What Separates a Man From His Wife

This knowledge was learned by a faction of the Jews, and it has been inherited from generation to generation through secret orders, and part of that magic still exists until now. Allah (swt) has told us one effect of such a brand, or type, of magic. Allah (swt) says: fa-yataʿallamūna minhumā mā yufarriqūna bihi bayna al-marʾi wa zawjih — they learn from these two what could cause separation between a man and his wife.

This is a kind of magic; it is a magic spell that is cast on the husband or the wife, and it would cause hatred in the heart of the husband or the wife, and it would make it unbearable, and eventually it would cause divorce, separation. And this exists; I personally happen to know a few cases — first-hand knowledge of some cases where this happened. It is true that this exists. But also it is true that many people take it out of context, and whenever there is a problem between husband and wife they hang it on magic; they say there is magic between them. That is not true. There are a few cases, and it is not always; we should not always say that there is magic between them and that is where the problem is. No. Sometimes it is magic; sometimes it is the incompatibility of two persons.

But this type of magic is not only limited to putting these differences between husband and wife; it could cause some other harm. And the way it is done: they have to have a part of your body — a hair, a nail — and, with the assistance of the jinn, they would wrap it in what is called an ʿuqdah. They would wrap it with that part of your body in it, and that is what would cause this problem, or make the magic take effect. And they would throw it somewhere.

And when this type of magic was done on the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), according to the authentic ahadith — one of the Jews did a magic spell on the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). He threw it — where did he throw it? He threw it in a well. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was suffering from that magic. Jibrīl (peace be upon him) came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and said that it is in this well. So they retrieved it out of the well, and he opened it up, and the magic was released. So that ʿuqdah — ʿuqdah means a knot — that knot has to be released for the magic to be released. Sometimes they throw it in the ocean, or they bury it in the desert; that is how difficult it could be.