Is reciting over a person to expel jinn considered a form of ruqyah?

The questioner : He says: O honorable Shaykh, is reciting over a person to expel jinn considered a form of ruqyah? And does the one who seeks it fall outside the seventy thousand who enter Paradise without reckoning or punishment?

The Shaykh : Ruqyah for expelling jinn falls under the saying of Allah the Exalted: Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated in his *Musnad* that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), on one of his journeys, passed by a woman with her young boy who had been afflicted by jinn; the jinn were causing him to fall into convulsions. He recited over him and said: , so the jinni came out, the boy regained consciousness, and he was cured of it. There are also many incidents that occurred with sincere scholars, such as Imam Ahmad, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, and others among the scholars. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned regarding Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah that a person who had been afflicted by jinn was brought to him, so he recited over him. The jinni inside this man addressed him and said, "I love him." Shaykh al-Islam said to her, "But he does not love you." She said, "I want to take him on Hajj." He said, "He does not want to perform Hajj with you." He continued to converse with her, but she refused to leave. So he began to strike her—striking the convulsed man, but the blow appeared to land on the convulsed man while it was actually on the jinni—until he said his hand was tired from striking. Then she said, "I will leave out of respect for the Shaykh." Meaning, out of respect for whom? Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah. He said: "Do not leave out of respect for me; leave in obedience to Allah and His Messenger. So she left, and the man regained consciousness". The man was amazed and said, "What brought me to the presence of the Shaykh?" They said, "How do you mean what brought you? Did you not feel the striking that tired the Shaykh's hand?" He said, "By Allah, I did not feel it, because the striking was landing on the jinni." So she left and did not return. Therefore, reciting over one who has been afflicted by jinn is beneficial by the permission of Allah. However, a person should not imagine or suppose that everything that happens to him is jinn. Perhaps if he catches a cold, he will say it is jinn, which is not correct. When a person imagines things, they become reality in his mind. For example, if you imagine a distant object moving while it is stationary, you might say it is moving. Recently, before the mosque was carpeted with these carpets, it was previously covered with materials that had patterns. Some people came to me and said, "O so-and-so, how do you pray on these materials?" I said, "What? And what is the problem?" They said, "They are all birds; the pattern makes you imagine they are birds, so in your mind they became birds." So what do we do? Do we erase all this? That is not acceptable. The point is that when a person imagines something, that imagination may strengthen in his mind until it seems like reality, and this is a problem. Therefore, we warn against a person imagining that everything that happens to him is from jinn. Then we order and encourage our brothers to increase in the dhikr and daily recitations that prevent this, such as reciting Ayat al-Kursi. If a person recites Ayat al-Kursi at night, a guardian from Allah remains with him, and no Shaytan approaches him until morning. This means, if you were to tell a person, "Be my guard tonight from every visible or hidden Shaytan, and I will give you so much money," would that not be cheap? Answer? Yes, it is cheap. But this Ayat al-Kursi, if you read it at night as a believer who believes in the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding this, Allah the Mighty and Majestic will protect you from every Shaytan; no Shaytan will approach you until morning. And other such recitations. But, unfortunately, people have neglected the lawful recitations. Those who perform the lawful recitations may read them while their hearts are not present, and some read them while in doubt. Therefore, their benefit is small, not because they do not benefit, but because the one who read them did not read them in the required manner. So illusions have increased among people now, and some people, whenever they are afflicted, say it is from jinn.
Then the questioner asks, saying, "If I ask someone to recite over me, does that cause me to fall outside the descriptions the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned, in which they do not seek ruqyah?" We say: Yes, if a person asks someone to perform ruqyah for him, he misses one of the descriptions, because this is not all the descriptions; this is one of them. They are those who do not seek ruqyah, and the second is that they do not use cupping, and they do not take omens, and they rely upon their Lord. A person may miss all four descriptions, or he may miss one of these four descriptions. And if a person rectifies his deeds, how vast is the grace of Allah the Exalted. Yes.