Having a summoning of spirits performed

Question

Question: In our area there is a custom whereby practitioners of incantations put ink on a child’s fingernail and ask the muwakkil (attendant spirit), that is, a jinn, whatever questions they wish, and the muwakkil gives the answer. Is this act permissible according to the Shariʿa or not? And what is the ruling on bringing jinn under control?

Answer

If the summoning of spirits contains no words of kufr and shirk and no seeking of help from other than Allah, then it is proper; otherwise not. However, what is seen in the summoning of spirits is not certain. Some of the elders hold that it is merely the effect of the imagination of the viewer and the practitioner of incantations; therefore it is not proper, on its basis, to…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.