Does reading stories that include magic and fantasy take a person out of Islam, given that magic is disbelief?
Reading magic and fantasy stories is fraught with warnings, as they propagate disbelief-inducing magical acts and depict them as normal behaviors, and portray the magician as a righteous person. This removes the heart's rejection of the heinousness of magic. This corruption has led Western educators to warn against their spread. Moreover, these stories may teach readers methods of magic and divination, tempting them to attempt to apply or learn them, and some of them may affect and enchant the reader. Furthermore, these stories strain the mind by transporting it to strange scenes and peculiar conceptions, which affects integration with reality and weakens logical thinking and scientific creativity. Therefore, Muslims must beware of these stories, and societies must limit their spread.
Sheikh Ibn Baz clarified that books of magic and astrology must be avoided and destroyed because they harm the Muslim and cause them to fall into polytheism (), and learning and practicing magic is disbelief (kufr). It is not permissible to read them or learn what is in them, and the duty is to destroy them wherever they are found. Merely reading these stories is not disbelief unless it is with the intention of learning and practicing magic, but one must be warned against magic books in general and strive to destroy them.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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- Original fatwa ID
- 2016
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- . This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
- Text
- Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
- Read the full ruling
- Read the full answer on Ftawy