The Quarterly Journal of Judicial Law Views

The Quarterly Journal of Judicial Law Views

Magic from the point of view of islamic jurisprudence and criminal regulations of Iran

Document Type : Research/Original/Regular Article

Authors
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Meybod University, Meybod, Iran
2 Master of Science in Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Meybod University, Meybod, Iran
Abstract
Magic is one of the behaviors that is considered as a crime in Islam and deserves punishment. Therefore, in the criminal laws of Iran, which are derived from the Islamic holy law, this act should be criminalized and the perpetrator should be punished. The question is whether magic in Islam is Hadd or Tazir? What is the punishment for witchcraft in Islam? In Iran's criminal regulations, a magician can be punished based on which legal articles? The findings of this research, which was carried out with the method of text analysis and using library and documentary studies, show that according to the consensus of Shiite jurists, the punishment for a sorcerer is death in two cases: when the sorcerer's act is blasphemy or when the sorcerer considers magic to be permissible. In other cases, according to the majority of jurists, the punishment for a sorcerer is death. Also, a non-Muslim sorcerer is subject to the punishment of ta'zir unless a hadd crime applies to his act. In the current criminal laws of Iran, although witchcraft is not explicitly mentioned as a Hadd with specific punishment, however, according to Article 220 of the Islamic Penal Code approved in 2013, a witch can be punished by referring to authentic Islamic sources or authentic sentences.
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Volume 30, Issue 111
Summer 2025
Pages 23-43

  • Receive Date 04 January 2024
  • Revise Date 02 October 2025
  • Accept Date 01 October 2025