Thursday 18 Ramadan 1445 - 28 March 2024
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He thinks that he has been bewitched, but he does not want to ask for ruqyah so that he may be included in the hadith about the seventy thousand who will enter Paradise without being brought to account

Question

A neighbour of ours is envious of us even though we show her respect and have never mistreated her, and she did witchcraft against us, by using some clothes of mine that had traces of my sweat. What is really strange is that I had seen her in my dream twice, pouring some kind of liquid over me that I did not know what it was, and I woke up in a panic, feeling afraid. We are a conservative family who love Islam, and we do whatever we can of righteous deeds, but we suffer from some problems and do not always get along, and we have a lot of troubles. Some time ago, I felt that something inside me had changed, and I was no longer happy, energetic and hard-working as I used to be. I began to get angry quickly, and to sleep all day and stay up at night, and I left two jobs for no reason. I can no longer control myself, and I feel as though someone is provoking me to do things. I feel tired and I am only 27 years old, and I have started to feel fed up. I have not been to see a raqi (one who does ruqyah) because I hope to enter Paradise among the seventy thousand who did not seek ruqyah. I tried to read Soorat al-Baqarah every day for forty days, but I could not do it. I tried several times, but every time I tried, I would see frightening dreams. I call upon Allah in my prayer, asking Him to cancel out this witchcraft. I feel that everyone in my family has been bewitched, and I do not know what to do; please advise me.

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

The effect of magic or jinn possession on people is something real and cannot be denied, but the Muslim should not blame all the problems that happen to him in his life on witchcraft or jinn possession, thus living in a world of illusion and imagination that gets worse day after day. 

He should examine his situation first of all: obedience to Allah and His Messenger come first and foremost, and they are the means of attaining all that is good, whereas disobedience towards Allah is the cause of all evil. So the Muslim should strive to obey Allah and avoid disobeying Him, for the good life is only for the believers who do righteous deeds:

Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer - We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do. [16:97]. 

And a life of misery and wretchedness is for those who turn away from the reminder or remembrance of Allah , may He be exalted:

And whoever turns away from My remembrance - indeed, he will have a depressed life [Ta-Ha 20:124]. 

The more extreme the disobedience and turning away, the more severe that hardship and difficulty will be. 

After that comes taking positive measures, by looking for work and not being lazy, and bearing with patience some of what one experiences of difficulty in work and so on, until Allah, may He be exalted, helps him and grants him provision from where he does not expect. 

Similarly, with regard to what you mention about there being a lot of problems among the members of the family, each person should check himself and strive to acquire good characteristics, and try to be more patient and forbearing, and respond to mistreatment in the way that is better, and try to look for the causes of these problems, which are usually causes that do not deserve to be discussed. But if there are genuine causes, then it is essential to discuss them in a calm and loving atmosphere, so that you can overcome them. In addition to all of this, you should not refuse to go to a trustworthy raqi who can help you to overcome this witchcraft – if applicable. This is what we advise you to do. 

You should also be firmly resolved to read Soorat al-Baqarah, no matter how difficult that is for you. That is a very important part of the remedy and solution, which you should not ignore or fall short in, and then complain about witchcraft, hardship and problems, and so on. 

With regard to the hadith about the seventy thousand, those seventy thousand are not the best of people, and they will not be the highest of the people of Paradise in status. A person may be brought to account and enter Paradise, and be of a higher status than these seventy thousand, as was stated by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him). 

These seventy thousand will not deserve that honour, which is admission to Paradise without being brought to account or being punished, because of refraining from asking for ruqyah only; rather they will deserve that because of their perfect Tawheed (affirmation of Allah’s Oneness) and their trust in Allah, may He be exalted. Perfect Tawheed and trust in Allah are their way of life in all their affairs. 

Moreover, asking for ruqyah is not haram (impermissible) or makrooh (disliked); rather some of the scholars stated, with regard to the meaning of the hadith, that the ruqyah that they did not seek or do in this case is the ruqyah of the Jahiliyyah (days of pre-Islamic ignorance) and incantations of the sorcerers, and so on. As for shar‘i ruqyah, which is done by reciting Quran, or by remembering Allah (dhikr), that is not forbidden, even if it is done at the request of the sick person. 

Al-Qastalani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

“They are the ones who did not seek ruqyah” i.e., they did not seek it at all, or they did not seek the ruqyah of the Jahiliyyah. End quote from Irshad as-Sari (9/271) 

See also: Fath al-Bari by Ibn Hajar (11/410). 

Based on this view, if a sick person seeks ruqyah, i.e., asks for shar‘i ruqyah, that will not exclude him from the seventy thousand. 

It is not wise for a person to refrain from seeking ruqyah so that he may be among the seventy thousand, then remain anxious, distressed, confused and worried, filled with doubts and lacking patience. None of these are attributes of the seventy thousand. Rather what you should do in your situation is go to a raqi and strive hard in obeying and worshipping Allah, may He be exalted, and avoid disobeying Him, in the hope that you will not be deprived of the virtue of the seventy thousand. 

If it so happens that you are not one of them, the grace of Allah is vast, and perhaps Allah will bless you with a status in Paradise that will compensate for what you missed out on of this particular virtue.

May Allah, may He be exalted, help and guide you. 

And Allah knows best.

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Source: Islam Q&A