It must be noted that I cannot mention every single possible scenario in this piece nor can I explore every situation that a person may be facing when they are afflicted by jinn / magic / evil-eye. I will outline three situations and it is for the reader to judge which category they fit into and therefore what the best plan of action is.

Before we begin, it is extremely important that we accept that in general, self-ruqyah is best. This is because of the hadith of the 70,000 who will enter jannah without being brought to account or punished by Allah on the Day of Judgement. I have discussed this hadeeth in another note that can be found on facebook and other places. In general, those who are afflicted fall into 3 categories:

1) The person who is practicing, can recite the Qur’an, prays five times a day and has the ability to make ruqyah upon themselves. Even though he is suffering, he can still recite Qur’an and pray his daily prayers. For this person, it is not recommended for him to seek ruqya from anyone else because he has the ability to recite and take charge of his own treatment. From my experience, many people fall into this category. The vast majority of people in this category are held back by a lack of knowledge of ruqyah therefore for these people, seeking knowledge on this subject is the key. They can also follow any ruqya programmes etc. This person is what I would term “independent” in their situation therefore they should not seek ruqya. However, it is important to note that if someone performs ruqya on this person without them asking for it, then they should allow that person to perform the ruqya and should not stop them.

2) The one who cannot recite the Qur’an, or the jinn do not let him recite (e.g. his tongue becomes twisted when he tries to recite / he may faint if he tries to recite etc) and he cannot pray his five daily prayers – NOT OUT OF LAZINESS but because he faints, or he begins to suffocate etc. This person is unable to do self-ruqyah due to the severity of his affliction therefore if we ask him to do self-ruqyah; the shaytaan will use this against him and make him procrastinate. He will not seek help because the voice in his mind is constantly telling him to do self-ruqyah therefore his condition will never improve, except for whomever Allah wills. This person SHOULD seek ruqyah at the beginning, until he is in a position where he can recite and pray his daily prayers, at which stage he should stop seeking ruqyah as he moves into the first category of people mentioned above. In my experience, this is fairly rare and is usually only in the cases where the person is possessed by an ‘ifrit type of jinn which is very powerful. However, by the grace of Allah, after a few sessions of ruqyah the person can usually begin to pray and recite the Qur’an without being overtaken by the shayateen.

3) The person who is between the two stations mentioned above. This person cannot recite fluently but he does possess an ability to recite at some level, likewise, he can pray his daily prayers. This is probably the majority of people. It is obligatory upon this person to learn how to recite the book of Allah properly. Most people who fall into this category don’t pray out of laziness or heedlessness – such as person will not get better until he sorts his life out, fears Allah and begins to obey the commands of The Creator. For this category of people, I do not recommend seeking ruqyah from another person because they actually possess the ability to make ruqyah on themselves (using the simple surahs such as al fatiha, ayat al kursi, ikhlas, falaq, nas) – this person should be encouraged to make self-ruqyah and follow all the other necessary steps from the sunnah, while at the same time learning to recite properly. Reverts also fall into this category – they should be patient with the affliction (if possible) and not seek ruqyah, while at the same time learning to recite the Qur’an. However, it is also possible that a person cannot learn how to recite due to his affliction e.g. the shayateen make him forgetful etc – such a person can perhaps seek ruqyah initially due to a lack of ability (putting him the second category of people) but I dislike that because I hope that my brothers and sisters will enter into jannah without accountability. 

It should also be noted that the mercy of Allah is vast. If someone urgently needs ruqyah and he seeks ruqyah because he literally had no other option (such as category 2) then we hope that Allah will still include him in the 70,000 because if he did have the ability, he would have performed ruqyah on himself and not sought it from someone else.

It is for each person to assess his own situation and decide where he fits in with these three very general categories. No doubt there are people in-between who are faced with difficult decisions but if we fear Allah, trust in Him, rely upon Him and have high hopes and good estimation of Him – He will guide us to that which is best for our deen, dunya and akhira. 

And Allah Knows Best. May the peace and blessings be upon the messenger Muhammad, his family, his companions and all those who follow in their footsteps until yawm al qiyaamah.