Dear Hadi,
Salam
I have a question that has been troubling me. I am a Muslim, go to the mosque as often as possible, keep away from haram as much as I can, and pray my five daily prayers as best as I can. But since I was young, I've experienced something strange that I haven't really found an answer for within Islam.
I know this sounds strange, but I need to ask.
When I meet people, without knowing what they have done, their situation, etc., I can truly feel their energy. For example, when they are sad or something, I can really feel it even if I don’t know them.
Let me give you an example; I hope it makes sense:
The other day, I was with my good friend, and we were giving her aunt a ride home. As soon as she sat in the car, I felt unwell. Extremely unwell—felt choked in my throat, with jealousy, envy, and something really dark. When she was dropped off and I was away from her, I felt better, but I asked my friend if her aunt had done black magic. She confirmed it and also confirmed the emotions I had felt.
Another example: During my friend’s engagement, I was helping in the kitchen. Her sister gave me a glass of water and told me to sit down and take a break. Again, it was the first time I met her, and I felt unwell and didn’t drink from the glass. I asked my friend if her sister had done dark magic, which she confirmed.
I also experienced this when I met my friend and her husband. I know it sounds crazy, but I really saw a lot of shadow around him. I asked my friend if someone was doing black magic on him, which she confirmed.
I experience this often and don’t know why. I try to research what Islam says about it but can’t find an answer.
My question is, what does Islam say about this? Is this a gift or something that could become haram?
Dear Reader,
Thank you for sharing your experience and for raising this question. We’ll begin our brief answer by sharing the following hadith, found in Sunan al-Tirmidhi: Abu Sa’id al-Khudri reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, “Beware of the intuition (firasah) of the believer. Verily, he sees with the light of Allah.” Then, the Prophet recited the verse, “Verily, in that are signs for those of discernment.” (15:75).
This notion of firasah is considered a gift that God has instilled into the hearts of some of the believers. It refers to a spiritual perception that may allow, by God’s will, the believer to have special insight with regard to others.
It is possible that what you are experiencing may stem from such a gift.
With regards to how to handle these feelings, or whether they could become haram, here are our thoughts.
We believe that these feelings and insights by themselves are not haram. They could certainly provide a basis for you to decide whether or not you want to limit your social interactions with these individuals in the future, whom you choose as friends, etc.
However, we would warn against using these feelings to make decisions that could negatively impact these individuals, since such decisions should be made on an objective basis that would also be apparent to others. So, let us say, for example, that you are an admissions officer responsible for admitting students to a school, and you get a "bad vibe" from a student you are interviewing, similar to the ones you have described. We think it would be unfair to rely on these feelings to deny admission to that particular student. We base this on the saying of Omar ibn Al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him), “We judge by what is apparent and we leave their inner secrets to Allah” (Sahih Al-Bukhari). That is considered a general principle in Islamic dealings.
We hope this answer brings you some comfort.
In peace.