Am I permitted to stop following my father in treating witchcraft (sihr) and the evil eye ('ayn) with impermissible methods, and travel 40 miles to my aunt's house without a mahram to improve my situation? And is patience better, or working towards improvement? And are psychological problems the same as possession by jinn, or are they caused by Satan? And how can I diagnose my condition?

Some people resort to explaining their problems by attributing them to magic or jinn possession, and this prevents them from facing reality and striving for a cure with patience. It is important to remember that Allah did not create the world in vain, to be dominated by unseen forces, but rather commanded us to follow the causes upon which the universe is built. We do not deny the existence of magic and envy, but we do deny the exaggeration in attributing everything to them, for magic harms only by Allah's permission, and a Muslim overcomes it by relying on Allah, supplicating, and reciting the Quran.

Our advice to you is to work on improving your conditions by identifying their causes, thinking about solutions, and doing what is necessary to overcome problems. Avoid going to those who treat magic with anything other than legitimate Ruqyah. There is no harm in using legitimate Ruqyah by reciting Al-Fatiha, Ayatul Kursi, and the Mu'awwidhat (Surahs Al-Falaq and An-Nas), or going to trustworthy reciters, without attributing every hardship to magic. There is no objection to visiting your aunt at a distance of forty miles without a Mahram, as it is a short distance not considered travel by custom. We advise you to be diligent in reciting the prescribed remembrances (adhkar) and making supplications (du'a), for whoever fears Allah, He will make for him a way out and provide for him from where he does not expect.