How prayer accelerates the treatement of the sick

Your Lord says, "Call on Me and I will answer you.Those who are too
proudto worship Me will enter Hell abject." (Qur'an, 40:60)
According to the Qur'an, prayer, meaning "calling, giving expression,
requesting, seeking help," is a person's turning sincerely to Allah,
and seeking help from Him, theAlmighty, the Compassionate and
Merciful, in the knowledge that he is a dependent being. Illness is
one of those instances when a person feels this dependence most and
draws closer to Allah. Furthermore, sickness is a test, devised in His
Wisdom, that takes place by His Will, and is a warning to remind
people of the transience and imperfection of this life, and is also a
source of recompense in the Hereafter for the patient and submissive.
Those without faith, on theother hand, imagine that the way to
recovery is through doctors, medicinesor the advanced technological
capabilities of modern science. They never pause to think that itis
Allah Who causes their physical system to functionwhen they are in
good health, or Who creates the healing medicines and doctors when
they are ill. Many turn only to Allah when they arrive at the opinion
that doctors and medicines are inadequate. People in such situations
seek help only from Allah, realising that only He can free them from
their difficulty. Allah has revealed this mindset in a verse:
When harm touches man, he calls on Us, lying on his side or sitting
down or standing up. Then when We remove the harm from him he carries
on as if he had never called on Us when the harm first touched him. In
that way We make what they have done appear good to the profligate.
(Qur'an, 10:12)
The fact is, however, that even in good health, or without
tribulations or other difficulties, a person must pray and give thanks
to Allah for the comforts, good health and all the other blessings He
has imparted.
One very important aspect of prayer is this: In addition to praying
out loud, it is also important for a person to make everyeffort to
pray through his or her deeds. Prayer by action means doing everything
possible to attain a certain wish. For example, in addition to
praying, a sick person may also have to visit an expertdoctor, use
medicines that will be of benefit, and receive hospital treatment if
necessary, or some other form of special care. Because, Allah has
linked everything that happens inthis world to specific causes.
Everything in the world and in the universe happens in accordance with
these causes. Therefore, the individual must take the requisite
measures in accordance with these causes, and yet await the outcome
from Allah, with humility, submission and patience, in the knowledge
that it is He Who brings about their results.
The positive effect of faith and prayer on the sick and the way these
accelerate treatment is a matter that has attracted the attention of
and is recommended by doctors. Under the heading"God and Health: Is
Religion Good Medicine? Why Science Is Starting to Believe," the 10
November,2003, edition of the famous magazine Newsweek took the
curative effect of religion as its cover story. It reported that faith
in God raised people's morale and helped them recover more easily, and
that science hadalso begun to believe that people with religious faith
recover more easily and quickly. According to a Newsweek survey, 72%
of Americans say they believethat praying can cure someone and that
prayer facilitates recovery. Research in Great Britain and the USA has
also concluded that prayer reduces patients' symptoms and accelerates
the recovery process.
According to research conducted at Michigan University, depression and
stress are observed to lesser extent in the devout.And, according to
findings at Rush University in Chicago, the early death rate among
people who worship and pray regularlyis some 25% lower than in those
with no religious convictions. Another study conducted on 750 people,
who underwent angiocardiography, provedscientifically the "curative
power of prayer." It was established that the death rate among heart
patients who prayed decreased by 30% within a year after their
operations.
Examples of the prayers mentioned in the Qur'an are:
And Ayyub when he called out to his Lord,"Great harm has afflicted me
and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful," We responded to him
and removed from him the harm which was afflicting him and restored
his family to him, and the same again with them, as a mercy direct
from Us and a Reminder to all worshippers. (Qur'an, 21:83)

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Is it permissible to try tochoose verses and prescribed du‘aa’ for ruqyah, or is it obligatory to limit it to what has been narrated?

Is it permissible for the purpose of shar'i ruqyah to try to choose
verses, saheeh hadeeths and proven du'aa's? Or is it obligatory to
follow what is the proven in the saheeh hadeeths that speak
specifically of ruqyah as prescribed in sharee'ah?.
Praise be to Allaah.
If the one who performs ruqyah does so by recitinggeneral verses of
the Qur'aan or general prayersseeking refuge with Allah or other
du'aa's for ruqyah, or whatever Allah may inspire him with of saheeh
du'aa's that are appropriate to the situation, without restricting it
to the specificruqyahs that have been narrated, there is nothing wrong
with that in sha Allah, because of the general meaning of the words of
the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him: "Whoever among
you is able to benefit his brother,let him do so." Narrated by Ahmad,
13973; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami', 6019
And the Prophet (blessingsand peace of Allah be upon him) said: "There
is nothing wrong with a ruqyah that does not involve shirk." Narrated
byMuslim, 2200.
Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The scholars are unanimously agreed that ruqya is permissible if three
conditions are met:
It should be done by reciting the words of Allah,may He be exalted, or
His names and attributes, and in Arabic or in a language the meaning
of which is understood, and with the belief that ruqyah has no effect
in and of itself; rather it is only effective by the will of Allah,
may He be exalted.
They differed as to whether that is a condition; the correct viewis
that it is essential to payattention to the above-mentioned
conditions. In Saheeh Muslim it is narrated that 'Awf ibn Maalik said:
We used to recite ruqyahs during the jaahiliyyah, and we said:
OMessenger of Allaah, what do you think about that? He said: "Recite
your ruqyahs to me. There is nothing wrong with a ruqyah that does not
involve shirk."
And he narrated from Jaabir: The Messenger of Allaah (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) forbade ruqyah, then the family of 'Amr
ibn Hazm came to the Messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allaah, we had a ruqyah that we
used to recite for scorpion stings, but you have forbidden ruqyah.
They recited it to him and he said: "I do not see anything wrong with
it. Whoever among you can benefit his brother, let himdo so."
Some scholars adhered to this general meaning and regarded as
permissible any ruqyah that brings benefits even if the meaning does
not make sense. But the hadeeth of 'Awf indicates that any ruqyah that
leads to shirk is forbidden, and anything that does not make sense
cannot be guaranteed not to lead to shirk, so it is forbidden as a
precaution. And the final condition is essential. … al-Qurtubi said:
Whatever (ruqyah) is by reciting the words or names of Allah is
permissible; if it is narrated in a report (from the Prophet
(blessings andpeace of Allah be upon him)) it is mustahabb.
End quote from Fath al-Baari, 10/195
Al-Khattaabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
With regard to ruqyah, what is forbidden is that which is not in
Arabic, because it is not known what it means and perhaps it may
involve witchcraft or kufr (disbelief). But if the meaning is clear
and it contains mention of Allah, may He be exalted, then it is
permissible to use it for ruqyah.
End quote from Ma'aalim as-Sunan, 4/226
Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Ruqyah is of four types: that which is mentioned inthe Sunnah – it is
prescribed and mustahabbto use it as ruqyah; that which is shirk or
bid'ah – itis haraam to use it as ruqyah; that which is a permissible
du'aa' in which there is no shirk or bid'ah, but it is not something
that was narrated from the Prophet(blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him and his family) – it is permissible to use this as ruqyah.
Hence the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said
concerning ruqyah: "Thereis nothing wrong with it so long as it is not
shirk."
End quote from Fataawa Noor 'ala ad-Darb, 6/14
See also the answer to question no. 141669
And Allah knows best.

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Scene to be seen

Hyderabad's social calendaris rather enviable. If it's notlive gigs,
art exhibitions and dance performances, then it's theatre. The theatre
scene in the city might be in a nascent stage, but there is no denying
that Hyderabad theatre is making its presence felt. Theatre groups are
sprouting everywhere. The young have begun to take to the form more
seriously. Hit culture spots like Lamakaan on any given evening and
you'll see either a script being written, a play being rehearsed or
youngsters brainstorming. While it's always sunny in the theatre-land,
there is something missing in the scene. While ideas, characters,
stories and actors are aplenty, the technicalities, stage presence and
skill are lacking.
Cool quotient
"It has become fashionableto be a called a theatre person. Youngsters
are not working with professional theatre groups which can teach
ethics and discipline. Doing theatre is not a bed of roses or a social
get-together," says Vinay Varma of city-based theatre group,
Sutradhar. Ratna Shekhar Reddy, founder of Samahaara agrees, "Having
conducted numerous workshops and festivals, I have come across a
number of people who want to do it because it's 'cool' or 'in'. They
need to realise that 'coolness' will eventually pass, quality is what
really matters.
Theatre isn't just about having the moolah and picking out the best
venue.The stage is a subjective space and all you need is the actor
and his space. While some of the best plays have been staged using
minimal props and costumes, ironically some of the big theatre events
inthe city have failed to impress. A theatre group's performance at
Shilpa Kala Vedika recently met with bad response from the audience,
numbers reducedto a mere 40 by the end of the play. There were almost
50-60 people working on the play but couldn't get the basics right.
Talking about money, R.K. Sinha, founder of Dramanon says that theatre
is not much of quantity as it is of quality. "The experience gets lost
in gimmicks; you cannot substitute acting and direction with props and
venues." Having money, however he feels is not a bad thing, it's what
it is used for. "You can either reach a big audience or gettrained and
give the best performance you can," he adds. All hope is not lost,
Rehaan of Curtain Call Production talks about the failed production,
'Of musicand dreams', "We started with good intention, but it went
kaput. We have take a brief moment and we have asked for the first
700members to come and watch the play again for free. We are working
on where we went wrong. Weare trying to get kids out of movie theatre
to do something productive, but theatre is subject to vulnerabilities
like on-stage mishaps," says Rehaan.
Back to basics
Firdous Abdul Mujeeb, director at D for Dramatics says that big events
have been major flops. "Where is the craft? People I guess need to
work backwards. Calling yourself a professional doesn't work. Start
small, go back to the basics. The current crop of young theatre
enthusiasts are getting lost in the game of profit and loss," she
says. In the bid to market and be seen, expensive venues are being
booked and to makeup that cost, tickets are being sold at Rs. 1000 and
Rs. 500. All the while, the content of theatre doesn't match up to
neither — the price of the ticket or the ambience at the venue. Rahul
Premchander, a theatre actor experimented with theatrefour years back.
"I realised that theatre was helping me shape my individuality.People
get into theatre without realising that stage-craft is very important
too," he says.
Most theatre personalities agree that the best PR a play or a
production house can get is a happy audience. No amount of money,
marketing, event management can do that. Poor productions eventually
might damage the theatre fraternity, especially if they are
aggressively advertised and touted to be the 'best'.

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A Gift After Hardships

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) dispatched towards the
sea-shore an expedition ofthree hundred men, underthe command of Abu
Ubaidah (ra) in 8 A.H. He gave them a bag full of dates for their
rations. They had been hardly out for fifteen days when theyran short
of rations. In order to provide the contingent with food, Qais(ra)
began buying three camels daily from his own men, to feed the
Mujahideen, with a promise to pay on return to Madinah. The Amir
seeing that the slaugther of camels would deprive the party of their
only means of transport, prohibited him to do so. He collected the
dates thathad been left with each person and stored them ina bag. He
would issue one date to each man as his daily ration. When Jabir (ra)
later on narrated this story to the people, one ofhis audience
inquired:
"How did you manage to live upon one date only for the whole day?" He
replied: "We longed even for that one date, when the whole stock was
exhausted. We were on the verge of starvation. We moistened the dry
tree-leaves with water and ate them."
When they reached this stage, Allah had mercy on them for He always
brings ease after every hardship, provided it is endured patiently. A
big fish knownas "Ambar" was thrown out of the sea for them. The fish
was so big that they lived on it for eighteen days altogether. They
also filled their satchels with the remaining portion, which lasted
them right up to Madinah. When the episode was narrated to the Prophet
(peace be upon him), he said: "The fish was a provision arranged for
you by Allah."
Source: From the book"Stories of the Sahabah" by Shaikh Muhammad
Zakariyya Kandhalvi.
We are Muslims today because of such sacrifices by the companions of
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). We should remember these events
as a source of comfort whenever we too are faced with difficulties
regarding practising Islam.

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