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Shifa is the Arabic word for healing, cure, or recovery. In Islam it carries more than the medical meaning. Allah is Ash-Shafi, the Healer, and the Quran calls itself a shifa. When a Muslim makes dua for someone who is ill, shifa is the word they use. Here is where the word comes from, where it appears in the Quran, and the duas for it from the Sunnah.
Shifa in the Quran
The word appears in several places, and each one says something about what healing is.
“And We send down of the Quran that which is healing and mercy for the believers” (17:82). The Quran as shifa for what is in the chest: doubt, hardness, grief.
“O mankind, there has come to you instruction from your Lord and healing for what is in the breasts” (10:57). Again, the healing of the heart before the body.
“And when I am ill, it is He who cures me” (26:80). The words of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), listing what Allah does for him. Every cure, whatever the means, is from Allah.
“There emerges from their bellies a drink, varying in colours, in which there is healing for people” (16:69). Honey, named as shifa for the body.
So shifa in the Quran is three things: healing of the heart through the Quran, healing of the body through what Allah has placed in creation, and the fact that all of it is from Allah alone.
Surah Al-Fatihah, the surah of healing
Al-Fatihah is called Ash-Shifa and Ar-Ruqyah. A companion once recited it over a man who had been stung, and the man recovered, and when they told the Prophet ï·º he asked, “How did you know it was a ruqyah?” and approved (Bukhari). It is the surah to recite over a sick child, over yourself, and over anyone who asks.
The duas for shifa
When visiting someone who is ill. The Prophet ï·º would say:
La ba’sa, tahurun in sha Allah. Never mind, may it be a purification, if Allah wills. (Bukhari)
And he taught that whoever visits a sick person whose time has not come and says the following seven times, Allah will cure them:
As’alullahal-‘azim, rabbal-‘arshil-‘azim, an yashfiyak. I ask Allah the Supreme, Lord of the magnificent throne, to cure you. (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi)
For yourself, when something hurts. Place your hand on the place of pain and say Bismillah three times, then seven times:
A’udhu billahi wa qudratihi min sharri ma ajidu wa uhadhir. I take refuge in Allah and His power from the evil of what I feel and fear. (Muslim)
The dua the Prophet ï·º made over the sick. In Bukhari and Muslim, he would wipe the sick person with his right hand and say:
Allahumma rabban-nas, adh-hibil-ba’s, ishfi antash-shafi, la shifa’a illa shifa’uk, shifa’an la yughadiru saqama. O Allah, Lord of mankind, remove the harm and heal, for You are the Healer. There is no healing except Your healing, a healing that leaves no illness behind.
This last one is the dua most people mean when they say “dua for shifa.” Learn it. It is the one to say over a child with a fever at 3 a.m.
Shifa and medicine
The Prophet ï·º said, “Allah has not sent down a disease except that He has sent down a cure for it” (Bukhari), and “Seek treatment, servants of Allah” (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi). Dua for shifa and going to the doctor are the same act of trust. One asks Allah directly, the other uses what Allah has made. A Muslim who makes dua and takes the medication is doing what the Prophet ï·º did, since he used honey, hijama, and black seed and told others to.
Anyone who tells you that faith means skipping treatment has it backwards.
The Sunnah foods for shifa
Three come up in the hadith by name. Honey, which the Quran itself calls shifa. Black seed, which the Prophet ï·º said is a cure for every disease except death (Bukhari). And zamzam water, which he said is for whatever it is drunk for. None of them replace a doctor. All of them are Sunnah.
Keeping the duas close
The three duas above, with Arabic, transliteration and meaning, are in Fortress of the Muslim under visiting the sick and pain in the body. For children, “When I get hurt” and “Visiting someone sick” are cards 24 and 25 in our 30 Everyday Duas for Kids set, so the words are on the wall before they are needed.
For the Sunnah of cupping, which the same hadith on honey mentions, see what hijama is in Islam.
