What is the ruling on Ruqyah (incantations)? And
what is the ruling on writing (Qur'anic) Verses and tying
them around the neck of the sick person?
A. There is no sin in Ruqyah for a sick person who is afflicted by
witchcraft or anything else, provided that it is from the Noble Qur'an,
or from other permissible supplications.
It has been confirmed that the
Prophet would recite Ruqyah over his Companions, may Allah be
pleased with them. Among the Ruqyahs which he used are:
"Our Lord, Allah, Who is in (i.e. above) the heaven.
Sanctified is Your Name; Your Command reigns supreme
throughout the heaven and the earth. As Your Mercy is in
the heaven, so place Your Mercy in the earth; send down
mercy from Your Mercy, and a cure from Your Cure, uponthis Ailment."(١)
And among the narrated supplications is:
"With the Name of Allah I utter this Ruqyah, from every
ailment which may harm you, from the evil of every person
or from the envious eye; may Allah cure you, in Allah's
Name I utter this Ruqyah over you."(٢)
Moreover, a person may place his hand on the site of the pain in his
body and say:
"I seek refuge with Allah and His Power from the evil of
what I find and what I fear."(٣)
Similarly, scholars have mentioned other supplications which have
been narrated in the Ahadith of the Messengerﷺ.
As for the writing of Verses and invocations and wearing them, the
scholars have differed in this regard:
some of them permitted it and
some of them forbade it. The most correct opinion is that it is
forbidden because this has not been reported from the Prophet ﷺ. It
has only been reported that he used to recite over the sick person. As
for tying Verses or supplications to the sick person's neck or his hand,
or placing them under his pillow and the like, then it is a prohibited
act according to the most authoritative opinion, due to the fact that it
has not been reported. Every person who makes a certain action as a
means of attaining something else, without permission from the
Islamic Law, then this action of his is a form of Shirk because he is
(out of his own whim) formulating something as being means, while
Allah has not ordained it as a means.
Fataawa arkaanul Islam ibn uthaymeen.