During the time of these people, they had a king who claimed he was Allah–similar to how Fir’aun, in the Qur’an, claims to be Allah.
There is no oppresser that maintains his power without magic.
Even today? you might ask.
Even today.
In the Qur’an, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:
Translation: Moses said “Throw ye (first).” So when they threw, they bewitched the eyes of the people, and struck terror into them: for they showed a great (feat of) magic (Surah Al-Araf, 7:116).1
The Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) said: Some eloquent speech is as effective as magic.2 This is because they change the internal worlds of people, they bewitch the mind of the people and strike terror in their hearts.
If you look at TV and the mass-media outlets of our society, and the anti-da’wah effect on the masses of people, you’ll find indisputable evidence. Are all Muslims not branded as terrorists? Doesn’t the news focus on negative events–murder, theft, terrorism? Modern-day magic.
Kings employ spies. Spies deceive the people and push them to submission of the king. But spies are the most pathetic of people–even more pathetic than the king. Why?
The king employs spies. From their efforts, he gains fame and power–the dunya. The spies torture people–the king pays them minimum wage to protect him and his interests. Spies never get the dunya (worldly life). And for their torture, they accrue massive amounts of sins, so they lose the akhira (afterlife).
There’s an Arabic proverb: “You have found the gift of Sinemar.” Sinemar was a superb engineer and architect. He built a palace for the king, then approached his king and said “I built this awesome palace for you. But there’s one stone in it, and only I know where it is–if I remove it, the whole palace crumbles to the ground. I’m protectecting it, aren’t I so cool?” So the king said “You’re the only one who knows where it is?” And the architect said “Yes.” So the king killed him. Why? He doesn’t care–he just protects his own interests.
Magicians are kuffar (disbelievers). The hadith of the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) illustrates it clearly: “The punishment of the magician is two strikes of the sword.” The first, to kill him, the second to ensure his death.
In the hadith, the word used to describe the monk–rahib–indicates that this took place during the time of Prophet ‘Isa (Jesus), peace be upon him. The word rahib also indicates the monk was a scholar, a learned person.
When the boy arrived late at the Magician’s den (from his talk with the Monk), the magician beat him. And when the boy returned home late (from his talk with the Monk), his family beat him. He complained to the Monk, who said “If you fear a beating from your family, tell your family that the magician kept you late. And if you fear a beating from the magician, tell him your family kept you late.”
The Monk was a pious man, and one of the Muslims of the time. How, then, could he encourage a boy to lie?
Allahu ‘alim. Stay tuned and we’ll find out in part four inshaAllah :)
(1) Pickthall, Muhammad M., trans. Al-Qur’an Al-Kareem: Parallel Arabic text with English Translation. One Ummah Network. 28 Dec. 2005 <http://www.oneummah.net/quran/quran.html>.
(2) “Chapter of Medicine.” Sahih Muslim. USC-MSA Hadith Database. 6 Jan. 2006 <http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/071.sbt.html#007.071.662>.
(3) Hindy, Ibrahim. “People of the Ditch.” UTM MSA. University of Toronto At Mississauga, Mississauga.