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Clearly, the Islamic State does not take the threat of supernatural forces lightly. To understand why seemingly harmless street magicians are being lumped in with supposed satanic, spell-casting sorcerers, VICE spoke to Adam Silverstein, professor of Abrahamic religions at Tel Aviv's Bar-Ilan University and author of Islamic History: A Very Short Introduction. He is also a magician and member of the Magic Circle, a UK-based organization dedicated to "promoting and advancing the art of magic."According to Silverstein, the root of this problem is largely semantic. "The Arabic word for 'magic' is sihr—pronounced with a guttural H—and in the Qur'an it means 'magic' in the sense of 'black magic,' but in modern Arabic the same word is used for 'entertaining magic,'" Silverstein explained. "That can lead to unfortunate confusions that can, very occasionally, have serious consequences for magicians in the Muslim world." Chapter 2, verse 102 [of the Qur'an] specifically states that it is 'the Satans' who teach magic," he said. "Seeing as how sihr is associated with 'the Satans,' it would not surprise me at all if some in the Muslim world associate sihr—even of the entertainment sort—with threatening forces."
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