The ruling on electric shock for the one being read to.

The questioner : Likewise, electric shock...

The Shaykh : What?

The questioner : Electric shock.

The Shaykh : Is there also electric shock?

The questioner: Yes.

The questioner : I do not know if it is electric shock; we know it among the doctors.

The questioner : ... tested.

The Shaykh : It is known among the doctors. In truth, there are matters that pertain to experience and do not pertain to religion. So, electric shock—I think you know this—is a matter customary among materialist doctors. When some patients afflicted with a type of epilepsy come to them, they use all the customary treatments they have, and then they resort to these electric currents based on the principle that the one who has lost the medicine... We cannot say—speaking now regarding the materialists' argumentation—we cannot say what is the ruling on applying these electric currents to some patients afflicted with epilepsy or otherwise; because the matter does not pertain to religion in the first place, but rather to medicine—and I am not a doctor. As for religion, it did not address this, neither negatively nor positively.
And by the way, it is fitting that I mention to you that one of our brothers in Damascus was afflicted with the disease of... epilepsy, which sometimes intensifies in him to the point that nothing stands before him in the house, as he breaks and destroys it terribly. He was treated in the hospitals that treat this type of disease, until he went to Beirut to the American University and was treated there by this method—that is, electric shocks. He returned to Damascus and it did not fix him; he remained as he was... having seizures, not always, he is not constantly epileptic. After that, I presented my suggestion to him, which is what is called today treatment by fasting. The intended meaning of fasting is not, in its nature, the religious fast, but rather let us call it starvation—treatment by hunger. This treatment by hunger has no relation to the Shari'ah, so we do not say it is a religious innovation, nor do we say it is a recommended practice. If this means succeeds as a means to treat some diseases, then it is good; and if it does not succeed, then there is absolutely nothing in that. Personally—perhaps some of you know—I reached this type of treatment by hunger, so I fasted for forty days. The meaning of this fasting is that this fasting person does not eat anything at all and does not drink anything at all except this water for forty days. After all these days, he begins to gradually train himself on the food that is customary for him, and he finds the effect of healing in much of what he used to complain of in terms of diseases. I tested this myself and I will not lengthen the explanation, but the point is this one who was treated by electric shocks and spent vast sums of money... in Syria and in Lebanon, he was not cured except by this fasting. He fasted the first time for six days, then after that more and more, until the matter reached that he fasted for thirty-four days, and then he did not see any effect of this disease. So, this type of treatment, which was not customary, and although some preachers today encourage it with such a saying—(peace and blessings be upon him)—as they say: , there is no doubt that the religious fast has all the benefits, but this hadith with this wording is not authentic, as we had explained that in "Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Da'ifah" (The Chain of Weak Hadiths). But this medical fasting, in which this fasting person is permitted to drink as much water as he wishes and whenever he wishes, yielded many and very many benefits in my person and in the person of thatThe student : brother of ours there, and in many others, many and many.
And by way of—also—the last example—with some novelty and a joke—this one who used to have seizures, from what he touched of the benefit of this type of fasting, became such that whenever a person came to him complaining of a disease that had befallen him and the doctors were unable to treat it, he would say to him: "You must fast, you must fast." A young man came to him... complaining to him about his mother, who is an old woman and has become bedridden, and she is unable to move to relieve herself. And although she has two daughters who are nurses in some hospitals, they were tired and weary of serving their old mother, because can you imagine with me, she became in a state, I mean, of such filth that even the children are disgusted by these things. So, when the son of this old woman complained of her condition, he said to him: "Fast her." And he explained to him what he meant by fasting; that is: prevent her from all food. He placed before her on the table a jug of water like this and a glass, and whenever she wished, she would drink. He said, "My brother, she is screaming, and she is an old woman, and perhaps she will die, and so on—she will die of hunger..." And he said to him jokingly: "The talk is between us; you have no guarantee that the old woman will die and you and your two sisters will be relieved of her? Fast her." So, the man seemed to be convinced, and indeed he placed the water before the old woman and prevented her from food in all its forms, and drink in all its types. She was screaming and they did not respond to her; "Food, food, eat," no one responded to her... she would drink water when she felt the need. Her son, who took this prescription from our friend, said: "Not more than about six days passed until he came to announce to our friend that his mother had gotten up from her bed and began to serve herself. And so she remained, after she saw the effect of this... she became one who prevents herself from food until Allah—(Blessed and Exalted is He)—cured her."
I want from this to say: whether the materialist doctors use electric shocks, or these modern people today who will ask about them; this means is not permissible for us to rush to deny it except in the case of the appearance of its bad effects on those in whom this modern means is used. Therefore, what is not befitting for us is to mix what is of the material means that do not enter into religious innovation. And in other words, we want to distinguish between the unrestricted public interests and the new innovations. The unrestricted public interests are the modern means that occur and it becomes clear to the Muslims that they are in need of them, so there is no objection to using them as long as they do not contradict a Shari'ah text. As for it being a new matter, this is not... The new matters are many and many, but they are not among the innovations in religion. And you all know—(if Allah wills)—that the Prophet—(peace and blessings be upon him)—said: —that is: in our religion— . So, it is obligatory that we distinguish between this and other means that enter into religion under the name of blessing and seeking blessing and the like; so, as long as that has not come, we do not approve it. As for that type—like electric shocks—we do not deny it as long as it is a means of treatment. This is what I have.


The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : My answer does not differ from that, because the matter is based on experience. When the materialist doctors reached the use of this method through their experiments, they arrived at it through experimentation. Are there proofs for using this method, or not? But they knew—just as it was said about some of the Bedouins: "How did you know your Lord?" He said: "The trace indicates the journey"—so they deduced from this usage, after experimentation, that this experience is beneficial. But, for example, are there proofs they intend to achieve through this method? They cannot provide a rational explanation, but they found that these shocks are beneficial shocks for a type of these illnesses. These people now—as you are reporting—and we do not know anything of that—rationalize that the jinn that has seized that human being is affected by these electric shocks. It is possible that the matter is so, and it is possible that it is not so. But the important thing is that we want to look at the effects of these shocks: did they benefit or not? Like the beating that is also reported about some of the modern people or the ancients. This beating, as we know, is harmful to the living. But they say, through experience, that this possessed person, no matter how much you beat him with a thick stick, such that if he were not possessed it would have hurt him and perhaps broken him, in this case he is not affected, but the possessor from the jinn is affected—if the expression is correct! So we cannot say that their rationalization is correct, but the important thing is to look at the effect. If the effect is beneficial for the possessed, then it is fine, as long as this method, first, does not contradict the Shari'ah, and second, does not harm the possessed.
This is what I have, and Allah knows best.