Speaking to 'spirits'
Various Scholars
- Categories: Fatawa -
I would like to ask you about my friends who claim they can call spirits. Is it possibly true? If it is, what is really going on?
Sheikh Rashîd al-Hasan, professor at King Khâlid University
If they are speaking the truth, then they are communicating with Jinn and invoking them. This is what practitioners of magic do. They rely on Jinn to fulfill their needs and to bring benefit or harm to others. In return, they turn to the Jinn and exalt them. This is a form of polytheism, because they rely on the Jinn, exalt them, and turn to them in return for the services that the Jinn provide.
Allah says: “On the day when He will gather them together (He will say): O assembly of the jinn! Many of humankind did you seduce. And their adherents among humankind will say: Our Lord! We benefited from one another, but now we have arrived at the appointed term which You have appointed for us. He will say: Fire is your home. Abide therein forever, save him whom Allah wills (to deliver). Lo! your Lord is Wise, Aware. Thus do we make the wrong-doers turn to each other, because of what they earn.” [Sûrah al-An`âm: 128-129]
Allah says: “And indeed (O Muhammad) individuals of humankind used to invoke the protection of individuals of the jinn, so that they increased them in revolt against Allah.” [Sûrah al-Jinn: 6]
If these people are claiming that they speak to the spirits of the dead, then their claims are baseless and should not even be considered.
And Allah knows best.
Islam Today