salam, iam a female. am married for 2nd time now. my first marriage was very bad and i had undergone many many problems and ultimately i have to divorce my first husband. My mother was totally broke becoz as my father is not there and no one to look after me and we are 7 sisters and with great difficulty i got married and without thinking anything about her own life, she got some book from somewhere and she started to read something which will lead into death of my ex-in laws, and it was clearly written in that book that if my mother which she is reading is not in a correct way will harm her(in death) in return. Nouzbillah but nothing happened to my ex-in laws (thankfully), definitely Allah will do the justice. But from then onwards my mother health is deteriorating. Now she told me that she did like this for me and thinking that becoz of this only she is not keeping herself in good health. just want to ask u what i can do now. how i can do the kuffara. what should i do to get rid of this. i know she shouldn't have done this but my life was really a hell. please help me. my mother doesn't know anything about magic and all, just like that she did just to protect me. what my mother should do now like giving zakat or kuffara or qurbani, or charity. please help us. my mother doesn't know anythign about magic and all, just like that she did it. please please help us.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Using magic is forbidden, if what your mother engaged in was indeed magic. In fact, it is among the major sins, as we have clarified in Fatwa 83703. However, if she did not know that what she was doing was a kind of magic, then she is not sinful. Allaah says (what means): {And there is no blame upon you for that in which you have erred but (only for) what your hearts intended. And ever is Allaah Forgiving and Merciful.} [Quran 33:5]

If she did this with the purpose of harming the family of your husband, then she is sinful for that and she is obligated to repent. To learn about the conditions of repentance, please refer to Fatwa 86527.

In principle, she should ask the pardon of the family of your husband, but since the consequences will most likely be unfavorable, it is better for her to just supplicate for them and ask Allaah to forgive them.

The illness that she was afflicted with may not have been caused by this book, and it is not necessarily a punishment for a sin; it may just be a test from Allaah. So she should seek treatment and consult specialists in the field. In any case, she should perform Ruqyah as it is advantageous for all kinds of illnesses. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 82918.

She is not obligated to pay any Kaffaarah (expiation) or give charity or the like, but if she gives charity, it would be good. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “Treat your patients with charity” [At-Tabaraani - Al-Albaani graded it Hasan (good)]

Allaah Knows best.