep.
A simple prophetic du‘a that covers all created harm
One of the most useful protective du‘as, including protection from the harm Allah created (which includes harms from the unseen), is:
A‘ūdhu bi kalimātillāhi at-tāmmāti min sharri mā khalaq.
Meaning: I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He has created.
Recite it consistently, and teach it to your household.
Keep your home spiritually “unfriendly” to shayatin
Many sihr cases are reinforced by shaytanic presence and disturbance. Keep the home protected with recitation and worship, and reduce anything that brings spiritual darkness into the space. Consistent Qur’an in the home and the Mu‘awwidhat are part of that protection.
If you suspect Sihr has occurred
If you feel you may have been targeted, begin with what Allah already taught:
Return to the basics without panic: morning/evening adhkar, Mu‘awwidhat, Ayat al-Kursi, and du‘a.
Increase your recitation of al-Falaq and al-Nas, and keep your protection consistent rather than “spiking” for one day and collapsing the next.
Avoid spiraling into accusations or trying to “guess” the unseen. Treatment should be grounded and methodical.
Later in this series, when we speak about treatment tools, we will cover the practical ruqyah approach for sihr, including the Qur’anic passages commonly used in ruqyah and how to combine spiritual treatment with sensible worldly steps.
Where to go from here
If you want to see the practical, Islamically accepted way we deal with these issues, jump ahead to Treatment Tools, where I outline the core methods of protection and treatment within the Qur’an and Sunnah.
If you want to follow the natural progression of the series, continue to the next post: Pathway 3, Jinn Interference, where we take a clearer look at how jinn harm shows up, the different levels of interference, and how a believer responds without fear or obsession.
If you want a simple structure to begin right away, download the 7-Day Treatment Plan.
And if you want guided support and a personalised plan for your situation, you can work with me.