Ruqyah Online
| Sheikh Hânî al-Jubayr, presiding judge - Mecca Courthouse|
With the advancement of Web technologies and easy access to high-speed connections, people are finding new and creative ways to use the Internet. Among the new ideas is to use the chat and video conferencing abilities of the Internet to allow Muslims to provide therapy to people using the recitation of the Qur'ân. One popular service for this is Paltalk, since it is easy for the reciter and the patient to see and hear each other in real time during the treatment.
This leads us to the question of whether it is appropriate to engage in this kind of therapy online, or at the very least to wonder whether or not this practice can provide any benefit.
We know that the established manner for treating people with the Qur'ân, as found in the Sunnah, is to recite the Qur'ân over the patient and then to blow on or touch the patient.
In the hadîth that describes reciting Sûrah al-Fâtihah as a treatment for a scorpion sting, it reads: "one of the Companions began to recite Sûrah al-Fâtihah, gathering the moisture of his breath together and blowing it on the wound." [Sahîh al-Bukhârî (5295)]
We see similar practices in the rest of the hadîth that describe treatment with the Qur'ân and with supplications, which is referred to in Arabic as ruqyah.
The eminent classical jurist, al-Qâdî `Iyâd writes: "The benefit of letting the moisture of the reciter's breath is the blessings of the moisture or breath or air that is used to recite or to offer pious remembrances and supplications. In the same way, the water is blessed when it is applied to the writings of the remembrances [with saffron and the like] and mixed with it.
The equally famous jurist al-Nawawî adds in his commentary that this is a matter of consensus. Therefore, we must concede that the air or breath that the person uses when reciting the Qur'ân upon himself or herself – or upon someone else whom the reciter may be treating – makes a contribution to the effectiveness of the treatment.
Therefore, I personally dislike providing such treatment to others via the Internet or by other means of remote communication. Nevertheless, it is not unlawful for someone to do so, since the recitation of the Qur'ân is here being used as a form of treatment or therapy, and therapeutic activities fall into the scope of worldly dealings which are based upon experience. Whatever shows itself to be of benefit is permissible.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "present to me those who provide treatment by way of ruqyah. There is no objection to ruqyah ash long as it is free of polytheism." [Sahîh Muslim]
This hadîth is evidence for the permissibility of providing therapy through the Qur'ân according to what experience shows to be beneficial, as long as the Islamic conditions for such therapy are observed. This is because the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not ask them about the basis for their practice, but rather the condition for it. Therapy through the recitation of the Qur'ân and the remembrance of Allah is, in this way, similar to medical treatments in that the basis for various treatments is practical experience regarding their effectiveness. These practices are not restricted to what is defined for us by the sacred texts.
Moreover, this type pf therapy is also a form of general supplication and the general remembrance of Allah. Supplications and the remembrance of Allah do not require any proximity. They can be engaged in anywhere.
It is imperative that the person reciting the ruqyah stays clear of anything that implies polytheism. Whatever the practitioner says by way of supplication should be intelligible, clearly understandable, and of a sound and lawful meaning.
Another condition is that neither the reciter nor the patient believes that the ruqyah itself has the power to bring about any benefit or harm. It is merely a form of supplication and remembrance.
And Allah knows best.