The Ruling on Reciting the Qur'an Without Contemplation for Healing

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. Regarding the issue of seeking healing through the Qur'an, meaning reciting the Qur'an for the purpose of warding off illness: I say that sometimes a person recites the Qur'an for the sake of review, and he may be quick in his recitation, and there may be little contemplation, or a lot of contemplation, sometimes. So does such a recitation bring benefit?

The Shaykh : The full reward is established.

The questioner : The reward is established, but I want to…

The Shaykh : …doubt that its benefit to the heart is small. Reciting without contemplation does not benefit the heart greatly, except through the love of drawing near to Allah the Exalted and the hope of reward only. As for the benefit to the heart in terms of conduct, direction, and will, it is very weak.

The questioner : But regarding the removal of illness.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : Even regarding the removal of illness, if there is no contemplation, one does not know that this verse will affect the illness.

The Shaykh : No, no. He recites in a continuous manner, reciting one or two parts (juz') smoothly, like that. How does it benefit the illness? And the person who recites the Qur'an for the sake of healing must bring the verses that are established as healing, such as al-Fatihah, for example, or the verses appropriate to the illness, like the verse of sorcery for the one afflicted with sorcery, and the verse of al-Zalzalah for the woman who is in difficulty, and the like. The important thing is that he must know that these are verses for healing.