The ruling on reciting over water and selling it to the sick
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Some people who are well known for recitation, recognized for performing ruqyah, recite over water and oil—this is a legitimate ruqyah—and then they sell it to people. Naturally, it may be beneficial or it may not be, by the will and decree of Allah.
Is it permissible to take a price for this ruqyah that is sold?
First: We ask: Is this prescribed; that a person recites over water or oil, and the patient is anointed with it or drinks it, or is it not?And my answer to this is: This has not been reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The most I have heard regarding this is that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would moisten his finger with his saliva, wipe it on the ground, and then say: "The dust of our land with the saliva of some of us; by it our sick person is healed, by the permission of our Lord".
However, what has been reported from the Salaf and the Imams indicates the permissibility of this; that the reciter recites over water, and the patient drinks it. This is from the perspective of the original issue of this matter.
As for taking compensation for it and making it a pharmacy, where a person opens a shop and places this water or this oil in it, and I have also heard that some of them set a fixed price for each type of recitation, such as: the Verse of the Throne for ten, and al-Fatihah for twenty, and so on. This is an error, and glory to Allah! In my opinion, that does not benefit; because this reciter was not sincere in his recitation, because he seeks worldly gain with the work of the Hereafter, so he does not benefit. And the benefit some of the sick people derive from it, Allah knows best, because their souls are affected and they believe that it benefits them, and belief has a very strong effect on the body; because the body follows the soul, so if the soul is reassured by this water, or this medicine, it becomes effective without a doubt.
For this reason, I offer advice from this place to my brothers the reciters: do not make recitation a means of worldly livelihood, and let their greatest aim be to benefit their Muslim brothers. Then, if they are given something and they accept it, there is no harm in that. And if they leave it—also—without any condition, that is better without a doubt. As for making this something—as I described—something fixed, as if it were a pharmacy where the medicine varies, that is an error.
But here is a matter: If someone said: I do not recite for this patient except for so much, and this is not a matter of money, is it permissible?We say: It has come in the Sunnah that it is permissible in the story of the group of people whom the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent on a raid. They descended upon a people who hosted them, but they refused to host them, so Allah sent a scorpion upon their leader and master, which stung him, and it was severe.So they said: (Perhaps these people who descended upon us, perhaps among them is a reciter—Meaning: who recites over him— So they came to the Companions and informed them of the news and said: We will not recite for you unless you make a reward for us.
And they assigned for them a flock of sheep, they said: There is no harm. So one of them—one of the Companions—went and began to recite Surat al-Fatihah over this man, who was stung and writhing from the poison. He kept reciting Surat al-Fatihah over him, and this stung man rose up as if he had been released from a tether—Meaning: he rose up sound, with nothing wrong with him— Then they took the sheep and returned to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and sought his ruling in that matter, and he said: Take them, and assign a share for me with you—O Allah, send prayers and peace upon him,He said: assign a share for me with you. Does he need it? I do not think so, but so that their hearts would be pleased in taking it—Then he said: The most rightful thing for which you take a reward is the Book of Allah).
Is it permissible to take a price for this ruqyah that is sold?
First: We ask: Is this prescribed; that a person recites over water or oil, and the patient is anointed with it or drinks it, or is it not?And my answer to this is: This has not been reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The most I have heard regarding this is that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would moisten his finger with his saliva, wipe it on the ground, and then say: "The dust of our land with the saliva of some of us; by it our sick person is healed, by the permission of our Lord".
However, what has been reported from the Salaf and the Imams indicates the permissibility of this; that the reciter recites over water, and the patient drinks it. This is from the perspective of the original issue of this matter.
As for taking compensation for it and making it a pharmacy, where a person opens a shop and places this water or this oil in it, and I have also heard that some of them set a fixed price for each type of recitation, such as: the Verse of the Throne for ten, and al-Fatihah for twenty, and so on. This is an error, and glory to Allah! In my opinion, that does not benefit; because this reciter was not sincere in his recitation, because he seeks worldly gain with the work of the Hereafter, so he does not benefit. And the benefit some of the sick people derive from it, Allah knows best, because their souls are affected and they believe that it benefits them, and belief has a very strong effect on the body; because the body follows the soul, so if the soul is reassured by this water, or this medicine, it becomes effective without a doubt.
For this reason, I offer advice from this place to my brothers the reciters: do not make recitation a means of worldly livelihood, and let their greatest aim be to benefit their Muslim brothers. Then, if they are given something and they accept it, there is no harm in that. And if they leave it—also—without any condition, that is better without a doubt. As for making this something—as I described—something fixed, as if it were a pharmacy where the medicine varies, that is an error.
But here is a matter: If someone said: I do not recite for this patient except for so much, and this is not a matter of money, is it permissible?We say: It has come in the Sunnah that it is permissible in the story of the group of people whom the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent on a raid. They descended upon a people who hosted them, but they refused to host them, so Allah sent a scorpion upon their leader and master, which stung him, and it was severe.So they said: (Perhaps these people who descended upon us, perhaps among them is a reciter—Meaning: who recites over him— So they came to the Companions and informed them of the news and said: We will not recite for you unless you make a reward for us.
And they assigned for them a flock of sheep, they said: There is no harm. So one of them—one of the Companions—went and began to recite Surat al-Fatihah over this man, who was stung and writhing from the poison. He kept reciting Surat al-Fatihah over him, and this stung man rose up as if he had been released from a tether—Meaning: he rose up sound, with nothing wrong with him— Then they took the sheep and returned to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and sought his ruling in that matter, and he said: Take them, and assign a share for me with you—O Allah, send prayers and peace upon him,He said: assign a share for me with you. Does he need it? I do not think so, but so that their hearts would be pleased in taking it—Then he said: The most rightful thing for which you take a reward is the Book of Allah).