Magic in Islam

I recently heard a lecture that talked about magic in Islam. Magic is real. It is something that we have to believe is real, but we can't participate in it or be pleased with it.

Allah Subhanna Wa T'ala sent two angels as a trial. They told people that they could learn magic but that it was a trial for them and not do it. In the Quran it says:

And they followed [instead] what the devils had recited during the reign of Solomon. It was not Solomon who disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Hārūt and Mārūt. But the two angels do not teach anyone unless they say, "We are a trial, so do not disbelieve [by practicing magic]." And [yet] they learn from them that by which they cause separation between a man and his wife. But they do not harm anyone through it except by permission of Allāh. And the people learn what harms them and does not benefit them. But the Children of Israel certainly knew that whoever purchased the magic would not have in the Hereafter any share. And wretched is that for which they sold themselves, if they only knew. 2:102

The whole point of the lecture that I was listening to was to warn Muslims of falling into disbelief by learning about magic or being pleased with it. One of the examples that he used was the series of books about Harry Potter. Now I know that a lot of people would say that its not real (the story line) and we know it, its just for fun, but if you think about it when you read books like that you are actually pleased with magic and its effects. If you think back to each book release, hordes of children and adults alike lined up to get their copy. They would read it with a passion and be so excited to hear the next step of the young wizard. They actually root for him as the 'hero' of the series. In this way, we are becoming pleased with magic. I think the same thing applies for books like Twilight. I've never read them but from what I've heard there is a lot of magical things going on. The lecturer went on to say that watching movies with magic and playing video games with magic was just as bad. Unknowingly we are sucking ourselves in to thinking its cool.

In the end, the lecturer said that if we practice magic or are pleased with it in any way that it is pure disbelief, that it is a form of shirk. We are giving power to others that Allah. Let us all protect ourselves from this by reciting the last three surahs of the Quran:

Al Ikhlas

Say, He is Allah, who is one
Allah the eternal refuge
He neither begets or is born
Nor is there to Him any equivalent

Al Falaq

Say, I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak
From the evil of that which He created
And from the evil of the darkness when it settles
And the evils of the blowers in knots
And from the evil of an envier when he envies

Al Naas
Say, I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind
The sovereign of mankind
The God of mankind
From the evil of the retreating whisper
Who whispers evil into the breasts of mankind
From among the Jinn and mankind