Using the Qur’aan as a shifaa’ (cure)

Using the Qur’aan as a shifaa’ (cure)

Question: The first question is from Sister Mujahida from New York, she says: My aunt has a daughter who is about 5 and can barely speak and recently started walking. The doctors said there isn’t anything physically wrong with her and she is just slow. Some claim that she has ‘ayn (عين – evil eye) on her and someone suggested that she read Surah Ikhlaas X number of times and she will start walking and talking. My aunt did this for a while and my cousin started to walk. However, I was trying to explain it to her if it was practised by the Sahaabah, but she says, “It is a surah from the Qur’aan and Allaah سبحانه و تعالى says it’s a book that cures, then what’s wrong with me reading it?” The questions are:

i. How do I explain this issue to her?

ii. Is there any ruqyah from Qur’aan and Sunnah that I can give her and tell her to do on her daughter?

Answer: About the question, as I understand it this lady is reading suratul-Ikhlaas and she said inshaa’ Allaah in suratul-Ikhlaas there is a cure. We should know that Allaah سبحانه و تعالى says in the Qur’aan:

وَنُنَزِّلُ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ مَا هُوَ شِفَاءٌ وَرَحْمَةٌ لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَلاَ يَزِيدُ الظَّالِمِينَ إَلاَّ خَسَارًا

{And We send down of the Qur’ân that which is a healing and a mercy to those who believe (in Islâmic Monotheism and act on it), and it increases the Zâlimûn (polytheists and wrong-doers) nothing but loss.} [Al-Israa 17:82]

This cure includes the cure from doubts, cure from physical illness and also from the illness of the soul i.e. shak an-nafsiyyah (شك النفسية – doubting of the soul). So the Qur’aan is a shifaa’ (شفاء – cure). We know this, and we know that there are special surahs that the Messenger of Allaah صلى الله عليه و سلم has guided us to, and some aayaat, and we know the Qur’aan as a whole is ash-shifaa’ (The Cure). When you read Qur’aan Inshaa’ Allaah with the intention ofshifaa’, and knowledge (understanding), it is shifaa’.

There are special surahs and aayaat like al-Faatihah, and the beginning aayaat of surah al-Baqarah, and ayatul-Kursi, and suratul-Ikhlaas, suratul-Kaafiroon, the muwaddataan (Surah al-Falaq and an-Naas). There are verses which Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم tells us that if you read them on a sick then Inshaa’ Allaah they will be cured. There is also a saying of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم that I think she can find it in the Sunnah book (Hisnul Muslim) and if she asks her Imaam, he will guide her to it like:

Place your hand at the site of the pain and say: Bismillah ‘In the name of Allaah’ (three times) Then supplicate seven times:

أَعُوْذُ بِاللهِ وَ قُدْرَتِهِ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا أَجِدُ وَ أُحَاذِرُ

A’oodhu billaahi wa qudratihi min sharri ma ajidu wa uhadhir

‘I take refuge in Allaah and within His Omnipotence from the evil that I feel and am wary of.’[6]

Also from the Sunnah of Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم is to recite:

أَذْهِبِ الْبَاسَ، رَبَّ النَّاسِ، وَاشْفِ أَنْتَ الشَّافِي، لاَ شِفَاءَ إِلاَّ شِفَاؤُكَ، شِفَاءً لاَ يُغَادِرُ سَقَماً

Adhibilba’s Rabbanaas wasfi antashaafee laa shifaa’a illa shifaauka shifaa’an laa yughaadiru saqamaa[7]

So the Qur’aan is shifaa’ and there are special surahs that we can say on the sick person, and he can read them himself. However, specifying a special surah or special aayaat that the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم did not mention, is wrong. There is nothing that specifies this and specifying a number of times to read this surah also does not come from Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم, and the Sahaabah رضي الله عنهم did not do this, so we should follow the way of using the ruqyah shar’iyyah (الشرعية الرقية – permissible incantation). He should not be very harsh regarding this. She is reading Qur’aan and surah al-Ikhlaas has special meanings in it, so I think it is okay to read the Qur’aan but not specific (parts); it is better to read the whole of surah al-Faatihah, Ayatul-Kursi, suratul-Baqarah Wallaahu A’lam.

--------------

Reference:

Answered by: Shaykh Salaah Muhammad Aal Shaykh

Title of lecture: Question and answer session

[6] Reported in Saheeh Muslim, Kitaab as-Salaam (#2203).

[7] Reported in Saheeh al-Bukhaaree, Kitaab at-Tibb (#5418) and Saheeh Muslim, Kitaab as-Salaam (#2191).

http://www.albaseerah.org/forum/