alone has the power to do; and who declares that he controls people, so that if they refuse to worship him he harms them, while those who do worship him he benefits—such a person is also a tāghūt, for he is calling people to take him as a god besides Allah.
This is precisely what some leaders of Ṣūfī orders and other charlatans do. They dominate Allah’s servants, usurping the position of godhood by claiming that they can benefit and harm, and making various other assertions, all so that they may debase the people and assume authority over them unjustly.
- The fifth is anyone who rules by other than what Allah has revealed. Allah the Exalted says: “Have you not seen those who claim to believe in what was sent down to you and what was sent down before you, yet they desire to take their disputes to the Tāghūt, although they were commanded to reject it? And Satan wishes to lead them far astray.” (Qur’an 4:60). Thus, whoever judges by other than what Allah has revealed while believing that such judgement is better for people, more beneficial, equal to what Allah has revealed, that he is free to choose between Allah’s law and some other law, or that ruling by other than what Allah has revealed is permissible, is deemed a tāghūt and is a disbeliever in Allah.
These are the foremost tawaghīt, and Allah knows best.
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Going to Sorcerers and Charlatans
Question: In Upper Egypt, if one of our children or our livestock falls ill, we go to a shaykh who writes something on a piece of paper for us; we then burn it and let its smoke pass over us, or we dissolve it and drink it, or we hang it around the neck of the sick person or animal. What is the ruling on this practice, may Allah bless you?