What is the ruling on ruqyah (healing by Qur'anic recitation) using the key method?
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The questioner : I saw one of them place a key like this on a book of Mughayta and hold the hand of the possessed person. This one puts his finger here, and this one puts his finger there, and this man, who is one of the preachers and is considered as such, starts to recite. He says, "If this jinn is a Muslim, it will turn to the right."
The Shaykh : This is deception.
The questioner : Our Shaykh, of course, I discovered that this is deception. The movement of his finger, he moves it, he moves the key.
The Shaykh : This was used among us in Damascus, not for the purpose of deception, but for the purpose of istikhara (the prayer for guidance in a decision).
The questioner : Is it permissible, meaning this, our Shaykh?
The Shaykh : A man there was a watchmaker and was one of my customers. I used to repair watches, so he was a customer of mine. A young man who had graduated from al-Azhar and was one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood came to me and asked about this procedure. He said to me, "What is your opinion of it?" I told him, "First of all, this is an istikhara that is not in accordance with the Shari'ah, because it contradicts the istikhara that came in Sahih al-Bukhari from the hadith of Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah al-Ansari, who said: 'The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to teach us istikhara in all matters, just as he taught us a surah from the Qur'an. He said (peace and blessings be upon him): So this istikhara is contrary to the lawful istikhara, like the istikhara with the mushaf (a written copy of the Qur'an), where one opens it to find one's luck and portion, and if a verse of warning about Hellfire comes out.
Ali: It invalidates it.
The Shaykh : So he told me, "My brother, but the matter is tested. How is it tested?" He said, "He puts a key between his finger and the finger of the one who wants to perform istikhara, and he hangs a large key from the old keys, which we call a 'si'ata' key, on the key. The important thing is that he hangs the mushaf on a handkerchief. He told me, 'I saw with my own eyes this al-Azhari, whose name is 'Abd al-Razzaq. I do not know if he is alive or dead.
Abu Layla : ... .
The Shaykh : How?
Abu Layla: From the group of al...
The Shaykh : No, may Allah guide you, it is someone else. The important thing is he told me, "I saw with my own eyes that this man reads, and the mushaf tilts to the right or to the left, and he bases his judgment on that. If it tilts to the right, the istikhara is good, and if the mushaf tilts to the left, it is not good." I told him, "By Allah, you are truthful, but I am not convinced by this talk. I want to see with my own eyes. I will make an appointment with the man, and as we said, he is my friend. Indeed, he put this long key on his fingertip and the other end on my fingertip, and hung the mushaf, which was not small, a large mushaf. And the matter was very natural. I felt that it was a simple movement, because he was not holding it in the palm, but on the fingertip, and on the other side another fingertip, and the hand in the air. It is inevitable that there will be a tremor that is not visible to the naked eye.
onAl-Halabi : It is a nervous thing.
The Shaykh : Yes.
onAl-Halabi : It is a nervous thing.
The Shaykh : Yes, nerves. It is inevitable that the mushaf will move to the right or to the left. It is a completely natural thing. So the secret was revealed to me, but I kept it from the man, and he is a poor Dervish, meaning, otherwise he would have noticed. So every time I felt that the mushaf was going to tilt this way or that, I did not do what Abu Ahmad does, no movement that any person would notice. I did it very slowly. The bottom line is that the mushaf stood still, it did not tilt to the right or to the left, and the man was reading, reading, reading, reading, reading. Did you see? He was really sweating, and our friend, the intermediary, was present. What did this poor deceiver say? He said, "By Allah, this has never happened to me. I do not know what the secret is." The secret, as I told you, is exactly that the mushaf must move to the right or to the left.
The questioner : ... So he was turning it to the right. I let it turn to the left. The movement you did exactly, he returns it, it comes out again, he lets it turn...
The Shaykh : All of this is deception. So we do not consider anything except the recitation of the Qur'an. Now tell us about the shayatin al-ins (demons among humans).
Another questioner : It is still ongoing, our Shaykh. It is still ongoing. We came from far away, and this one came from near, and he took more of our time. We will take more of his time, if Allah wills.
The Shaykh : This is deception.
The questioner : Our Shaykh, of course, I discovered that this is deception. The movement of his finger, he moves it, he moves the key.
The Shaykh : This was used among us in Damascus, not for the purpose of deception, but for the purpose of istikhara (the prayer for guidance in a decision).
The questioner : Is it permissible, meaning this, our Shaykh?
The Shaykh : A man there was a watchmaker and was one of my customers. I used to repair watches, so he was a customer of mine. A young man who had graduated from al-Azhar and was one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood came to me and asked about this procedure. He said to me, "What is your opinion of it?" I told him, "First of all, this is an istikhara that is not in accordance with the Shari'ah, because it contradicts the istikhara that came in Sahih al-Bukhari from the hadith of Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah al-Ansari, who said: 'The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to teach us istikhara in all matters, just as he taught us a surah from the Qur'an. He said (peace and blessings be upon him):
When one of you intends to do something, let him pray two rak'ahs (units of prayer) for Allah, other than the obligatory prayer, and then let him say: "O Allah, I seek Your guidance by Your knowledge, and I ask You for power by Your power, and I ask You of Your great bounty. For You know and I do not know, and You have power and I do not have power, and You are the Knower of the unseen. O Allah, if You know that this matter is good for me in my religion, my worldly life, and my livelihood, and in the outcome of my affair, its immediate and its future, then decree it for me, make it easy for me, and then bless me in it. And if You know that this matter is evil for me in my religion, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affair, its immediate and its future, then turn it away from me and turn me away from it, and then decree for me the good wherever it may be, and make me content with it."
إذا هم أحدكم بالأمر فليصلي لله ركعتين من غير الفريضة ثم ليقل : اللهم إني استخيرك بعلمك واستقدرك بقدرتك وأسألك من فضلك العظيم فإنك تعلم ولا أعلم و تقدر ولا أقدر وأنت علام الغيوب اللهم إن كنت تعلم أن هذا الأمر خير لي في ديني ودنياي ومعاشي وأيش وعاجل أمري وآجله فاقدره لي ويسره لي ثم بارك لي فيه وإن كنت تعلم أن هذا الامر شر لي في ديني ومعاشي وعاقبة امري عاجله وآجله فاصرفه عني واصرفني عنه ثم اقدر لي الخير حيث كان ورضني بهAli: It invalidates it.
The Shaykh : So he told me, "My brother, but the matter is tested. How is it tested?" He said, "He puts a key between his finger and the finger of the one who wants to perform istikhara, and he hangs a large key from the old keys, which we call a 'si'ata' key, on the key. The important thing is that he hangs the mushaf on a handkerchief. He told me, 'I saw with my own eyes this al-Azhari, whose name is 'Abd al-Razzaq. I do not know if he is alive or dead.
Abu Layla : ... .
The Shaykh : How?
Abu Layla: From the group of al...
The Shaykh : No, may Allah guide you, it is someone else. The important thing is he told me, "I saw with my own eyes that this man reads, and the mushaf tilts to the right or to the left, and he bases his judgment on that. If it tilts to the right, the istikhara is good, and if the mushaf tilts to the left, it is not good." I told him, "By Allah, you are truthful, but I am not convinced by this talk. I want to see with my own eyes. I will make an appointment with the man, and as we said, he is my friend. Indeed, he put this long key on his fingertip and the other end on my fingertip, and hung the mushaf, which was not small, a large mushaf. And the matter was very natural. I felt that it was a simple movement, because he was not holding it in the palm, but on the fingertip, and on the other side another fingertip, and the hand in the air. It is inevitable that there will be a tremor that is not visible to the naked eye.
onAl-Halabi : It is a nervous thing.
The Shaykh : Yes.
onAl-Halabi : It is a nervous thing.
The Shaykh : Yes, nerves. It is inevitable that the mushaf will move to the right or to the left. It is a completely natural thing. So the secret was revealed to me, but I kept it from the man, and he is a poor Dervish, meaning, otherwise he would have noticed. So every time I felt that the mushaf was going to tilt this way or that, I did not do what Abu Ahmad does, no movement that any person would notice. I did it very slowly. The bottom line is that the mushaf stood still, it did not tilt to the right or to the left, and the man was reading, reading, reading, reading, reading. Did you see? He was really sweating, and our friend, the intermediary, was present. What did this poor deceiver say? He said, "By Allah, this has never happened to me. I do not know what the secret is." The secret, as I told you, is exactly that the mushaf must move to the right or to the left.
The questioner : ... So he was turning it to the right. I let it turn to the left. The movement you did exactly, he returns it, it comes out again, he lets it turn...
The Shaykh : All of this is deception. So we do not consider anything except the recitation of the Qur'an. Now tell us about the shayatin al-ins (demons among humans).
Another questioner : It is still ongoing, our Shaykh. It is still ongoing. We came from far away, and this one came from near, and he took more of our time. We will take more of his time, if Allah wills.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.