Islam and magic

In Islamic culture and Muslim communities throughout the world, magic is "widespread and pervasive". While siḥr, a sub-category of magic is forbidden by the Quran, magic encompasses a wide-range of non-physical beliefs; including sorcery (which seeks to alter the course of events usually by calling on a supernatural force), divination (attempts "to predict future events or gain information about things unseen"), precognition via dreams, or occultism. Magic further includes protection from other forms of magic, such as black magic, the evil eye, demons, and evil jinn, which are thought to bring "illness, poverty, and everyday misfortunes"; or alternately seeking to bring "good fortune, health, increased status, honor, and power". Techniques include evocation, casting lots, the production of amulets and other magical equipment. Magic has been called a "vital element of everyday life and practice" in both the contemporary and historical Islamic world, the topics generating a staggering amount of literature.

At least some of this dispute may be explained by how magic, or forbidden magic, is defined; whether natural, or sympathetic magic—which "makes use of the hidden properties (in Arabic: khawass) of natural substances"—is included as forbidden magic. As of 2005, this division was on display in bookstalls in market places across the Muslim Middle East and North Africa, where handbooks for practitioners of the occult were found alongside books full of warnings and condemnations of the handbooks' contents.