Learning and Teaching Magic according to Islamic Jurisprudence

Teaching and learning have been highly emphasized by Islam while ignorance and superstition have been strongly condemned. Seeking knowledge is a duty of every Muslim man and Muslim woman. Some forms of knowledge include magic and occult sciences and arts which some people learn despite them being complex and having negative influences. This issue can be studied from different angles and from the perspectives of various sciences including jurisprudence. The focal question is: Does the Islamic recommendation about seeking knowledge also include magic? Or is it that knowledge of magic is not included in the category of sciences? This article seeks to address this question from the perspectives of different scholars. Some are of the view that teaching and learning magic are forbidden under all circumstances, others are of the view that they are allowed under specific conditions. Thus, the principal ruling about magic is that it is forbidden to teach and learn magic except in cases when one embarks on terminating a magic spell or defending himself against. It would not be, by extension, forbidden in an absolute sense.
If magic is proved to be forbidden, it would be forbidden to spread and promote it because not only it will be disregard to Shari’ah but it will cause evil to be disseminated.