The Capabilities of Satan

The Forms Devils Can Take: Sometimes Satan does not approach humans by way of whispering into his soul. Instead, he appears to them in the shape of a human; his voice can be heard but his body cannot be seen. Or he might take on a strange shape. Sometimes the jinn appear in front of humans and inform them that they are jinn. Sometimes they falsely claim to be angels. Sometimes they call themselves "invisible men" while at other times they claim to be from the world of the spirits. All of these things have been related from people throughout the ages. Sometimes the devils speak directly to a person while at other times they speak through a medium or channeller  using the tongue of that person for a while. Sometimes, they may respond to humans in writing.

They can do much more than that. They have been known to carry humans through the wind and take them from place to place. Or they may bring the person something he desires. But this is only done with the evildoers who do not believe in Allah as the Lord of the Heavens and the Earth or those people who do sinful acts. Many times, such people appear like the most pious of people but in reality they are the most misguided and corrupt people. Many of the past and present have related such incidents and they cannot be denied since the reporting of such occurrences has been widespread and continuous (mutwaatir). 

Included among those reported events is what ibn Taimiya recorded concerning al-Hallaaj: "He was a magician, and sometimes devils would serve him. He was with some of his companions on Abu Qabis Mountain. They asked him for some sweets. He went off to a place close by and brought a plate of sweets. Later it was determined that those sweets had been stolen from a store in yemen and a devil had carried it to that place"

And ibn Taimiya also wrote, Things like that happen to many, besides al-Hallaj, who live evil lives. We know of many such people during our time and during other times. Like the man who is now [during ibn Taimiya's time] in Damascus. Satan used to carry him from Salihiya Mountains to villages around Damascus. He would be carried through the air to the windows of houses and enter the houses with the people seeing him. 

He would come at night to the Small Gate [one of the six gates around Damascus at that time] and he and his companions would be seen there. And he is one of the most wicked people. One of them was in a fortified prison in a city called Al-Shahida. He would go through the air to the top of a mountain and people would see him. A devil used to carry him. He was a highway robber.

Most such people are leaders of evil. One of them was called al-Barsha Abu al-Majib. His tent was pitched for him once on a dark night. Bread was made in the manner of an offering. They did not mention Allah. And there was none among them who would mention Allah nor had they any book containing Allah's name. Then al-Barsha rose in the air. They watched him and heard him speak to Satan and heard Satan speak to him. Whoever laughed or stole some of the bread wou Id be hit without knowing who hit him. Then Satan informed them of some of things they had asked about. Then he ordered them to sacrifice a cow, horse or similar animal. [He told them] to strangle the animal and not to mention the name of Allah upon it. When they would do that, he would then fulfill their needs.

Ibn Taimiya also mentioned a Sufi shaikh who said about himself that he used to commit adultery and sodomize boys. He said, "A black dog with two white spots between his eyes would say to me, 'So and so will come to you about an oath he made by you and I have fulfilled his need on your behalf'. Then the person would come with that oath and that disbelieving shaikh would already tell him about it.

And ibn Taimiya mentioned from the same man, .If anyone desired me to change anything, like glue, then I  would speak until I lost my senses and then I would find the glue in my hand or my mouth and not know who put it there." And he said, "When I walked at night, I would have a black staff with a light in front of me." Ibn Taimiya said, "When that shaikh repented and started to pray, fast and avoid the forbidden acts, the black dog left him. And the alterations stopped and he could not produce glue or anything else."

Ibn Taimiya also mentioned another shaikh who would send his devils to possess certain people. The family of those people would come to the shaikh askeing him to rescue their relatives. Then that shaikh would tell his devils to leave that person. The family would then pay that shaikh lots of money for his service. some time the jinn would bring the shaikh money  and food that they had stolen from people some people had some figs. The shaikh asked his devils for some figs and they brought those figs to him. When the owners went to their containers, they found the figs gone.

Ibn Taimiya mentions another person who was busy in acquiring knowledge. The devils came to him to deceive him. They said to him, .We have made the prayer no longer obligatory on you. And we will bring you whatever you need." Then they would bring him sweets or fruits. This continued untill he met some true scholars of the sunnah who asked him to repent. Then he paid the owners of the sweets for the sweets he had eaten while being tempted by the devils.'

In Majmu al-Fatawa, ibn Taimiya explained some of the ways of the devils in tempting people. 

He wrote, I know some people whom the plants would talk to and tell them of their beneficial ingredients. Actually, Satan who had entered the plant was the one talking. And I know people to whom the bushes and rocks would say, "Welcome, o devoted servant of Allah.."If they read "The Verse of the Throne" ( al-Baqarah 255) all of that would stop. I know of some people who go bird hunting and the sparrows and others say to them, .Take me so the poor can eat me." A Satan had entered the bird and spoken in the same way he enters humans and speaks from them. 

And some people are in their houses with the doors locked and see themselves outside while they did not open the door and vice-versa. Similar is the case with the city gates. Jinn take them in and out of them quickly. Lights will shine for them. Or a person who he was seeking would appear while actually it was Satan appearing like his friend. If they recite "The Verse of the Throne" over and over, all of that stops.

And ibn Taimiya wrote, I know of people who are spoken to by something that
says, "I am from the commands of Allah." And he tells the person that he is the Mahdi that the Prophet gave glad tidings of. And he performs supernatural acts for him. For example, if he even thinks of flying with birds or locusts through the air or if he desires them to go to the right or left, they do whatever he wishes. Of if he thinks to get some cattle up or have them sleep or leave, it happens for him without any apparent movement on his part. And they take him to Makkah and back.

Someone will be brought to him in a beautiful form and he will be told that it is one of the noble angels who has come to visit him. The man will say to himself, "How [can the angel] look like a beardless youth." Then he will look up again and find that he has a beard. It will be said to him, .The sign that you are the Mahdi is that you have a specific birthmark.. He will look and he will see it. All of that is from the plots of Satan.

Ibn Taimiya also wrote, The people of misguidance and heresies, those who are ascetic and worshippers but not according to the manner prescribed by the shariah, sometimes have strong influence that draws many to the places of Satan in which it is prohibited to pray. This is because the devils descend upon them and the devils talk to them about some matters in the same way they talk to the fortune tellers. In the same manner, they enter the statues and idols and talk to the worshipper of the idols. And they help them in some
of their needs in the same manner they help magicians. In a similar fashion, they help the worshipper of idols, the sun, the moon and the planets when they worship them in a manner they think that are deserving of, of sanctifying
them, to dressing and lighting incense for them and so on. Devils, that they call the .spirits of the planets." descend upon them and meet some of their needs."

Those who are served by the devils get close to them by way of sinful acts: Those who believe that they have been granted special powers and consider themselves special devotees of Allah are actually just being served by the devils. There is no doubt that they get close to the devils by way of what they love of disbelief and idolatry. Ibn Taimiya says that many of those people write the Word of Allah in impure substances and they invert the letters of the Quran, either the words of surah al-Fatiha, surah al-Ikhlas or other verses. And they write the Word of Allah in blood or other impure substances. And they write or make other statements that are pleasing to Satan.'

If they say or write what is pleasing to the devils, then the devils aid them in satisfying some of their desires, such as transforming water or transporting them in the air to some places. Or they might steal wealth from other treacherous people who do not mention Allah.s name over it and bring it to some of their selected friends and so on.

Invisible men. It is mentioned in the explanation to the Creed of at-Tahaawi, There are some devils that the people call invisible men. Some people converse with them. They perform for the people some "miracles" that make the humans believe that they are close friends of Allah. Some of them aid the polytheists against the Muslims. Some say that the Messenger ordered them to kill the Muslims along with the polytheists because the Muslims were sinful.

The commentator to the Creed noted, In reality they are the brothers of the polytheists. The people of knowledge are in three groups with respect to invisible men. 

(1) One group denies the existence of such invisible men. But the people have witnessed them. And it is confirmed that some trustworthy people have witnessed them and have related what they saw. And if they would were to see them and confirm their existence they would submit to them. 

(2) A group that admits their existence and accepts it as a will of Allah. They believe, therefore, that there is a hidden path to Allah other then the path of the Prophets. 

(3) A group that rules out the existence of patrons of Allah outside of the framework of the Messenger but they believe both groups have received help from Allah. These people give glorification to the Messenger, being ignorant of his religion and laws.

Then he says, making clear what they and their followers are: The truth of the matter is that they are all followers of the devils. "invisible men. are nothing butjinn who are called men, as Allah says, "Indeed men of the humans used to invoke the protection of men of the Jinn." (al-Jinn 6). And the humans have company with them and witness and see them. Sometimes they cannot be seen but it is not the case that they always keep themselves hidden from mankind. Those who think that they are humans are mistaken and ignorant.

Then he explains the reasons for the differences of opinion about them and the reason for the existence of three groups mentioned above, The problem lies in not differentiating between the patrons of Satan and the patrons of Allah. It is obligatory to compare the actions of the people (or of the invisible men) and their statements to the book of Allah and the sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him). What agrees with these two guides is correct and what disagrees with them is wrong. 

No matter what a person does and exposes of his deeds, he will not be a believer or devotee of Allah, even if he flies in the air or walks on water, as long as he does not stick to the Book and sunnah The human must always have some balance that can be used to distinguish between the devotees of the Merciful and the devotees of Satan and between the righteous and the impious. Otherwise, he will himself stray. That standard is the book of Allah and the sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him). If a person adheres to them, it is fine and good. If not, then he is not upon anything sound or praiseworthy, even if we see him resurrecting the dead or performing alchemy. 

Ibn Taimiya said, The one who cannot distinguish between the Godly situations and Satanic situations will have truth resembling falsehood in his eyes. One whom Allah does not enlighten his heart and give him the reality of faith and following of the Quran will not know the path of truth from falsehood. He will confuse the two situations, in the same way people were confused by Musailama the liar of Yemen and other liars who claimed to be prophets.'

Ibn Taimiya has written an important book that clearly differentiates between the servants of Allah and the servants of Satan. After reading this book the affair should be clear to the reader. Its name is Al-Furqan bain Auliya ar-Rahman wa Auliya ash-Shaitan.

The Ruling about being served by the jinn: It is clear that Allah granted the Prophet Solomon a dominion that no one will be given after him, due to his supplication. If a human is being obeyed by the jinn, not by mastery over them, but by their own pleasing, is this considered permissible? Ibn Taimiya has written a response to this question:

Jinn, with humans, are in different situations. If one orders the jinn to what Allah and His Messenger has ordered from the worship of only Allah and obedience to Him and His Prophet, and he also orders mankind to the same, then that person is from the most virtuous of the patrons of Allah. And he is acting as the successor of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his lieutenant.

If a person uses the jinn for activities that are permissible and he also orders them to what is obligatory for them and prevents them from what is prohibited for them, then he is similar to a king that behaves in the same manner. Then the most he can become is a devotee of Allah among the general devotees of Allah, like the comparison between a Prophet who was given rule and a worshipping messenger of Allah: like Solomon and Joseph with respect to Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, the blessings of Allah and peace be upon all of them.

If he uses the jinn for activities that have been prohibited by Allah and His Messenger, as idolatry, or killing one who has no right to be killed, or being an enemy of the people without fighting them, such as harming others or making them forget knowledge and other acts of oppression, or committing lewd acts- that is, he uses them to help him in sin and transgression and idolatry he is a disbeliever. If he uses them for acts of disobedience then he is a sinner, either a faasiq (wicked evildoer) or a sinner who is less than that.

If the person is completely ignorant of Islamic law and uses the jinn for what he believes to be noble deeds, such as having the jinn take him to the pilgrimage, listen to innovations or take him to Arafat, then this does not fulfill the requirement of the pilgrimage, and similar  ther activities. The person is mislead and has been duped by such actions.'

Making the Spirits Appear [Through Seances and Channeling] Talk about the appearance of spirits had become widespread these days. Many people who are considered wise and prudent believe in this falsehood.

The alleged appearing of the spirits have come through many means. Some of it is just clear fabrication simply through deception, trickery, psychological influence, scientific instruments and so on. In other cases it is done through the use of the jinn and devils.

Dr. Muhammad Muhammad Hussain has written a book entitled al-Roohiya al-Hadeetha in which he uncovers much of the deception that is performed under the name of this activity. The charlatans never perform their acts except under a very dim red light that approaches darkness. They make bodies appear. Sounds and movements come that darkness. Even the one who is watching closely cannot determine where people are sitting or where voices are coming from. Similarly, he cannot distinguish the different aspects of the room, such as its walls, doors or windows.

In that book, Dr. Muhammad discusses al-Khibaa (a separate chamber) which is a room that is cut off from the people present or in the corner or a room covered by a thick curtain. This is the place where the medium sits and it is from his hands that the alleged bodies appear. In the darkness of the room, it is that dark corner from where the spirits and voices come. And when they return they also return to that same place. It is not permitted for the people present to touch or look into the spirit or shape that has appeared.

The author states that the spiritualists will never be at a loss, in such a dark environment, for any scientific instruments they need to perform their tricks.

Deceiving humans by such deception is an old and well-known trick that the devils have always used to mislead mankind. They seek the people.s credibility and honor in the .same way that they seek their wealth. Ibn Taimiya discussed a group of people of his time who were called al-Bata ihiya. They claimed that they had knowledge of the unseen and that the truth was unveiled to them. They claimed that they could see and show people the .invisible men.. Then some of their deception was discovered. They used to send some women to some of the houses to find out the inner secrets of the household and then they would claim that such was some of the special knowledge that they were privy to.'

They promised one man, who was hoping to be a ruler, to show him some of the .invisible men.. They made a long plank of wood. They set up a long platform on a mountain some distance away. This made it look like people were walking in the air. The deceived one will look at them from a distance and will see a people on the mountain, raised above the earth. They took from that man a great deal of money and then their deception was made clear to him.

They deceived another man called Qafjaq. A man would enter a rave and talk from the grave and he would think it was the dead speaking. They took him through a small gate in the cemetery to a man they claimed was al-Sharani from the hills of Lebanon. They did not bring him close to him but kept him far away so his blessings would return to him. They asked him for a great deal of money. Qafjaq said, ''The shaikh knows the unseen and he knows that in all of my wealth, I do not have as much as he asked for.'' So Qafjaq got close and tore off the hair of the person and found that the faker was covering himself with a sheepskin.

Dr. Muhammad Muhammad Hussain also makes it clear that the mediums or channellers those people whom the spiritualists claim are naturally disposed to make the actual contact with the spirits and it is through them that they appear and speak- are usually deceiving fakes and liars. Most of these mediums are not of good character, nor are they religious. In fact, the spiritualists do not require any character or religion in their mediums. He mentioned an incident that happened to him personally that made it clear that these mediums are nothing but deceivers and liars. He also explained how some of those present are also involved in the scheme. And they are very careful just to pick participants who are not sharp enough to figure out the deception that is going on.

Dr Muhammad Muhammad Hussain uncovered much concerning the first method of the spiritualists in their claims to bring forth the spirits. This is the method of trickery, falsehood, psychological deception and scientific tricks.

But I must point to the second method, that of using jinn and devils. I believe that the majority of such claims of presenting the spirits are done through this method.

Making the spirits appear is an ancient claim: The claim of making the spirits appear is not of recent invention, but it is an ancient claim indeed. We have already discussed how some people had connections with the jinn. In fact, it is recorded in books of trustworthy people that some people claimed that the spirits of the dead had reappeared after the death of the person. Ibn Taimiya wrote, "From those people [that is, those people of satanic influence involved in idolatry, polytheism, magic and so forth] are those who believe that if one of them dies, he returns to them after his death and talks to them, pays their debts, returns their pledges and advises them. He appears to them in the shape that he was in during his life. It is a Satan who appears in his form and they think it is actually him"

A modern day experience: This experiment took place with the author Ahmad Izzudin al-Bayanuni. He mentioned it in his book Kitab al-Iman bi-l- Malaika. I eagerly decided to quote the complete text of what he wrote:

The people of the East and the West have preoccupied themselves with the claim of making the spirits appear. There have been many articles written about it, written in different languages, published in Arabic as well as non-Arabic magazines. Books have been written about it. Much research has been done lately on this topic. Many experiments have been performed. After all of that, the intelligent people have concluded that the raising of the spirits is nothing but falsehood and forgery, a call to disbelief and wickedness.

What they claim to be the appearing of the spirits of people who have passed away is nothing but fakery and forgery. The spirits that appear are nothing but devils that are playing with and duping humans. In reality, there is no one who is capable of making the spirits appear. After the spirit leaves the body it goes to reside in the realm called al-Barzakh which is the interval between this worldly life and the life of the hereafter. Therein the person is either in bounties or punishment. They are preoccupied there with a great affair which would prevent them from appearing before the humans.

I [al-Bayanuni] was called to such an act of these spiritualists. And I experienced my own lengthy experience. This experience made it clear to me that it is nothing but falsehood, forgery and deception. It is just the playing of the devils. They present that to the people to mislead them and to deceive them and to make humans follow them.

The beginning of the experience: I had known for more than ten years of a person who claimed that he was using the jinn to do good deeds in the service of mankind. And that was done through a person who was a medium. He claimed that he achieved that through recitations and lengthy invocations which took up a great deal of time. He was instructed in thorough incantations by someone who claimed he was knowledgeable in that area. The medium came to me one day telling me that so and so of the jinn had called for me to discuss something important and there was a great matter in store for me.

I Went to the appointment, trusting in Allah and very happy about it, in order to learn new information through this experience.

How did the deception begin?

The first deceiving step that they took with me, in the process of bringing forth the spirits, was to have me ask Allah for forgiveness, glorify him and other acts of dhikr. This would make a person believe, at first glance, that he is meeting with spirits who are pure, holy and truthful.

I entered the house of the medium and we were alone together in a room.
The medium sat on the bed. And we began bviously under his guidance with asking forgiveness and sanctifying Allah- until he became like in a trance and I laid him down on his bed. I covered him with a covering in the way I was told to do. Then in a low voice, his companion greeted me. His knowing me and his like for me were obvious. He introduced me to himself. He claimed to be a created being. He was not from the angels or the jinn but was of another creation, a different species. He came into being by Allah.s saying, .Be. and he was.

The person of the voice claimed that the jinn only appeared through his command. And that between him and receiving the command from Allah there was only four intermediaries, with the Angel Gabriel being the fifth.

He began to praise me. He said that they will cut off any meetings they have with other humans and they shall only meet with me. Because, they claimed, I was a special person of this age. And this was a special sanction from Allah and it was Allah who had chosen me for that. And they made me a glittering promise full of amazing things.  I accepted this new experience and false call with trust in Allah and asking Allah to protect me from error and to guide me to the clear truth, enlightened by the light of knowledge and following the path of steadfastness and praising Allah.

At the end of the first meeting, he promised me a second meeting. Then the person himself instructed me to make some special incantations to awake the medium from his absence. That was done. And the medium was sitting. His eyes opened as if he had been wakened from a deep sleep and did not know what had transpired.

I went back for the second appointment also. Then we had many meetings, one after another, for a long time. During every meeting, they renewed their good promise to me and described a great future for me and the great blessings that the nation would receive at my hands.

The situation develops: The situation developed further. Many .spirits. came to visit me in every meeting. Some with invocations being made before the meeting while others without it. While eating or drinking tea with the medium, the medium would fall asleep with his head down at the promised time. And the .spirits. would appear, some claiming to be angels or from the
jinn or companions of the Prophet or saints. They would always speak with reverence and respect. They would invoke blessings for my visit and point to a blessed future. Then they would leave and others would come.

Who were those visitors?

I was visited by beings that claimed to be angels, jinn, Abu Huraira, scholars, .saints., such as Abu al-Hasan al-Shaadhili,well- known and accepted scholars, such as al-Shaikh Ahmad al-Tirmaaneeni, and some scholars that I had met before and had known of their deaths, including my father (may Allah have mercy on him).

They gave me glad tidings of my father.s visit at a specific time. I looked forward to this meeting with anxiety. When it was time for the meeting, they requested me to read surah  al- Waqiah aloud. read it. When I finished reciting it, they said, .Your father will appear after a few moments. Listen to what he says and do not ask him about anything."

The beginning of my vigilance: After a few minutes, there came someone who claimed to be my father. He greeted me. He showed his happiness for meeting me. And he was happy with me for meeting those spirits. He advised me to assist the medium and his family and to take care of them in the best way as he had no other means of making money except through this way.

He ended his speech with "the prayers on the Prophet Abraham." And I knew that my father was passionately fond of saying the prayers upon the Prophet (peace be on him), especially in .the prayer of Abraham." The most amazing thing was that his accent was exactly the same as my father's.He said salaam and left.

Then I began to ask myself, .Why did they advise me not to ask him about anything.?'' For a secret reason no doubt. The secret reason became clear to me at that moment. It was not my father. It was his "partner" from the jinn, the one who accompanied him throughout his life. He came to me in the form of my father and imitated his most particular characteristics.

They advised me not to ask him about anything because the "partner" from the jinn, no matter to what extent he knows and remembers about my father, he is not able to remember every detail that a son knows about his father. They feared that if I asked him something of that nature, he would not be able to respond and the matter would become clear.

With others, 1 would meet them and not know who they were until they were about to leave and then they would say, "I am so and so," greet me and leave immediately.

There was also a secret reason for that: If any of them would tell me who they were, and he was well-known for being knowledgeable, I could discuss a diffecult topic with him and he would not be able to respond. Again, the matter would then be uncovered.

One time someone came and debated with me saying that the face of the woman is not aurah [or from the private parts that must be covered] and need not be covered. I refuted him and he responded to me with a response that had no aspect of knowledge in it. The argument became heated between us, I said to him, "How do you respond to those jurists who say that the face of the woman is aurah and she must cover out of fear of fitnah [temptation and sin]?. The argument ended without any benefit. 

Then he told me that he was Shaikh Ahmad al-Tarmaaneeni and he left. It became clear to me that he was undoubtedly a liar because Shaikh al-Tarmaaneeni was a leading shafi scholar and the leaders of the Shafi school say that all of the woman is aurah, even if she is an aged, gray-haired woman. If he really was the shaikh he said he was and he had discovered some new knowledge in the world of barzakh. he would have informed me about it and shown me its evidence. 

But it was all a lie and deception. Its intention was misguidance. And Allah- and all praises are due to Allah refused except to guide me and confirm me on the truth and guidance. A woman uncovering her face, especially in times like these with moral laxity and a sick society, is something no knowledgeable or religious person would agree to.

The reality becomes uncovered: The reality of the situation became more and more uncovered meeting after meeting and experience after experience. Finally. I was certain that all of it were lies and forgeries. It had no root in righteousness and no standing in religion.

Even the medium, who I was advised to help and treat generously, was known not to pray and he was not ordered to perform his prayers. His beard was shaven and no one ordered him to let it grow.

Certainly, he devours the wealth of the people through falsehood and deceiving promises. There is no source of income for him except through that evil means.

A man came to me after he heard that I had some relation with that medium and complained to me about his deception. He took 300 Syrian riyals from him and the man was a poor person who was very much in need of that money. I insisted that the medium return the money to him. He did so, in his and his devils. hope that I would continue to meet with them.

The medium and his family base most of their entire lives on lying.

Conclusions: Those spirits, after everything became clear to me, tried to threaten me. But that did not shake my heart whatsoever. And all praises are to Allah.

I used to record what they used to say to me. These recordings filled two large files. I recorded most of what they said to me.

When it became unquestionably clear to me that it was all fake, without any other way to explain it, I made my final judgement about them and burned the two files that were filled with lies and forgeries.

Those spirits who claimed to be Companions of the Prophet, saints and pious people were all devils. No intelligent believer should be deceived by them.

All of the ways that are taken to make the spirits appear are nothing but lies and falsehood. It does not matter if it is through a channeler or medium, as in the experience I had, or through a table or tea cup, that some people have experienced and mentioned to me. All of them end in the same result that I reached.

A wonderful thing is that I have seen other people write on this topic and the conclusion of the intelligent people who experienced these things is the same conclusion I arrived at. They concluded that those spirits are nothing but the "partners" of humans from among the jinn, as Allah had guided me to. And all praise is to Allah.

I have fulfilled, by these words, the obligation of advising others. And Allah is the Guide to the Straight Path.' The gravity of this call This claim of those people that the spirits appear is an attempt on the part of the devils, both jinn and human, to ruin the religion of the people. Those beings that appear are nothing but devils that come and speak in words that would destroy and demolish religion. They propound new principles and teachings that are completely opposed to religion. 

In one such meeting, the spirit (Satan) claimed, by the tongue of the channeler, that the Angel Gabriel was present at that meeting. When they did not know who Gabriel was, he told them, "You don.t know Gabriel, the one who revealed the Quran to Muhammad? He is blessing this gathering." Dr. Muhammad Muhammad Hussein quoted a magazine entitled Aalim al-Ruh "(.The World of the Spirit.)" It had an article entitled, "The Speech of the Great Spirit Wyatt Hook." It stated,

We must become united in this movement, in this new religion. We must have love between us. We must have the ability to compromise and understand one another... My message [the spirit that is speaker here, that is Satan] is to nurse the rejected and help mankind free himself from Allah [and that is the truth as his message is one of disbelief in Allah]. Humans are a god garbed in the elements of the earth [this is what they pump up humans with, they lie to them in order to mislead them]. 

And he does not know what is in his power. He has not sensed his angelic and divine parts." Spiritualism will be more powerful than any other thing to establish this new religion that can encompass the entire world. And he also quoted from that magazine the introduction of a new order or system that is built upon the above goal.
                   
That new order will be for every human being and through it they will make clear for us a new way of life and they shall give us a new concept of Allah and His will. They will give us spiritual peace and comfort and the happiness of soul and heart. They will break down the barriers between society and individual and between beliefs and religions. Membership in that order will be without reference to country, color, religion or political persuasion.

These spirits allege that they are messengers that are sent from Allah. Dr" Muhammad Muhammad Hussain mentions that Muhammad farid Wajdi related that one of those spirits (or devils), said, "We are messengers from Allah in the same way that messengers were sent before us. Except that our teachings are more advanced than their teachings. Our god is their god. Except our god is more apparent than their god. He has less human characteristics and more godly ones. Do not submit to any belief or ideology. Do not accept any belief without thought nor any teaching that is not based on reason"

They allege that the messengers and prophets were nothing except intermediaries of the highest rank of intermediaries. The miracles that were performed at their hands were nothing but what the spirits manifest, like what manifests itself in the seances. They claim that they can repeat any of the miracles ascribed to Jesus. Some newspapers ran a large add claiming that one of the spiritualists in America could perform all of the miracles of Jesus, such as returning sight to the blind, allowing the mute to speak and so on. Furthermore, that alleged doctor is a child of only ten years old, called Michel. When he comes to a sick person, he simply puts his fingertips on the person and recites some invocations and words and the miracle happens. They say that that child inherited his spiritual blessings from his father. And he never accepts any money for what he does..'

That child inheriting those blessings from his father reminds us of a story that is told in some parts of Palestine. It is said that one man, who was seen to be pious and holy, used to perform extraordinary acts. He used to- during that time they had no planes or cars- go to Hajj during the Night of Arafat. The pilgrims would witness him there and he would even deliver some letters to his relatives and friends. He would also take letters from them for their relatives and return on the same night. 

Many people believed he was noble and pious although he never performed any of the rites of the pilgrimage and would not stay in Mina for the prescribed time or perform the throwing of the stones. Then Allah willed that his falseness be discovered and shown to the people. When death came to him, he called his oldest son and told him that on the night of Arafah a camel will come to take him to Arafah every year. When the camel came, he rode it for some time and then it stopped and started talking to the son. He told him that he was a Satan that his father had worshipped and prostrated to. That is why he used to perform those services for him. When his son refused to prostrate to Satan and sought refuge in Allah from him, Satan left him in the desert. Allah gave him the ability to return to his home and unveil the truth about his father, the disbeliever.

This story was also alluded to by al-Bayanuni in his book about the angels in a more abridged fashion. 

Is it possible to make the spirits appear?

The magazine Scientific American offered a large financial prize for anyone who could offer proof that spirits do appear. That prize is still available as no one has been able to win it, although there are a great number of spiritualists and their likes in America. In addition to that, there is another prize that is being offered by the American magician Denger for the same purpose and no one has won that prize either.

But what is the Islamic position with respect to bringing back the spirits of the dead? When one studies the texts related to this point, he will conclude with certainly that such an act is absolutely impossible. Allah has informed us that the spirit is from the unseen which man cannot possibly fathom or reach.
        
"They ask you concerning the spirit. Say: The spirit is by command of my Lord, and of knowledge you have been vouchsafed but little" (al-Israa 85).

And Allah has informed us that He takes the souls of the dead
when they die, "Allah receives the souls at the time of their death, and that (soul) which dies not in its sleep. He keeps that soul for which He has ordained death and dismisses the rest till an appointed term. Lo! Herein are portents for people who take thought. (al-Zumar 42). 

After death, Allah puts angels in charge of the souls that either punish it if he were an ungrateful unbeliever or gives it bounties if he were a pious person.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) has made clear to us how the angel of death takes the soul at the time of death and what happens to it after that. If the souls are held by Allah and in the charge of strong guardians, it is not possible that they escape from them and come to the people and talk to them and play with the minds of humans.

Some of the mediums claim that the spirit of some righteous person, martyr or prophet has come to them. How could it be that they would leave the bounties of paradise to come to this world to come to the dark rooms of the mediums? Allah has informed us that the martyrs are alive with their Lord.

"Think not of those who are slain in the way of Allah, as dead. Nay,they
are living. With their Lord they have provision".(ali-Imraan 169). The Prophet (peace be upon him) has informed us that the souls of the martyrs are in the bellies of green birds in paradise; they eat from the fruits of paradise and drink from its streams. And they are hanging from the Throne of the Lord. How do these liars of today claim that their spirits are appearing before them? "This is a grave sin that comes from their mouths and they say nothing but a lie."

A conjecture and a reply: Some people may ask, .How is it that these spirits know the deeds and the character of the persons who they claim to be?." We have stated that the one who claims he is a spirit is a devil. Perhaps that devil is the .partner. that accompanied that human through his life. We mentioned the texts that state that every human has a devil who accompanies him. That devil accompanies him and knows many aspects related to his character, habits, attributes, friend, relatives and so forth.

It is very easy for them to answer the questions put to them because they have such knowledge. If one asks, "How do you explain the scientific answers that they sometimes give?" We reply, "We have already mentioned that devils and jinn have such knowledge that allows them to respond and benefit us." But this knowledge is used to mislead mankind. They only benefit us to the point that we trust them. Then they mislead us in such a way that destroys our worldly life and our life in the Hereafter.

The devils leave those who follow them Those spiritualists who claim that they make the spirits appear and can cure people by them are nothing but liars; and the "spirits" are nothing but devils. Sometimes Satan even leaves such people and disgraces and humiliates them. In al-Qabas, a kuwaiti newspaper (6/12/1978), there was an article about a medium in England by the name of Peter Goodwin. He had come into spiritual powers by which he
was able to perform many miracles, such as cure those it was difficult to cure, find lost items and so forth. And he had mastery over the spirits to
have them help mankind.

Peter Goodwin, by his unique powers, was able to be in many places at one time. For example, his friends saw him in London, while, at the same time, some others saw him in Liverpool and still others saw him in Manchester. And during the whole time yet another group stated that he was not in any of those places but he was actually sitting at home with his family.

Sometimes his body would appear at different times in one and the same place. For example, he would be sitting among his friends, then he would enter upon them again and sit with them. Then again for a third and fourth time, sitting and talking with them. So there would be five Peter Goodwins at one meeting and he would be talking to them or some of them.

But then Peter lost all of that and became like a normal person, without the ability to cure, find lost items, predict the future or control the spirits to serve mankind. His downfall began last year when he began to use his spiritual powers that Allah had granted him for material gain. He now looks to his near past and says, "What happened to me was not in the reckoning. The spirits became angry with me and have afflicted me by leaving me." The beginning of his plight Last year, he decided that he would open centers for spiritual healing throughout all of Britain. He wanted to open a center in every big city in Britain. 

For that purpose, he placed advertisements in the evening newspapers. He was looking for trainees for spiritual research in a full-time or part-time course. The cost would be between 40 to 50 British pounds.

He received some applicants for the position. One of the applicants he received was a twenty-nine year old writer, Rubin Lacy, a sixty-five year old woman, Jean Bartlett, and man in his thirties named Arthur Jeffrey. Peter Goodwin began holding interviews until he began to tire.Rubin Lacy stated,

We found Goodwin when we came to the appointment that peter Goodwin was not there. Instead, the one who conducted the interview was a woman in her fifties who was assisted by a young man and woman, very beautiful. They
distributed a questionnaire to us and asked us to fill it out. Among the questions it included were, "Have you ever witnessed a spirit before?" "Do you believe in spiritual remedies?" "Do you take drugs?" "Have you ever been in
a mental hospital?" 

The woman told us that Peter Goodwin was planning on opening up a medical centre in every city in England and that he would train us in spiritual healing so we would be able to work in those centres. Then he would send us clients. We would charge five sterling pounds for one session. And we would cure approximately forty per week- on the condition that we would give Peter Goodwin half of the first five thousand sterling pounds we make and we would be able to keep the rest. Most of the people began to debate this issue. Some of the people did not like what they heard so they left the room without completing the remainder of the questionnaire.

What did an eyewitness say?

After all of that, some of the respondents were selected and they were allowed to meet Peter Goodwin in another room. He met with the first person for twenty minutes. Successively his interviews grew shorter until he saw the last one for only about five minutes. Then he chose some of them for him to train.

One of the persons he chose was Jean Bartlett who was a retired interior decorator. Her husband was Arthur Bartlett. Jean stated, I could not comprehend anything that Peter was trying to teach me. He would always start to get confused during the training. At the end of the training, he had stopped giving lectures in person but would just record what he had intended to say and give them the cassettes to listen to. He talked about the limits that humans can reach in life. One time, he asked us to make a figure out of clay that resembled a human. And he taught us to recite some incantations to it. But all of that did not result in anything.. Peter Goodwin gave us some more comments but we did not understand anything from him.

Peter had also chosen Arthur Jeffrey and his wife Angela.Angela narrated their experience?

At the beginning, we got the feeling that there was a scientific atmosphere prevailing in his lectures. But Goodwin was always confused. He began to lose his powers little by little. After some days, he became like a normal person, like us. He did not have any miraculous abilities. We felt that since he no longer did anything amazing in front of us. In fact, he began to record his
lectures and we would listen to the tapes without seeing him. For that reason, we all stopped attending his lectures.  From his office, Peter Goodwin, the one who lost the trust of the spirits, stated,

I was planning on developing the spiritual powers of my students. Then I was going to give them a diploma for that so they could go and work. They would benefit from it and would benefit others and I would benefit. And although I received many spiritual messages telling me that I must not use my great spiritual gift from God for the purposes of gaining economic rewards, I did not listen. The result was that I began to lose my spiritual powers until they left me completely. How did that happen? Until now I do not know.

Our Comments to this Event

1.This man claimed that he brought forth the spirits but he has no proof for this claim. But there is proof that they were simply devils who were playing with him as he asked the people to make a statue and read some specific incantations. These are things that are pleasing to Satan and angering to Allah.

2. If it were the case that Satan was helping him, then it is very possible that he may have been seen at many places at one time since the devils have been given the ability to resemble humans.

That happened in the past and it continues to happen. We have already related that Satan came to the polytheists in the form of Maalik ibn Suraaqa during the battle of Badr. Ibn Taimiya narrated many such incidents. I shall recount some of what he wrote to make it clear to the reader that this is something very old. 

Ibn Taimiya stated, Some of my Companions told me that they had sought my help during their harshest times. One of them was afraid of the Armenians while the other feared the Tartars. Both of them mentioned that they sought my aid and then saw me flying in the air defending them from the enemies. I informed them that I was unaware of that. 

I never defended them. But that was Satan who comes in the form of humans to deceive them when they associated partners with Allah [by calling on ibn Taimiya.s aid instead of Allah's]. He also said, "This happened to more than one of our companions and shaikhs with respect to their friends. One of them prays for aid from his Shaikh and he sees his shaikh coming and fulfilling his need. The Shaikh then tells him, "I was not aware of that." And it becomes clear that it was a devil."

He also wrote, I told some of our companions when they mentioned to me that when they sought aid in two people that they believed in, they saw them coming in the air and telling them, "Make your heart good and we will defend you and do such and such for you." I said to them, "Does that tell you anything? They said, "No." I said, "That shows you that they were devils. For devils, if they tell humans the truth about any issue or story they then commit many lies with it as the jinn used to do with the soothsayers."

3. The devils of Peter Goodwin abandoned him in the same way that the devils who appeared like shaikhs abandon the people they promise to defend and help. The same was true for Satan who abandon the monk after he promised to help him. This is to disgrace and humiliate the person who was just previously honored and respected by everybody.

4. Peter was under the impression that this power had come from God, but this is a lie that has no proof for it.

The Jinn and the Knowledge of the Unseen

It is spread among many people that the jinn know the unseen. And the jinn do their best to spread this wrong notion among humans. But Allah has shown the falsity of their claim in the story of the Prophet Solomon. solomon was given power over the jinn who worked on his behalf. After his death, his body stayed erect, leaning on a staff, and the jinn continued to work. They were not aware that he had died until some crawling creatures ate away the staff he was resting on. Then Solomon fell and it was made clear to the people that the jinn are liars when they claim to know the unseen. Allah says,

"And when We decreed death for him [Solomon], nothing showed his death to them save a creeping creature of the earth which gnawed away his staff. And when he fell the jinn saw clearly how, if they had known the unseen, they would have not continued in despised toil. (Saba 14).

We have already mentioned how they stole messages from the heavens and how the number of guards in the heavens were increased after the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent. After that the jinn were confounded.