"Black Magic" by Tariq Mehanna

As I listened to NPR the other day, a routine statement triggered a memory.

The guest on the show was a novelist from a Muslim country. For one of the questions, the host began by stating: "Many concerned Americans are saying that Trump's rhetoric is radicalizing Muslims who would otherwise be pro-America" - the implication being that either you're pro-America (the proper term for this is 'Americanism') or something is wrong with you. The guest seemed intelligent and was well-spoken. But his response was the standard reassurance that non-pro-America radicals constitute "only a fringe minority" of Muslims, everyone else is a moderate, and so forth.

While routine, this particular exchange triggered in me the memory of a young man I once lived with in another prison. I'd watch as he robotically paced the unit - back & forth, all day & everyday. He'd go weeks without showering or changing his clothes. Each day, he'd recklessly consume massive amounts of sugar despite being predisposed to diabetes. Anytime I'd try to intervene & advise him to snap out of it, he'd stare back at me as if I was the crazy one. What made it all the more bizarre was that I also knew him to be very intelligent & well-educated. He had studied to become an engineer. In fact, he once spent five minutes reciting to me from memory a very eloquent poem that he'd heard just one time in one of his dreams. After a few conversations & attempts at reciting the Qur'an over him, I came to understand that he was suffering from the effects of black magic that he'd been afflicted with since childhood. 

The scholars explain that the effects of black magic generally continue so long as the object through which the spell was cast remains intact. During that time, black magic can muddle your mind and rob you of reason, even if you're otherwise intelligent. The NPR interview reminded me of that young man because this is exactly how many minds are affected by the dominance of a taghut. Once that dominance ends, the spell is broken. Example after example of this is scattered throughout the Qur'an, throughout history, and in the present day: Read the story of Qarun to see how people's view of him completely changed between one day & the next: {"Those who desired the life of this world said: "Ah! If only we had what Qarun has been given. Indeed, he owns a great fortune!" But those who were given knowledge said: "Woe to you! Allah's reward is better for those who believe & perform good deeds..." So I caused the ground to swallow him & his home... And those who wanted to be in his place just the previous day now said: "Don't you know that Allah widens & restricts provision for those of His servants He wills? If not for Allah's grace, He would've caused the ground to swallow us! Don't you know that the disbelievers will never prosper?""} [28:79-82]

So once the taghut vanished, his spell over people was broken and they suddenly snapped out of it.
And long before Qarun, only after Prophet Ibrahim smashed their idols to bits did people snap out of it long enough to hear him out, and they even {"turned to each other and said: "Indeed, you are the wrongdoers!""} [21:64]

And long after Qarun, only after he found his idol thrown headfirst into a pile of filth with a dead dog tied to it did 'Amr bin al-Jamuh snap out of it and thank Allah for guiding him by composing poetry which included:
He is the One Who saved me * Before I could become imprisoned in the darkness of the grave...
And in modern history, only after the Soviet Union collapsed did many in the Ummah snap out of it and realize how delusional they'd been attempting to harmonize between Islam & socialism.

But today, many claimants to Islam don't yet realize their delusion in attempting to harmonize between Islam & Americanism. And when the "fringe minority" points this out and advises them to snap out of it, they stare back at them as if they're the crazy ones. As I mentioned above, the scholars explain that the effects of black magic generally continue so long as the object through which the spell was cast remains intact.

The scholars explain one more thing: the practitioners of black magic themselves realize that they're only truly effective against people with weak hearts, not those whom Allah has fortified with knowledge & Iman. This is why while those who were deluded about Qarun did eventually snap out of it, it was "those who were given knowledge" who never had to snap out of anything. Why? Because their knowledge & Iman protected them from the magic, allowing them to see Qarun for what he was long before he was swallowed into the ground.

Written by: Tariq Mehanna
Sunday, the 13th of Jumada al-Akhirah 1438 (12th of March 2017)
United States Penitentiary - Marion