May the peace, mercy and blessing of Allah Almighty be upon you. To proceed:

What is the verdict of presenting magic tricks or illusions to children for entertainment and to help my financial situation, while maintaining the rules of Shari`ah?

In the name of Allah, all praise is for Allah, and may peace and blessing be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family and true followers. To proceed:

The scholars have agreed that learning, teaching and practicing magic are haram. Ibn Qudama (may Allah have mercy on him) said in the Mughni, "Verily, learning magic and teaching it are haram. We do not know of any difference of juristic opinion concerning this amongst the people of knowledge."

That said, even though scholars agree that learning, teaching and practicing magic are haram, they differ concerning whether or not a person who does these things becomes a kafir (disbeliever) or not. The majority of scholars, amongst them Imam Malik, Abu Hanifa, the scholars of the school of Imam Ahmad, and others are of the opinion that he becomes a disbeliever.

Imam ash-Shafi`i took a more detailed opinion. If the magician`s actions contain anything that would necessitate disbelief, he would become a disbeliever by that. Otherwise, he would not.

The majority who say that the magician commits disbelief give as evidence the saying of Allah Almighty, {Soloman did not disbelieve, but the devils disbelieved, teaching men magic…}[Al-Baqarah 2: 102]. Al-Hafidh says in Fath ul-Bari, "The apparent meaning of the verse is that they committed disbelief by that, and no one becomes a disbeliever by learning something except if that thing is disbelief. Likewise is His saying in the verse on the tongue of the two angels, {"We are only for trial, so disbelieve not (by learning this magic from us)."}[Al-Baqarah 2: 102] Verily, there is an indication in this that learning magic is disbelief, and as a result, practicing it is also disbelief; all of this is clear."

The scholars of the Shafi`i school give as evidence the hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, "Avoid the seven major sins. They [the Companions] asked, `O Messenger of Allah, what are they?` He replied, `Associating others in worship with Allah, magic, taking a life that has been made sacred by Allah, except with a legal right, taking interest, usurping the financial rights of an orphan, desertion in battle, and accusing chaste, believing, innocent women of adultery." [Agreed upon] They said, "The hadith indicates that magic is not completely shirk (idolatry); rather some of it is a major sin like murder and the like."

They also give as evidence, the narration of `A`isha (may Allah have mercy on her), "A slave of hers, who was to be set free upon her death, performed magic on her to hasten her emancipation, so `A`isha sold her, but did not kill her." [Narrated by Imam ash-Shafi`i, al-Hakim and al-Baihaqi, and al-Hakim declared it authentic according to the criteria of Bukhari and Muslim] Ibn Qudamah commented on `A`isha`s words, saying, "If she had committed an act of disbelief, she would have become an apostate who would face capital punishment and it would not have been permissible to keep her as a slave."

Shaikh ash-Shanqiti said, "The results of investigation into this matter—meaning the disbelief of a magician—is detailed. If the magic is of a type that glorifies others besides Allah in worship, such as the stars, the jinn, etc., in a way that would lead to disbelief, then it [magic] is indisputably disbelief. The magic of Harut and Marut as mentioned in Surat ul-Baqarah was of this type and there is no disagreement over the fact that it was disbelief. If magic does not necessitate disbelief, however, such as utilizing the properties of certain objects like paint and others, this is extremely haram, but the one who does it has not gone to the extent of disbelief. This is the precise verdict, in sha` Allah, on this issue over which the scholars have differed."

It can be derived from this conclusion that one must not perform the tricks mentioned because, even if they are not the type of magic that makes one a disbeliever, they are a type of illegitimate activity due to their similarity to magic on the one hand, and because they leave an effect on the minds of the children related to fairy tales, witchcraft and other things forbidden in Shari`ah. Remember: whoever leaves something for the sake of Allah, Allah will replace it with something better than it; and Allah Almighty is more exalted and more knowledgeable.