What is your opinion on making the Shari'ah-based Ruqyah a profession in its current form?

The questioner : Regarding treatment for a fee... in the sector, and especially in our camp, the Al-Magazil camp, the first to teach it was Shaykh Fu'ad Abu Sa'id. He truly toiled in it, meaning he spent about three years in it and taught it to some students, among them the brother Salman al-Arqawi, who is now practicing it. So what is the solution to this matter?

The Shaykh : In any case, my brother, we do not deny the use of Shari'ah-based Ruqyah for a person who believes he is possessed by jinn. We do not deny this, unlike many of those who, in modern terminology, are called rationalists, meaning those who judge the texts of the Book and the Sunnah by their intellects. The possession of humans by jinn is a fact established by the scholars of the Muslims, by the Book and the Sunnah. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in some narrations, used to recite over some of the possessed and those afflicted by jinn possession; he would recite some verses and the Shaytan would come out of him. We affirm this fact. However, what has become widespread and prevalent in this age is making this Ruqyah a profession, and adding to it matters that go beyond mere recitation from the Qur'an or from some authentic hadiths from the Messenger (peace be upon him). This causes the matter to take on a form that contradicts the Sunnah, and the issue enters into what is called in the terminology of Imam al-Shatibi as "additional innovation" (bid'ah i'dafiyyah). Because Imam al-Shafi'i—excuse me, al-Shatibi—divides innovation into two categories, and this is from his jurisprudence and knowledge. He says innovation is of two types. Imam al-Shafi'i—excuse me, al-Shatibi—says that innovation is divided into two categories: true innovation and additional innovation. He speaks about them with some detail, and the summary of what he says is that true innovation is that which contradicts the Qur'an and the Sunnah in a fundamental way. He gives some examples of this with some misguided sects, such as the belief in compulsion (jabr) and the belief of the Mu'tazilah, and the like. But what concerns us in this matter is the second category of innovation in his view, which is additional innovation. Because this innovation is one that deceives many people, some of them from the specialists, let alone the general public. And as Imam al-Shatibi says, if you look at this additional innovation from one angle, you find it prescribed, but if you are given jurisprudence regarding innovation and look at it from another angle, you find it to be an innovation. From here, this innovation remains confusing to some people, including some of the specialists, as I mentioned earlier. And most of the innovations that have been prevalent from ancient times to today are of this type, which confuses most people. For example, the dhikr and supplication after prayer, such as the ten takbirs after the 'Asr and Fajr prayers. This is a recommended practice (sunnah) that is desirable. We said, what about 'Asr? The tongue has already passed, and perhaps this is from the category of "and perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you." There is a narration regarding after 'Asr as well, but it is not authentic. The takbir after Maghrib and after Fajr is a recommended practice (sunnah) that is desirable. But gathering for it and doing it with one voice, this gathering is an innovation. So he says, if you look at it as a dhikr whose virtue is textually established, it is a sunnah, but if you look at it and what has been added to it, it is an innovation. So the innovation overrides the sunnah here. It is said: do it in your heart and leave that which has been added to it. And so, by analogy, in many non-Arab countries, for example in Albania, and I think the matter is still so in Turkey, every imam must face the people after prayer and supplicate, and they say "Ameen." This is also an innovation, according to al-Shatibi, of the additional type. Why? Because the supplication , who can deny supplication, and our Messenger (peace be upon him) used to supplicate sometimes, but not in this form, as a group, and as an obligation after prayer. So these are additional innovations. And the examples are many, and very many. We now enter into the core of the matter. If a man is thought to be righteous and to have a pure soul, as the common people say, and you bring to him a person whom the doctors have exhausted in treating, and they think he is possessed, and they ask him to recite over him, we have no objection at all. But if it becomes a profession and a craft, and brings them vast wealth and widespread fame, and additions are made to it that have no basis in the Sunnah, then this is attached to additional innovation. Perhaps the matter has become clear to you, if Allah wills.