3-Endless Bliss Third Fascicle - Hakikat Kitabevi

with his presence there were no longer inauspicious days
ahead of Muslims.” We must not admit that a disease will
certainly be caught by a healthy man. It will be caught if Allâhu
ta’âlâ decrees and will not be caught if He does not wish it to be
caught. Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’ stated, “Islam
does not include ill omen or that a disease will certainly
infect a healthy man.” [Nevertheless, it is wâjib to keep away
from dangerous things and doubtful places. We must take
precautions not to catch a disease.] We must not believe
fortunetellers or soothsayers. We must not ask them about
unknown things. We must not think they know about the
unknown. [It is written at the beginning of the book Sharh-i
aqâid, “Man’s knowing something is by means of his sense
organs, by dependable information or by mind. There are five
sense organs. There are two kinds of dependable information:
tawâtur and prophetical information. Tawâtur is a report
unanimously given by all the dependable people of every
century. There are two kinds of mental understanding. Knowing
something spontaneously without thinking is called badîhî
(intuitive, self-evident). If it is known by thinking it is called
istidlâlî (inferred). That everything is bigger than its own part is
badîhî. Information which is acquired by calculation is istidlâlî.
Information which is acquired by the sense organs and mind
together is tajrubî (experimental).” As it is understood from all
these, things that are not communicated by Islam, by
calculations or by expriments are called ghayb (unknown). No
one but Allâhu ta’âlâ and people informed by Him know the
ghayb.]
We must not practise sorcery, nor have someone else
practise it. It is harâm, the worst harâm, and it is closest to
disbelief. We must be extra careful not to do the tiniest action
which is close to sorcery. A hadîth states, “A Muslim cannot
practise sorcery. His sorcery will take effect not before his
îmân —may Allah protect us— is gone.” Sorcery and îmân
are sort of opposite of each other; when sorcery is practised
îmân is gone.
[Imâm-i Nawawî said, “If a statement or action causing
disbelief takes place when practising sorcery, it is disbelief. If
there is no such statement or action it is a grave sin.” Sorcery
makes people sick. It causes discord and hatred. That is, it
affects both the body and the soul. Sorcery affects women and
- 276 -