بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
Assalaamu alaikum everyone! This finishes up the Mental Health segment of Deen Talk!, in shaa Allah. Please note I am not a student of Ruqya. However, I will list my sources during the course of this blog.
So, let's start with the basics. What is Ruqya? Ruqya is Islamic Healing, which we get from the Quran and Sunnah. There are three rules when it comes to Ruqya:
2. Words must be in Arabic -OR- have otherwise intelligible meaning (English, Spanish, any living language), to avoid witchcraft.
3. It must be believed and acknowledged by the practitioner that the benefits of Ruqya com directly from Allah ta'ala, and not from the practitioner themselves.
One can ask for Ruqya to be performed upon them, or they can do it upon themselves. Basic Ruqya can be performed at home for general aches and pains. There are two very basic Ruqyas, garnered from some Ahadith, which anyone should be able to perform.
The first is to recite Bismillahi three times with hand upon the painful spot:
The Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wasallam, told Amr ibnul Aas, "Place your hand where you feel pain and say 'Bismillah' three times, and then repeat seven times A'oudho bi'izzatil-lahi wa qudratihi min sharri ma ajidu wa 'uhadhir. (I seek refuge with Allah and with His Power from the evil that afflicts me and that which I apprehend.)" (Muslim)
The second is to blow upon the person and recite Surah Fatiha:
A group of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) set out on a journey and traveled until they came near one of the Arab tribes. They asked them for hospitality but they were refused. Then the leader of that tribe was stung, and his people tried everything to cure him but nothing helped. Then some of them said, "Why don’t you go to those people who are staying (nearby)? Maybe one of them has something." So they went to them and said, "O people, our leader has been stung and we have tried everything and nothing helped him. Do you have anything?" One of them said, "Yes, by Allah. I will perform Ruqyah for him, but by Allah we asked you for hospitality and you did not give us anything, so we will not perform Ruqyah for you unless you give us something in return." So they agreed on a flock of sheep, then he started to blow on him and recite Al-hamdu Lillahi Rabb il-`Alameen. Then he recovered quickly from his complaint and started walking, and he was completely cured. After that they took the flock of sheep, and some of the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Let us share it out." The one who had performed Ruqyah said, "Do not do anything until we come to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and tell him what happened, and we will wait and see what he tells us to do." So they came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and told him what had happened. He said, "How did you know that it is a Ruqyah?" Then he said, "You did the right thing. Share them out, and give me a share." And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) smiled. (Al-Bukharee and Muslim)
According to Bukhari, one can also recite al-Mu`awidhatayn (Surat Falaq and an-Nas) and spit dryly to heal illness.
The benefit of the above Ruqya for the average Muslim is quite obvious. However, most of Ruqya isn't about general aches and pains or minor illness but, instead, focuses on afflictions caused by Jinn Possession, Witchcraft, Ayn (the Evil Eye), devils, etc. This is where the stigma against mental illness is seen the most.
There is a Hadith which recounts that we should request Ruqya to be performed upon us:
With regard to the hadith narrated by Muslim, according to which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) described the seventy thousand of this Ummah who will enter Paradise without being brought to account or punished, and in which it says: "They are those who did not recite Ruqyah or ask for Ruqyah to be done, and they did not believe in bad omens and they put their trust in their Lord " – the phrase "they did not recite Ruqyah " is the words of the narrator, not of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The same Hadith from Bukhari thus does not contain the phrase.
So we are supposed to request Ruqya services. However, as seen in the above Ahadith, Ruqya should be requested AFTER conventional medicine has failed. We see this in the Hadith about the Ruqya about Surah Fatiha, where the man was brought to the Sahaba, radhum Allahu 'anhum, after normal medication failed. The Ruqya Services lists in the symptoms section of its website that help for Jinn Possession, Witchcraft, and Ayn can only be diagnosed after the patient was unable to be diagnosed by a doctor or after all treatment has failed. Unfortunately, in many Muslim countries, the society is considered underdeveloped. In these countries, those with mental illness are often brushed off as having anxiety or depression caused by Shaitan, with any more serious disorders blamed on Jinn Possession, Witchcraft, or the Evil Eye. They are denied medication and adequate treatment in the name of Islam. Astaghfirullah. These poor brothers and sisters are shamed for needing medication or therapy (which cannot be provided) whenever Ruqya treatment fails, or accused of witchcraft themselves.
This is at the crux of why I decided to do these videos and blogs, to bring up that mental illness should not be taboo in Islam. While, yes, Jinn Possession, Witchcraft, Ayn, and devils can cause many afflictions, we should not brush off mental illnesses, many of which are chemically based as proven by science. Instead, we should allow and support our brothers and sisters when it comes to seeking psychological treatment. Then, if this fails (please keep in mind people may need to try several medications or therapies before reaching stability), we should allow and support them in seeking treatment via Ruqya.
For more information on Ruqya, please visit the following sources (note: The Ruqya Services appears to discredit Sufism as a branch of Islam):
- Sheikh Sohail - What is Ruqya? (A Sufi source)
- Ruqya QA (Free books available in PDF in multiple languages)
For those who would like to explore Sunnah Medicine before turning to Western Medicine, visit Sunnah Healing UK.
"Make use of the two remedies: honey and the Qur'an." (Tirmithi)
Jazakum Allahu khairan,
Sajida.
No comments:
Post a Comment