Ruqyah, the Jinn, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Related Topics:

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An Introduction to Ruqyah

An Important Note

This is the beginning of the practical implementation of the knowledge gained in the previous modules.

What is Ruqya?

Linguistically

Ruqyah is an incantation: a series of words said with the intention of achieving a particular effect, particularly when the incantion involves blowing. Linguistically, this includes things like magic spells, when they are said verbally.

Islamically

Ayat of the Qur'an, authentic du'aa, and the perfect names and attributes of Allāh that a Muslim reads as an incantation with the intention of treating himself or another, seeking a cure from Allāh alone.

What is Ruqyah for?

For every illness, whether physical, psychological, or spiritual; whether the illness has a known medical cure or not.

Ruqya in the Qur'an and the Sunnah

Refer to the next module: The Qur'an as a Cure

The Cure is From Allah

We must remember that the cure is from Allah - therefore, we perform ruqya with the belief that no harm or benefit can reach us, except with Allah's will.
One of the greatest tests that a person can face is their own success: do not attach success to yourself nor become arrogant, and remember the lessons of the Battle of Hunayn.

A Blunt Weapon?

For a weapon to be effective, it requires:

The right weapon
A strong arm
A good aim

If any of these elements are missing, then even if the other elements are complete, there is a fear that the weapon will not be effective. Likewise, even if you are using the best weapon against the shaytaan: the Book of Allāh, you may not get the result that you want if there are other conditions missing.

Should I read the Qur'an?

Almost always this question is unnecessary.
The Qur'an is a cure for every illness, so you don't need to worry about what kind of illness it is.
There is no harm in the Qur'an and it brings nothng but good.
You do not need to have memorised the whole Qur'an.

Expectations and Timescales

Levels of completeness in Tawheed - Ibn Uthaymeen The first level: that (the person) seeks for someone to perform ruqyah (upon him) - and this person has missed out on kamaal (completeness).

The second level: that he does not stop someone from performing ruqyah (upon him); and this person has not missed out on completeness because he did not seek ruqyah nor request it.

The third level: that he prevents the one who is to perform ruqyah upon him , and this is in opposition to the Sunnah. For the Prophet sall Allaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam did not prevent ‘Aaishah from performing ruqyah upon him. And likewise the Companions did not prevent anyone from performing ruqyah upon them because this does not affect (a person’s) tawakkul (reliance upon Allaah).

Al-Bukhaari (6472) and Muslim (220) narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Seventy thousand of my ummah will enter Paradise without being brought to account; they are the ones who did not ask for ruqyah or believe in omens or use cautery and they put their trust in their Lord.”

Concerning this hadeeth - Ibn Al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

"That is because these people will enter Paradise without being called to account because of the perfection of their Tawheed, therefore he described them as people who did not ask others to perform ruqyah for them. Hence he said “and they put their trust in their Lord.” Because of their complete trust in their Lord, their contentment with Him, their faith in Him, their being pleased with Him and their seeking their needs from Him, they do not ask people for anything, be it ruqyah or anything else, and they are not influenced by omens and superstitions that could prevent them from doing what they want to do, because superstition detracts from and weakens Tawheed." Zaad al-Ma‘aad, 1/475

The scholars of the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas said:

What is meant is that they do not ask others to perform ruqyah for them or cauterize them; rather they put their trust in Allah and rely on Him to relieve what they are suffering and to ward off what would harm them and to bring that which would benefit them. End quote. Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 24/397

They also said:

Asking others to offer du‘aa’ for one and asking them to perform ruqyah are permissible, but not doing them and doing without people and doing these things for oneself is better. Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 24/261

Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

This hadeeth indicates that not asking is better, just as not using cautery is better, but when there is a need for it, there is nothing wrong with asking for ruqyah or using cautery, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) told ‘Aa’ishah to ask for ruqyah for an illness that had befallen her, and he told the mother of the children of Ja‘far ibn Abi Taalib (may Allah be pleased with him), whose name was Asma’ bint ‘Umays (may Allah be pleased with her), to seek ruqyah for them. This indicates that there is nothing wrong with that when there is a need to ask for ruqyah. Majmoo‘ Fataawa Ibn Baaz, 25/118-119

The above has been adapted from IslamQA.

Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen said:

“The phrase in the hadeeth about the seventy thousand who will enter Paradise without being called to account, that they “do not ask for ruqyah” means that they do not seek it from others. But the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) commanded us and taught us to seek treatment, as he said: “Allaah has not created any disease without also creating the cure; some know it and some do not.” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, no. 5678).

For this reason the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “… those who do not ask for ruqyah..” and did not say “those who do not seek treatment”. Seeking treatment is essential, but it is better not to seek ruqyah. However, if a person comes forward and recites something over you and you do not stop him, this does not mean that you are not counted among the people mentioned in the hadeeth {note: this is also the opinion of Ibn Taymiyyah}, because you did not ask for ruqyah. By the same token, if you do ruqyah for your brother, you are doing him a favour, and this does not rule you out from being one of the seventy thousand. Thus we say that the extra phrase reported in Saheeh Muslim, “… and they did not do ruqyah…” is a dubious addition that is not saheeh. The correct wording is only “Those who did not ask for ruqyah.”

Liqa’ al-Baab al-Maftooh by Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 55/121

Now the question arises – what if an individual is unable to recite because the jinn takes control of his tongue and twists it, or seals his lips shut, or he falls asleep as soon as he tries, or he begins having fits etc. Will this person be taken outside the fold of the 70,000 if he requests ruqya? I asked this question to our noble brother Muhammad Nabeel As-Seylani (just completed his 2200 page PhD thesis on ruqya in Madina) and this was his answer

“There comes a times as you rightly mentioned my noble brother that the jinn may take control of his tongue and may cause him to be disabled in some form where he cannot do self ruqya, that person may desire not to seek help and continue to remain patient until death due to the hadeeth. In such a great calamity, it is important for him to assess his condition and iman. Indeed ruqya has been made permissible for one to do over the sick, if he is in dire need, he should seek assistance and make his condition better to worship Allah and perfect his Deen in the best way he can. If he is unable to offer salah and the pillars of Islam due to the oppression of the jinn, he should seek help for indeed on the Day of Judgement he will be questioned on it and be asked as to why he did not get ruqyaa done to fulfil the pillars of the Deen.

Indeed Allah Azza wa Jal is most merciful, He may even out of His Mercy admit him amongst the 70000.

This is my opinion, at the end of the day each one of us are responsible for ourselves and our flock. So if the oppression is great and he is unable to fulfil even basic duties such as salah, he should get ruqya done.

Allah knows best”

I (Abu ibraheem) ask Allah to admit amongst the 70,000 who enter Jannah without any reckoning or punishment and I ask Allah to give us the taufeeq to have complete reliance in Allah.

Things to be Aware of Finish your treatment, or it comes back

principle, fear Allah as much you can -

Reliance upon Allāh is not just one level. It is obligatory upon you that you do not seek help from anyone in something that only Allāh can give you. It is permissible, however, to seek help from people in those things that they can do. The important thing is that the less you ask those people, the closer you become to the highest level of trust and reliance upon Allāh. The more you ask people, the further away you become from trusting in Allāh. The Messenger of Allāh – may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him – said:

"Whoever asks someone to do ruqyah for them is free from [truly] trusting in Allāh." Yet, there is no doubt that asking someone to do ruqyah is permissible, but because of what it contains in terms of relying upon someone else, and because of how easily your heart can become attached to the person reading, and because of your dependency upon them, your imān and your reliance upon Allāh is not truly complete. Husayn bin ‘Abdur-Rahman said:

"I was once with Sa’eed bin Jubayr when he said, ‘did any of you see the shooting star last night?’ I said, ‘I did.’ Then I said, ‘I wasn’t praying because I was stung.’ He said,‘So what did you do?’ I replied, ‘I asked someone to treat me with ruqyah.’ He asked, ‘What made you do that?’ I said, ‘A hadeeth that ash- Sha’bee related to us.’ He said, ‘What did he relate?’ I said, ‘He reported to us from Buraydah bin Al-Husayb – may Allāh be pleased with him – that the Prophet – may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him – said, "Ruqyah is not [completely effective] but for the evil eye or for the poisonous sting." Sa’eed responded, ‘He does well who acts upon what he heard. But Ibn Abbās – may Allāh be pleased with them both – reported to us from the Prophet – may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him – that he said, ‘The nations were displayed before me. I saw a Prophet with whom there was a small group of people, and a Prophet with whom there was only one or two people, and a Prophet with no one at all. Then a great mass appeared before me, I thought that it was my ummah. It was said to me, ‘This is Musā and his people.’ So I looked, there was another great mass. It was said to me, ‘This is your ummah. Seventy thousand of them will enter paradise without reckoning or punishment.’’ Then he stood to enter his house. The people began wondering who they might be. Some said, ‘Maybe they are the companions of Allāh’s Messenger – may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him.’ Some said, ‘Maybe they are those who were born in Islam, and who never associated anything with Allāh.’ And still others were suggested. Then, Allāh’s Messenger – may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him – appeared before them to tell them. He said, ‘They are those who do not ask people to treat them with ruqyah, nor follow omens, nor get themselves cauterized, and upon their Lord do they trust’…"

The Muslim who pays close attention to this hadeeth sees that the people who are mentioned are those who complete their imān and achieve true tawheed. They trust completely upon Allāh and they rely completely upon him. Allāh rewards them by entering them into Paradise without any account or any punishment, without any pain or any fear. You might say, ‘But they are only seventy thousand – how can I be from them?’ The answer is that Allāh is capable of doing anything He wants. Ask Allāh and He will give you. And there is good news! There is another wording of the narration: "and with every one of them [the seventy thousand], there are seventy thousand more," so do not despair of the Mercy of Allāh.

I'll try to explain the answer to your question in a few points:

The Messenger of Allāh (may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) advised people to perform ruqyah on others, regardless of whether or not they ask, such as the hadeeth in which he said, "Whoever is able to help your brother let him do so" and many other hadeeth of ruqyah, some of which I mention in my ruqyah course on http://muhammadtim.com/video

The meaning of the description of these people is that they are those people who have that complete trust in Allāh. This is similar to the hadeeth in which the Prophet (may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) told some of the companions that if they drop their whip from a camel, they shouldn't put out their hand for someone to pick it up. This applies to those who seek the highest perfection in their religion, and we don't advise this for people who are in need and then they end up harming themselves and others because they don't ask for help.

Therefore, there's nothing wrong with asking for ruqyah, if a person is not able to do it themselves. However, if we imagine a raaqi himself, or a reciter of the Qur'an, who is able to do it for themselves - it's much better for them not to ask someone else to do it.

Not asking doesn't mean to refuse an offer of ruqyah. So, if a person says, let me read on you, they should say yes, and this doesn't stop them from being from the 70,000.

The key thing here is that it is (a) not harām to ask, regardless of the circumstances and (b) it may be obligatory to ask for those who are unable to do it themselves, but (c) for those who are able to do it themselves, this is better.

Seeking advice is not seeking ruqyah - quote surah al-'Asr

Stop people seeing you as a cure besides Allāh and relying on you besides Allāh:

1 . In the first place, you are getting people to recognise that their cure is from Allāh.

You are getting them to recite upon themselves.

"I didn't pray because I wanted to be from the 70,000"

2 . The way that you present yourself to people and the way that you carry out your ruqyah, all of this is based upon people being encouraged to rely upon Allāh alone.

MTH READ FROM THE BOOK OF SH TUWAIJRI