Many newspapers, magazines and television programs seem to be obsessed with reports of scandals involving sorcerers. For example the Al-Watan newspaper recently reported an incident in which the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice arrested a sorcerer.
The magician was caught in a classic sting operation involving a man who was working in coordination with the commission. The man contacted the sorcerer saying he wanted to marry a girl who he was in love with and that the girl did not reciprocate the feeling. The man also told the sorcerer he needed help in finding a well-paid job.
The newspaper reported that the magician promised to help the man if he paid him SR2,500 and that for the time being he needed a SR300 deposit. The magician explained that the rest of the cash was to be paid once the spell had been cast and that he needed the man to provide him with a ring that would fit the girl he loved.
As soon as evidence was accumulated the magician was arrested, the money confiscated and police raided his home. At the sorcerer’s house, police found verses of the Qur’an that were used for magic, notebooks containing details of teachers who live and work in the area and scraps of papers with spells written on them. When questioned the magician confessed he dabbled in black magic and had cast a spell on a married couple in Abha in order to separate them.
Reports such as these have become disturbingly common, an indication of the increasing number of magicians living in Saudi Arabia. It would seem that people that visit them and ask for their help are perhaps one of the main reasons why magicians and the black magic industry thrives in the Kingdom.
Reading such stories causes us to ask some serious questions. Why do people resort to visiting magicians to solve their problems? Do the religious courses at school not discourage us from resorting to black magic? Shouldn’t our belief in Allah’s will and power override everything?
In studies conducted across various Arab countries, it has been found that a large number of people who visit sorcerers are in fact PhD holders with influential social positions. This forces us to question why educated people, rather than illiterate people, resort to visiting such people? Will it be that with growing literacy in Saudi Arabia people will increasingly visit magicians?
In fact it seems that many magicians drive luxurious cars and spend nights in expensive hotels. Some sorcerers even appear live on television advising people through astrology and horoscopes. We really need to question why magic is increasing and spreading in our Muslim communities? Don’t we realize what the punishment is for people who believe in magic?
The authorities in our country should pay attention to this problem and conduct campaigns against these types of people. They need to educate common people and make them aware of the harm black magic can cause and what the religious prohibition is.
