Is it permissible to seek the help of the jinn or angels to fly?
Praise
be to Allah.
In the answer to question no. 102843
we stated that seeking the help of the jinn is prohibited according to
Islamic teaching.
By the same token, it is not permissible to call upon the
angels, seek their help or ask them to meet one’s needs instead of Allah,
may He be glorified and exalted; rather that comes under the heading of
shirk (associating others with Allah).
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him)
said:
Whoever regards the angels and Prophets as intermediaries,
calling upon them, putting his trust in them and asking them to bring
benefits and ward off harm is a disbeliever according to the consensus of
the Muslims.
End quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (1/124)
The scholars of the Standing Committee said:
It is not permissible to use the jinn in any manner
whatsoever, because that comes under the heading of seeking the help of the
jinn and devils, which is haraam and is one of the means that lead to shirk.
It is also not permissible to believe in anything that the practitioners of
witchcraft say, because of the evil consequences to which that leads.
End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (1/102)
The scholars of the Standing Committee also said:
Seeking help from the jinn or angels, or seeking their aid to
bring benefit or ward off harm, or to protect oneself from the evil of the
jinn, is all major shirk that puts one beyond the pale of Islam – Allah
forbid – regardless of whether that is done by means of calling them,
writing their names and wearing it as an amulet, or washing (that writing)
and drinking the water, and so on, if one believes that the amulet or the
water – and not Allah – will bring benefit or ward off harm.
End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah
(1/134-135)
Another of the tricks that the Shaytaan uses against people
is to make a person thinks that if he seeks the help of the angels, calls
upon them, and asks them for what he needs, then if he is helped and his
needs are met, he thinks that it is the angels who helped him. This is one
of the tricks and plots of the Shaytaan, for the angels do not help anyone
to associate others with Allah. Rather it is his shaytaan who has helped
him, in order to confuse him about his religion.
To sum up: it is not permissible to seek the help of the
angels or the jinn, whether to fly or to do anything else. Rather in all his
affairs the individual should seek the help of Allah, may He be glorified
and exalted, because of the general meaning of the words of the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): “If you seek help, then seek
help from Allah.” Narrated by Ahmad (2664); narrated and classed as saheeh
by at-Tirmidhi (2516); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh at-Tirmidhi.
But with regard to physical, tangible matters, there is
nothing wrong with seeking them from a person who owns them or has control
over them, or seeking his help with regard to that. In that case this person
is one of a number of means and measures that the accountable person may
take.
The scholars of the Standing Committee said:
It is not permissible to seek the help of the jinn or those
who are absent, because this comes under the heading of associating others
with Allah, may He be glorified and exalted. Seeking help is an act of
worship and it is not permissible to direct it to anyone other than Allah,
whether that is a jinn or a human or an angel or anything else, except in
the case of a living human being who is present and is able to do something,
such as seeking the help of a living and capable human being to cultivate
land, build structures and fight enemies. But in the case of the jinn, the
ruling on those who are present is the same as the ruling on those who are
absent: it is not permissible to seek their help in anything whatsoever,
because Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the
meaning): “You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for
each and everything)” [al-Faatihah 1:5]. And the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) said: “When you seek help, then seek the help of
Allah.”
End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (1/198)
With regard to the possibility of flying by seeking the help
of the jinn, this is possible in and of itself.
Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The jinn still carry people and fly with them from one place
to another.
End quote from an-Nubuwwaat (2/804)
He also said:
Those whom the jinn carry and fly with them from one place to
another, in most cases they do not know how they are carried].
End quote from an-Nubuwwaat (2/998)
But not everything that is possible is acceptable in Islam.
Most sins, such as associating others with Allah, stealing, zina, murder,
and so on are things that it is possible for people to do, but the fact that
something is possible on its own is not sufficient to indicate that
something is acceptable or permissible. Rather what is acceptable or
permissible or prohibited is in accordance with what Allah has prescribed
for His slaves.
For more information, please see the answer to question no.
And Allah knows best.
