I want to ask the following: if a person suspects that magic or a spell has been placed on him or anyone else, is it right to say, "I think that this hinderance is due to magic or a spell"? We sometimes say things like that. I read a hadith from which I understood that whoever believes in magic will not enter paradise. Please explain.

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Magic is true and has an actual effect on the smitten person by the Power of Allah (only); it may cause some harm to the victim by the permission of Allah. This is evidenced by the verse: {But they do not harm anyone through it except by permission of Allah. And the people learn what harms them and does not benefit them. But the Children of Israel certainly knew that whoever purchased the magic would not have in the Hereafter any share. And wretched is that for which they sold themselves if they only knew.} [Quran 2:102]

Shaykh Haafith Al-Hakami wrote in his poem "Sullam Al-Wusool" (what means), "Magic is real and has an actual effect, but only in accordance with the decree of Allah, the All-Powerful."

If the person suspects being a victim of a magic spell due to some signs, such as facing difficulties in his affairs or the like, there is no harm in that. However, it is forbidden to accuse someone in particular of making that magic spell without evidence.

As for the hadeeth wherein the Prophet, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, said, “There are three people who will not enter Paradise: one who drinks alcohol, one who severs his kinship ties, and one who believes in magic.” [Ahmad, Ibn Hibbaan, Al-Haakim - Al-Haakim and Ath-Thahabi graded it saheeh (sound)]; the meaning of this hadeeth is to believe the sorcerer in what he claims about knowing the Unseen, or to believe that magic can have an effect in and of itself (rather than by the Power of Allah). Al-Mulla ʻAli Al-Qaari wrote, "The one who believes in magic (in the hadeeth) means whoever believes that magic has an effect by itself." [Mirqaat Al-Mafaateeh Sharh Mishkaat Al-Masaabeeh, 6/2390]

Ibn ʻUthaymeen said:

"Whoever believes what the sorcerers tell him about the matters of the Unseen that they claim to know is subject to the warning in the hadeeth. As for the one who believes that magic has an effect, he is not subject to the warning because there is no doubt that magic has an effect. The sorcerer may cast a spell on a person causing him to love or hate someone; Allah, the Exalted, says (what means): {And (yet) they learn from them that by which they cause separation between a man and his wife. But they do not harm anyone through it except by permission of Allah.} [Quran 2:102] Believing in the effect of magic in this sense does not entail being subject to the warning because it is an affirmation of a fact."

Allah knows best.