Did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) perform ruqyah on himself, given that he said, “Seventy thousand will enter Paradise without reckoning…,” and among them are “those who do not perform ruqyah”?

The questioner : You have narrated that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) recited the Mu'awwidhat over himself, meaning we can say that he performed ruqyah on himself.

The Shaykh : Yes, we can.

The questioner : Now, regarding the seventy thousand who enter Paradise: .

The Shaykh : There is a misconception in the narration here, and this is a matter that must be pointed out. The hadith in the two Sahihs is worded as: and it does not contain: . As for the narration: , this is a narration unique to Muslim in one of his two versions. Muslim agreed with Imam al-Bukhari in one narration and differed from him in another. He agreed with him in the correct, preserved narration, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): Muslim differed from al-Bukhari in another narration unique to Muslim, where he added and said: So the addition of: in hadith terminology is an anomalous addition (shadh). The definition of an anomalous hadith (shadh) among them is: a trustworthy narrator brings an addition to the text or the chain, and our discussion now is about the text. He brings an addition to the text that contradicts the trustworthy narrators, and in this case, this addition is weak and rejected. They distinguish between the anomalous hadith (shadh) and the denounced hadith (munkar), and this is all terminology among the specialists in this science, the scholars of hadith, may Allah reward them well. If the one who contradicted the trustworthy narrators is trustworthy, his hadith is anomalous (shadh), and if the one who contradicted the trustworthy narrators is weak, his hadith is denounced (munkar), but in the end, both are weak. So the reality of this addition: is that it was narrated uniquely by a trustworthy man, who is precisely a memorizer among the memorizers of hadith and one of the sheikhsThe Shaykh : of the students, and his name is Sa'id ibn Mansur. He has a book known as al-Sunan, which is a lost book from ancient times, but about ten years ago, two parts of it were printed. So this man, Sa'id ibn Mansur, narrated uniquely from the other trustworthy narrators who shared in the narration of the hadith without this addition. This is from one aspect. And the hadith in the two Sahihs, both the preserved part and the non-preserved part (i.e., the anomalous one), is from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him). The hadith also appears outside the two Sahihs, and precisely in the Mustadrak of Imam Abu 'Abdullah al-Hakim al-Nisaburi, who narrated it with a strong chain from 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), just as Ibn 'Abbas narrated it in the narrationThe Shaykh : of the students, i.e., without the anomalous addition. This also confirms the anomaly. Then, adding to the confirmation, the word: nullifies many, and very many, explicit hadiths encouraging the practice of ruqyah for others. Among them is what Muslim himself narrated in his Sahih from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: He said this on the occasion of ruqyah. There is another hadith closely related to what we are discussing, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) entered one day upon his wife Hafsa (may Allah be pleased with her) and found a woman with her, so he said to her: This contains an encouragement for the Muslim to learn ruqyah to benefit his Muslim brother. Therefore, other hadiths came, as I mentioned earlier, containing the command to perform ruqyah. For example: he (peace and blessings be upon him) saw, I think, on the face of a woman or a person, I do not remember now, signs of illness, and he said: He commanded ruqyah. Therefore, two things are necessary here: distinguishing in the hadith between the narration on one hand, and the other thing is distinguishing between them in terms of understanding (dirayah), i.e., in jurisprudence. Jurisprudentially, it is recommended (mustahabb) for a Muslim to perform ruqyah for another, but it is not recommended for a Muslim to ask another for ruqyah, combining these texts. Because among the characteristics of those who truly rely on Allah, and whose faces are like the full moon on the night of the full moon, is that they do not ask for ruqyah. But you have learned that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded ruqyah. So it is necessary to distinguish jurisprudentially as well between performing ruqyah for another, which is recommended (mustahabb), and asking another for ruqyah, which is disliked (makruh). And in the end, if we link this research to your question mentioned earlier, that the Messenger performed ruqyah on himself, yes, but he did not ask another for ruqyah. So there is no contradiction.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : She was performing ruqyah on him. Yes, but without asking. This is the secret, without asking another.

The questioner : Is the anomalous narration in Sahih Muslim?

The Shaykh: What?

The questioner : The anomalous narration Is the anomalous narration also in the Sahih?

The Shaykh : Didn't I say that Imam Muslim agreed with al-Bukhari in the preserved narration: and Muslim differed from al-Bukhari in the anomalous narration, so he narrated the hadith with the wording: We mentioned this.

The questioner : Is the anomalous addition in the Sahih?

The Shaykh : Which Sahih?

The questioner : Sahih Muslim, I mean.

The Shaykh : And I say, may Allah guide you.