Duas for the Sick: Healing Duas, Ruqyah and Visiting the Ill

The Prophet's supplications for the sick are short, and most ask Allah directly for healing. The table gathers the reported duas for someone who is ill, for your own pain and for visiting. Wording varies between narrations, so each transliteration follows the report cited; learn it from the linked page, where the Arabic sits beside the English.

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Allahumma Rabban-nas is the supplication Aishah reported the Prophet saying as he passed his right hand over a member of his family who was unwell: O Allah, Lord of the people, remove the harm and heal him, for You are the Healer; there is no healing but Yours, a healing that leaves no illness behind (Sahih al-Bukhari 5743). Al-Bukhari placed it under the chapter on the ruqyah of the Prophet.

Sahih al-Bukhari 5675 gives almost the same words, said whenever he visited a sick person, beginning Adhhibil-bas, Rabban-nas, with ishfi, heal, rather than ishfihi, heal him. Both pages write al-bas without the hamza, so you will also see ba's.

• Rabban-nas: Lord of the people; adhhibil-bas: remove the harm.
• Ishfi wa antash-shafi: heal, for You are the Healer.
• Shifa'an la yughadiru saqama: a healing that leaves no illness behind.

Sources: [1] [2]

Place your hand where it hurts, say Bismillah three times, then say seven times A'udhu billahi wa qudratihi min sharri ma ajidu wa uhadhir, I seek refuge in Allah and His power from the evil of what I feel and what I fear. The Prophet taught this to Uthman ibn Abi al-As, who had complained of a pain in his body (Sahih Muslim 2202).

Sahih al-Bukhari 5016 reports that whenever the Prophet fell ill he recited the mu'awwidhat over himself and blew, and that Aishah recited them for him when his illness grew severe; in 5735 al-Zuhri explains that he blew into his hands and wiped his face. The prayer of Ayyub, Quran 21:83, names the affliction and appeals to Allah's mercy.

When pain is long or severe, Sahih al-Bukhari 5671 says not to wish for death because of a harm, and if one must, to say Allahumma ahyini ma kanatil-hayatu khayran li, wa tawaffani idha kanatil-wafatu khayran li: O Allah, keep me alive while life is better for me and take me when death is better for me. If illness leaves you feeling unable to go on, tell your doctor or someone you trust today.

Sources: [6] [9] [10] [31] [11]

Begin with comfort and a short supplication. Whenever the Prophet visited someone who was ill he said La ba'sa, tahurun in sha Allah, no harm, it is a purification if Allah wills (Sahih al-Bukhari 5656). Sunan Abi Dawud 3106, graded sahih by al-Albani, and Jami at-Tirmidhi 2083, graded sahih by Darussalam, link the seven-times supplication to Allah's cure for a sick person whose appointed time has not come; that condition is part of the report, so say it with hope and leave the outcome to Allah.

Speak well at the bedside, because the angels say amin to what is said beside the sick (Sahih Muslim 919). The visitor remains in the khurfah of Paradise, explained as its harvest of fruit (Sahih Muslim 2568d), and in Sahih Muslim 2569 Allah tells a servant, 'I was sick but you did not visit Me', explaining that had he visited His sick servant he would have found Him with him.

The popular report of seventy thousand angels praying for the visitor is in Jami at-Tirmidhi 969, graded Da'if by Darussalam; Sunan Abi Dawud 3098 records it as Ali's own words, graded Sahih Mauquf by al-Albani. Good visits are usually short and practical.

• Check with the family or the ward first and follow its rules on hygiene and visiting times.
• Keep the visit brief unless the patient clearly wants company.
• Offer practical help, such as a meal, a lift or childcare.

Sources: [5] [3] [4] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

The Quran ties healing to Allah. Ibrahim describes his Lord as the One who, 'when I sicken, then He healeth me' (Quran 26:80), and when Ayyub cried that adversity afflicted him, Allah 'removed that adversity from which he suffered' (Quran 21:83-84).

The Quran also calls itself 'a healing and a mercy for believers' (17:82), 'a balm for that which is in the breasts' (10:57) and 'a guidance and a healing' (41:44). None of these verses names a disease or promises that a set recitation will cure it, so recite with hope and keep following medical advice.

Sources: [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35]

Ruqyah is reciting the Quran, remembrance of Allah and authentic supplications over a sick person, or over yourself, to seek Allah's healing. When Companions who had used incantations before Islam asked about them, the Prophet said, 'Let me know your invocation', and that there is no harm in it as long as there is no polytheism in it (Sahih Muslim 2200).

In Sahih al-Bukhari 5736 a Companion recited Al-Fatihah over a chief who had been stung, and the Prophet asked how he knew it was a ruqyah. Ibn Hajar, quoted on IslamQA, records agreement that ruqyah is permissible when it uses Allah's words, names or attributes, is in a language whose meaning is understood, and is not believed to work except by Allah's leave. You can do it yourself.

• Recite Al-Fatihah over the person (Sahih al-Bukhari 5736).
• Recite Al-Falaq and An-Nas, blow into your hands and wipe over the body (Sahih al-Bukhari 5016 and 5735).
• Say Allahumma Rabban-nas with your right hand on the person (Sahih al-Bukhari 5743), or Bismillahi arqik (Sahih Muslim 2186).

Sources: [17] [18] [19] [9] [10] [1] [7]

Be wary of anyone who promises a cure, charges large sums, tells you to stop medication, asks you to keep visits secret or uses words you cannot understand. The Jordanian Iftaa Department, in an answer reproduced on IslamQA.org, says it is not permissible to pay a sorcerer, a fortune-teller or anyone whose faith and honesty are in doubt, nor even to go to them.

Payment as such is not the problem: in Sahih al-Bukhari 5736 the Companions accepted a flock of sheep for their recitation with the Prophet's approval, and the same answer permits paying for ruqyah done as the Prophet taught. IslamQA judged a ruqyah with invented recitation counts and phrases of unknown meaning impermissible. Ask a trusted local scholar first, and never let any healer replace your doctor.

Sources: [21] [18] [20]

Yes. When Bedouins asked whether they should seek treatment, the Prophet replied, 'Make use of medical treatment', explaining that Allah has not made a disease without appointing a remedy for it, except old age (Sunan Abi Dawud 3855, graded sahih by al-Albani). Sahih al-Bukhari 5678 says there is no disease Allah has created without also creating its treatment.

Duas belong alongside medical care, never instead of it. The Jordanian Iftaa Department writes that the Shariah permits and encourages medical treatment and that a patient is recommended to seek it, since Allah made it a means of recovery. Take medicines as prescribed, make dua for your clinicians and yourself, and in an emergency call your local emergency number first.

Illness changes how you pray rather than whether you pray: Imran ibn Husayn was told to pray standing, sitting if he could not stand, and lying on his side if he could not sit (Sahih al-Bukhari 1117). The salah and tayammum guides explain these allowances.

Sources: [22] [23] [24] [25]

Authentic reports describe illness borne with faith as a means of forgiveness. The Prophet said that no fatigue, disease, sorrow, sadness, hurt or distress befalls a Muslim, even the prick of a thorn, without Allah expiating some of his sins for it (Sahih al-Bukhari 5641 and 5642). His bedside words, tahurun, a purification, carry the same hope (Sahih al-Bukhari 5656).

Sahih al-Bukhari 2996 adds that a servant who falls ill is credited with the good deeds he used to do when healthy. This is comfort, not a reason to refuse treatment or to tell someone their pain is deserved. Quran 2:156 gives the words of the steadfast when misfortune strikes: Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un.

Sources: [26] [5] [27] [36]

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