Wearing Suras

A Brief Description of the Question: 

Assalamu Alaikum, Is it permissible in Islam to write selected suras for Evil Eyes in a piece of paper and tie it around the waist of a baby?

The Answer: 

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani says that scholars agree that treatment through ruqyah (reciting or writing prayers) is permissible as long as the following three conditions are met:
a) It must consist of verses from the Quran, the names or attributes of the Exalted Allah;
b) It must be written in Arabic or another language legibly and understandably;
c) It must be believed that the ruqyah itself cannot cure, but the cure is sent by Allah (Fathul-Bari, X, 206).

Ruqyah is divided into three as mubah (permissible), haram (prohibited) and shirk (associating partners to Allah).

1- Ruqyah that is mubah: If it consists of verses from the Quran, the names or attributes of the Exalted Allah and if it is in Arabic and understandable, it is mubah. In a hadith reported by Hazrat Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her), the following is stated: "Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) recited al-Muawwizatain (chapters al-Falaq and an-Nas) and then blew onto his body. During his last illness, when his illness became more serious, I recited them and blew onto his body and rubbed my hand on his body for abundance." (Bukhari, Tib, 32; Muslim, Salam, 51-52).

Hazrat Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her) also said the following while mentioning the illness of the Prophet: "When Allah’s Messenger (pbuh), became ill, he recited al-Ikhlas and al-Muawwizatain and then blew into his palms the he rubbed with his hands his face and any part of his body that he could reach." (Bukhari, Tib, 39).

There is a hadith reporting that ruqyah was carried out through chapter al-Baqara against scorpion sting. (Bukhar, Tib, 33). It was also reported that Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) recited al-Muawwizatain and rubbed the patients with his right hand and said the following, "O the Lord of people, O Allah! Free him from his disease; cure him. Only you can cure. There is no cure other than yours. Cure him removing his illness." (Bukhari, Tib, 37).

There are many hadiths reported about the issue. Some scholars concluded that ruqyah was not permissible to accept against the evil eye, snake bite and scorpion sting based on the following hadith of Allah’s Messenger (pbuh); "There is no ruqyah except the evil eye and the fever." (Bukhari, Tib, 17). However, some other scholars said that the hadith mentioned above meant ruqyah would be the most useful, as in the sentence, “There is no sword except Zulfiqar.” As it is seen, in other hadith Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) permitted ruqyah for other things.

2- Ruqyah that is haram: Unintelligible words, meaningless divided letters, unknown names, ruqyah in a language other than Arabic despite knowing Arabic, carrying out ruqyah bu using iron, salt or a rope are haram. The practices that are proved to be useful are excluded. The following is reported by Shabir:

"Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) prohibited carrying out ruqyah. The children of Amr ibn Hazm came and said: "O Messenger of Allah! We carried out a kind of ruqyah and got protected from scorpion stings through it.” The Messenger of Allah said, “Go on doing it, I do not see any harm in it. Whoever can help his brother should do so." (Muslim, Salam, 63) When al-Izz b. Abdussalam was aked about the ruqyah carried out by unknown letters, he did not permit it because it was not known whether those letters meant unbelief or not.

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