How To Become A Raqi

One of my first intentions for producing practical self ruqya series was to make this knowledge of ruqya accessible to the general Muslims so that they could treat themselves and then treat their families.

I was also hoping that some of these would go on and start treating the wider Muslim community. However, it seems and Allah knows best, that some of those brothers and sisters who are quite competent at treating their families haven’t gone on to start treating the wider Muslim community. Therefore, I felt I would put something together that would help these family raqis become raqis for the general Muslim community. 

RAQI QUALIFICATIONS

There are NO set specific qualifications from an Islamic university that makes you a raqi. You just need to be a good sincere Muslim that wants to please Allah by helping his fellow Muslims. By ‘good’, we mean that the prospective raqi needs to understand Islam correctly, be able to read the Quran correctly and that he needs to keep away from committing major sins or continuously doing the same minor sins like listening to music or shaving his beard. If a raqi can’t stop sinning because he hasn’t got control of his own jinnee or qareen then how can he deal with other people’s jinn!

What we have mentioned above is based on the saying of Sheikh Abdullah Jibreen (rahimullah) who said in (https://islamqa.info/en/7874) about the qualifications of a prospective raqi:

Praise be to Allaah.

The correct view is that it is permissible for every reader who can recite the Qur’aan well and who understands its meanings, has a sound belief, does righteous deeds and is of upright conduct to use ruqyah. It is not essential for him to have knowledge of minor matters or to have studied all branches of knowledge in depth. This is because of the story of Abu Sa’eed and the man who had been stung by a scorpion, “… and we did not know that he ever did ruqyah before that incident”, as is stated in the hadeeth. (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2276; Muslim, 2201). The raaqi must have a good intention and want to benefit the Muslim; he should not be concerned with money or payment, so that his reading will be more beneficial.

And Allaah knows best. 

THE MAIN INTENTION FOR BECOMING A RAQI

As Sheikh Jibreen said, you should not be concerned with making money. In fact, you shouldn’t get into this field because you don’t have a job or you need money to get married because this intention for money, itself, will affect the effectiveness of your ruqya on people and it can be a way for shaytan to destroy your ruqya by making you obsessed with money, women and the dunya in general. How many a raqi have fallen into fitna because of money and women!

No one can deny that not wanting money and just helping Muslims for the sake of Allah is better than the person who wants and demands money for his ruqya services! We are not saying that it is haram to charge for ruqya. We are just saying that it is better not to charge for ruqya.

Your main intention or What should be driving you to read ruqya on the Muslims:

……..is your desire to please Allah by helping Muslims with ruqya so that they can get back to worshipping Allah properly again without any illnesses.

This intention should be driving you to read and teach Muslims about ruqya. You must love to this act and not have any regrets for getting involved in ruqya. Sadly, I have heard of a raqi who is sad and regrets that he got involved with ruqya because of the constant need to perform adkhar and the constant need to watch out for sins! WELL, ISN’T THAT WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT…….remembering Allah and keeping away from sins! Life is short and we should not regret doing deeds that will save us from the torment of the hereafter. We should see the field of ruqya as a blessing and honour from Allah and that Allah has given us the ilm in this field so that we may use it to get closer to him. We should know that this field is type of jihad against the jinn and shayateen and so there is a lot of reward in it. Sheikh ul Islam Ibn Taymeeyah (Rahimahullah) said,

“For the Exorcist [the Raaqi] such a person is a soldier of Allah, he is a Mujaahid for the sake of Allah, and this is from the greatest forms of Jihad, so he should be careful, lest the enemy overcome him by his sins. If the circumstances is beyond his capacity, he should remember that ‘Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity.’ He should not expose himself to tribulation by taking on what he is unable to handle” [1]

He also said, “It is not right that someone is scared of learning this knowledge [of Ruqyah] and practising it, because it is an act of worship, and jihad for the sake of Allah, the Exalted. The servants of Allah who stick to his limits are within the safekeeping of Allah, his protection, his care, and his preservation.” In explaining this, he said, “The Prophets and the pious people who followed them fought against the enemies of Allah, from the jinn and the men, and they repelled them with whatever permissible means that they were able, and they would remove the jinn from the bodies of people, as ‘Eesa and our Messenger Muhammad (May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon them both) did.” The purpose of jihad is to make the word of the Allah the highest, and the word of those who disbelieve the lowest. The Raaqi is the one who puts himself in danger, fighting against the Shayateen to achieve this aim.
Al Majmoo al Fataawa Ibn Taymeeyah.
[1] Ibn Taymeeyah’s Essay on the Jinn, pp 69-72.

After reading what Ibn Taymeeyah said, we shouldn’t have any regrets about becoming a raqi. 

THE BENEFITS OF NOT TAKING MONEY

From my experience, one of the benefits of not taking money for ruqya is that you find that the patients make a lot of dua for you even when you don’t request dua. We have to remember that the patients who are under sihr are actually being oppressed by a sahir and jinn so when they make dua to Allah for you then there is no barrier between it and Allah and therefore it is NOT like the dua of a normal Muslim. I believe these duas are one of reasons that I have been able to help many Muslims especially with diagnosis. I am certain that these duas have also helped me in other spheres of my life.

Another benefit in not requesting or demanding money is that you are able to purify your intentions and make sure that you are ONLY helping Muslims for the sake of Allah. When you do this work solely for the sake Allah, you will find that Allah helps you in many ways from protection from jinn, to diagnosis/treatment and from the fitna of women.

From my experience, it seems that it is the heartless raqis who demand money from patients (ie they will NEVER treat patients for free even if the patient can’t afford it and they are busy exploiting vulnerable Muslims) are the type of raqis who usually fall into fitna with women or get attacked by jinn and that is because they are not concerned about helping Muslims but are just in this field to make money. Unfortunately, because of the experience and fitna that this type of money-hungry and heartless raqi falls into, sincere brothers have been afraid to get involved in ruqya because they fear that they will also fall into fitna. We say to these sincere brothers that they should ignore this type of raqi and realise that MOST authentic raqis who charge or don’t charge for ruqya are not like this type of raqi and that they are not heartless and that they will treat for free, if patients can’t afford it and therefore these authentic raqis, don’t fall into the same fitna as the heartless raqis do because Allah protects them. If you are sincere then Allah will protect you as Ibn Taymeeyah says from the above quote:

“It is not right that someone is scared of learning this knowledge [of Ruqyah] and practising it, because it is an act of worship, and jihad for the sake of Allah, the Exalted. The servants of Allah who stick to his limits are within the safekeeping of Allah, his protection, his care, and his preservation.”

So I strongly recommend brothers to get involved in ruqya and not to pay any attention to what happens to those heartless demanding raqis. 

TEACHING RUQYA VERSUS READING RUQYA ON PATIENTS

Most of my time is now spent on teaching and advising Muslims on how they should do ruqya on themselves and their families rather than actually reading ruqya on people. This is because there is more reward in teaching.

Teaching ruqya is basically teaching tawheed in action ie the action of ruqya is a manifestation of Tawheedand that is better than just reading on patients because you are connecting the patients to Allah rather yourself. So your main aim should be to teach and advise the people about ruqya and only really offer ruqya diagnosis or treatment when you can see that the patients are really having problems. If that is the case, then there is no need to take up ruqya as a profession and you can carry on doing your day job. 

BEING PATIENT AND KEEPING CALM WITH PATIENTS

There is a lot of confusion out there regarding the science of ruqya so it is imperative that raqis are patient and calm when teaching and advising Muslims. You may get the same question being asked several times by the same patient or others. It can be mentally tiring to keep repeating yourself but you must remember that most patients will find it difficult to grasp concepts or ideas because the possessing jinn are playing with their minds and emotions.

Most patients will just need your help to gain confidence about ruqya so even if they get clear results during self diagnosis, they just need to hear you tell them that they have spiritual illness. You just need to remember that you were once in their shoes, lacking confidence and not fully understanding the topic.

It is essential that you take some time off from answering questions so that you can relax and tend to your needs and your family’s. If you don’t do that then you are more likely to lash out and get angry at patients. TAKE A BREAK! You will be a better raqi! 

YOUR STUDIES OF THE SCIENCE OF RUQYA

You must sit down and learn this science by studying, there is no way around this. The more you know, the better the raqi you become.

The following is brief study plan for a prospective raqi:

1. Study the books: ‘Kitab Tawheed’ and ‘Kashfa Shoubahat’ by Imam Mohammad Abdul-Wahab. ‘Aqeedah Wasatiya’ and ‘Essay on the Jinn’ by Imam Ibn Taymeeyah. You should study these books by listening to Youtube lectures from the following channels: Criterion Productions (Luton Islamic Centre), Green Lane Masjid, Masjid Humera (of Ustadh Murtaza Khan) and Brixton Masjid.

2. Study my article ‘The Problems with Jinn Catching’, and understand why it is a bidah, focusing particularly on the fatawa from Islamqa.info. YOU MUST GET INTO YOUR HEAD THAT WE DON’T ASK OR NEED JINN’S HELP. We also don’t like speaking to jinn because it could lead to shirk. We must not even use jinn to do diagnosis or any form of treatment.

3. The next article of mine that you should read is ‘Important Ruqya Principles’ and then the ‘Importance of Ruqya Diagnosis’, followed by ‘How Sins Affect Possessed Muslims’. After these, you may watch the videos in order and then finish reading the rest of the articles on my website.

4. You need to learn hijama from a reputable hijamist or institute. Your aim is not to become a professional hijamist but to become a raqi that can offer the JET treatment to your patients.

5. Learn the following parts of the Quran with tajweed (and that means you must recite these surahs and ayahs to your local imam or qari): Surahs Fatiha, Ikhlas & last two Quls. Also Ayah Kursi and the last two ayahs of Surah Baqarah. THAT’S ALL YOU NEED FOR READING ON PEOPLE.

YOUR PROTECTION ADHKAR 

As we mentioned earlier from Ibn Taymeeyah, if you do ruqya for the sake of Allah then he will protect you and this is obviously to do with thinking well of Allah.

The additional things you can do for protection are:

1. Keeping away from committing major sins or continuously doing the same minor sins.

2. Morning and evening adhkar (please refer to the book Hisnul Muslim)

3. The Quls after every salah.

4. Adkhar before sleeping, the minimum being the Quls and Ayah Kursi

5. Praying 2 rakah protection salah before you leave your home and then praying them again when you enter your home (Please refer to my article ‘Self Treatment Notes’ for the evidence of this prayer). 

GAINING PRACTICAL RUQYA EXPERIENCE 

You should use following plan in order for you to gain experience in reading ruqya on people.

Ruqya is an act of worship and action that you have to see being done so try and watch an authentic raqi in action by requesting permission to watch a ruqya session. If this is not possible then try to watch some YouTube videos and then move onto diagnose and treat yourself and your family.

When you have definitely decided to read ruqya on someone then I strongly recommend that you pray istikharah and then teach them the effects of sins and that it is sins that cause jinn to speak and make mischief and chaos in patients. Then tell them about having a sincere beseeching heart that wants the ruqya from Allah.

You should offer free ruqya to Muslims and tell them that they should accept ruqya when it has been offered to them because the Nabi (salulahu alayhi wasalam) accepted the ruqya from Jibril (alayhi salam) when it was offered.

1. Firstly, you should do self ruqya on yourself, diagnosis and then treatment, if you need it. (It is possible to do ruqya on people even while you yourself are suffering and treating your own spiritual illnesses)

2. Diagnose and treat your family and relatives.

3. Diagnose and treat some of your friends.

4. Finally, diagnose and treat other Muslims.

EXTREME POSSESSING JINN CASES

You should not worry about such extreme cases since you would have already told potential patients to be careful of committing sins. It is sins that cause jinn to speak and cause havoc and chaos in a patient and his home. Please refer to my article ‘How Sins Affect Possessed Muslims’.

From my experience, I would strongly recommend that you don’t treat or disgnose any patients who have manifesting jinn ie speaking, crying, laughing etc. This is because it can be very dangerous. You should focus on getting the patient to stop sinning and making tauba and paying sadaqa to remove sins. Once the patient has completely changed their life and the jinn no longer manifests and speaks, you can diagnose and then treat them. We must remember that the sins of the patient will make ruqya less effective, hence the importance of stopping sins.

In order to prepare yourself for extreme jinn cases then you need to watch my video ‘practical self ruqya part 3’. In this video, I give some guidelines regarding how to control people with extreme jinn manifestation.