A Comparative Study of Magic in Islam and Judaism

Magic is literally anything or any work whose source is secret and hidden, but in laymen’s term, it is often referred to the fantastic works done by various means. Magic is learnable and its origins is of the devil, so those who use magic are associated with demons. According to God’s emphasis in the Quran, it can be concluded that some of the branches of magic is real. Islam, however, strongly discourages going into these matters and using them, as is the case with Judaism in which magic is also considerably forbidden, although Jewish people have committed this sin greatly. Of course, learning magic is not forbidden on its own and requires its own individuals (because, otherwise, it would lead to personal and social or even family problems). In this study, after reviewing the literal meaning of the term magic and the words associated with it, magic is studied from the viewpoints of of Islam and Judaism. Also, it has been tried to study the expression of its subsidiaries, and distinguish examples of actual cases from false recognitions and review the rulings of Islam and the Bible around this issue.