A RECENT AFROBAROMETER SURVEY examining the influence of education and news consumption on African beliefs about disease prevention methods has revealed that 53% of Moroccan citizens believe that prayer is more effective than vaccination in preventing COVID-19. In Sudan, this belief was even more pronounced, with nearly 90% of respondents expressing this view.[1]
This firm conviction in the hearts of the Muslims that prayer, remembrance and pure reliance are from the strongest of ways and means has been sadly dismissed and downplayed. People who have conviction in prayer, remembrance and supplication as effective means in themselves—and by Allāh’s bounty and praise, this is still found among the Muslims—are belittled.
In the same article above, such people are belittled from the angle that these people are uneducated, and do not follow the news or science and that this is why they believe these things more than they believe in vaccines, because basically they are uneducated. This, essentially is a revilement of what the scholars of the Muslims explain as being from the perfection and completion of Tawḥīd.
So we present here some statements of the scholars in this respect.
Ḥāfiḍh Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī on the Ḥadīth of the Woman Afflicted by Epileptic Fits
Ibn Ḥajar (رحمه الله) wrote in al-Fatḥ, while mentioning the ḥadīth of the black woman who suffered epileptic fits—[some scholars hold it was as a result of possession of Jinn]—and he provided some useful benefits derived from it:[2]
ʿAṭā said; Ibn ʿAbbas said to me: “Shall I show you a woman of the people of Paradise?” I said, “Yes.” He said: “This black lady came to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and said, ‘I get attacks of epilepsy and my body becomes uncovered; please invoke Allāh for me.’ The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said (to her), ‘If you wish, be patient and you will have (enter) Paradise; and if you wish, I will invoke Allah to cure you.’ She said, ‘I will remain patient,’ and added, ‘but I become uncovered, so please invoke Allah for me that I may not become uncovered.’ So he invoked Allāh for her.” ʿAṭā narrated: “That he had seen Umm Zafar, the tall black lady, at the curtain of the Kaʿbah [holding it].”
Then he commented:
In the ḥadīth is the virtue of the one who suffers epileptic fits, and that patience upon worldly trials makes one inherit Paradise. That embracing hardship is better than embracing ease (concession) for the one who knows about himself that he has the ability and that he will not become weak by embracing hardship.
There is also [evidence] therein for abandoning medical treatment. And likewise [in this ḥadīth] is that cure for all diseases is through supplication and [that] seeking refuge with Allāh is more useful and more beneficial than treatment with medications, and that the effect and influence of that on the body is greater than the effect of bodily medicines.
However, it is only useful with two affairs: The first of them is from the angle of the sick person, which is truthful desire (ṣidq al-qaṣd), and the other is from the angle of the one who treats [through supplication], and that is the strength of his turning [to Allāh], and the strength of his heart through piety (taqwā) and reliance (tawakkul). And Allāh knows best.
Shaykh al-Albānī on the Types of Medicine Taken Based on the Belief of the Sick Person
Shaykh al-Albānī (رحمه الله) was asked the question:[3] “What is the ruling on medication, obligatory (wājib), commended (mustaḥabb), or permissible (mubāḥ)? And based upon (the ruling) is the one who abandons it sinful?”
The Shaykh's response:
The medications taken by the patient are divided into three categories based on the patient’s belief about the effect of the treatment on his illness:
A category about which there is certainty that it is a cure, so this is obligatory (wājib). A category about which there is a strong likelihood that it is a cure.[4] So this is recommended (mustaḥabb). And a category for which there is no strong likelihood that it is successful. So it is recommended to leave [this last category] and anything besides [these categories] then it is not legislated. Allāhu Akbar.
Knowledge of these categories returns back to the evaluation through which one can give preponderance to [a treatment’s success] being certain, or most likely, or unlikely.
Some of these types maybe… a man whose blood vessel is cut and blood oozes out from it. There is no doubt that its treatment is from the first type, it is obligatory because it will be successful, otherwise, if it is left while his blood flows, it will [cause his] death and destruction.
Also from this [first] category are treatments for known diseases such as high-temperature fever whose temperature is reduced through a needle of penicillin. These are two examples of a treatment whose benefit is certain. These are two appropriate examples of the obligatory treatment.
As for that which is most likely [of benefit], I often say that most medicines are like this, many are most likely beneficial, and the doctors in reality are most able in giving examples of this second type of medicine, clear?
The third example is what is considered unlikely [to be successful]. And the truth is that the best example [of such things is what is] indicated by the legislation. As for the current medicines and treatments, then speak about them [at length] without any problem,[5] [those which are taken] for the most trivial reasons...
Or his saying (صلى الله عليه وسلم) regarding the qualities of the 70,000 who will enter Paradise without reckoning or punishment, their faces being like the moon on the night it is full, “They are the ones that do not seek ruqyah, nor cauterize, nor harbour omens, but upon their Lord do they place their trust.”[6]
Seeking ruqyah is a legislated treatment, but even though it is permissible, it is not favoured (marjūḥ).[7] The reason is—and Allāh knows best—is that so it does not become a strong belief in him that this shaykh is blessed and that when he supplicates for him that Allāh will cure him from any ailment that afflicts him, [such that] he overwhelmingly believes that his supplication is answered.
Upon this detail [in the matter], it is desirable today that a Muslim embarks in his life—especially women who go to the doctor for the most trivial reason, there not being any overwhelming belief that she is afflicted with a disease, and that this disease’s treatment is well-known, and [there not being any overwhelming] belief that it is successful—it is desirable for a Muslim to get used to relying upon Allāh (عز وجل) with respect to it, just like he abandons seeking ruqyah from other Muslims, and with this I think the answer is sufficient.
Shaykh al-Albānī (رحمه الله) encouraged Muslims to leave off dubious treatments and medicines for which there is no certainty, or there is no evidence to justify belief in the likelihood of their success or efficacy, and instead, to get used to relying upon Allāh with respect to these illnesses. This is pure reliance, along with prayer, supplication and remembrance which are means in themselves.
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Luḥaydān on Prayer and Remembrance as a Means of Protection
Following his lesson on Kitāb al-Tawḥīd, commenting on the chapter on omens, there was a question posed to Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله). The question was on contagion and vaccinations. This question was asked because of the Shaykh’s comments regarding the negation of contagion and negation that a sick person “passes” his disease to another:
The questioner says: How can we understand the ḥadīth of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), “There is no contagion”, and how do we deal with the vaccinations which are found in hospitals and what is similar?
The Shaykh (رحمه الله) replied:
When one knows that the remembrances/supplications (adhkār), when a person says them he will not be harmed on that day, neither by poison nor by magic. The remembrances, when he does them [the extent of their protective effect] is not restricted to the limits of a person’s comprehension [alone]. They [the remembrances] prevent even what may afflict the body from the [various] diseases. If he is constant upon dhikr, that will benefit him in both guidance (in religion) and prevention (from disease).
The Shaykh answered the question by simply ignoring the issue of vaccination and referring instead to a powerful and mighty cause which is dhikr (remembrance) and duʿā (supplication), the tremendous power and effect of which cannot be reached by the limitations of the mind. Rather the effect of dhikr and duʿā extends way beyond what a person can imagine and comprehend. It is the most superior way and the most powerful means among all the available means.
As for vaccination, which is also connected to claims of “immunity” , then the Shaykh already addressed this issue earlier in this particular lesson where he criticised the physicians when they claim that a person never fell ill with an allegedly “infectious” disease because he has alleged “strong immunity”. It is likewise when it is said: “He had the vaccine, so he will not fall ill, because he is immune” or: “That is why he never fell ill, he is immune.” All of this is delving into and making presumptions about al-Qadar and its realities, and the Shaykh criticised that.
For even if a person takes what are genuine means then it is not the means that save or protect him, it is the Creator of the means with whom lies the total, absolute and ultimate disposal of all affairs.
As for vaccination, then it is in reality a poisoning of the system. When proteins are released by the body in response, they are interpreted as being part of alleged “immunity”, and all of this is based upon incorrect theoretical foundations and misinterpretation of observations. Childhood vaccines are simply an enterprise for creating chronic illnesses in order to create and maintain long term markets for medical interventions. The claims of vaccines eradicating certain diseases and being proven safe are both myths and constitute nothing but propaganda.
Those who are vaccinated routinely fall ill with the very disease they were allegedly “immunised” against and those who do not take any vaccine do not fall ill. And as for those who do not fall ill after taking a vaccine, then they have no evidence that it was the vaccine itself which was the cause of them not becoming ill, exclusive to other factors and causes from the decree of Allāh.
Thus, the issue of causes and their effects is a great one and duʿā is considered from the most superior of ways, it is from reliance itself. Alongside that, a person is free to choose other proven and verified means if he so wishes. So this is a personal choice and returns back to his level of īmān. Thus, whoever wants to take permitted means which he believes in—within the limits of his knowledge—as useful, then that is his choice and there is no blame or rebuke upon him, until and unless it becomes clear that the means is useless or harmful, and in which case, leaving it is better in favour of other means or pure reliance, in accordance with the details (tafṣīlāt) provided by the scholars.
Summary
01 Prayer, supplication and remembrance are means in themselves and the scholars, past and presnt have explained that they are the most useful and beneficial of means.
02 Trust and reliance upon Allāh is combined with adoption of the means in two situations. First, when the effect of the means is definitive and certain and confirmed through repeat observation and experience. Second, when there is evidence demonstrating it is most likely that the means taken will be successful or effective.
03 As for when the evidence does not reach that level and we enter into presumptions, imaginations, uncertainties and the likes, then these things are to be abandoned in favour of pure reliance upon Allāh. This is something that Muslims are encouraged to develop as a habit instead of rushing and running to the physicians for every trivial matter in which there is no overwhelming belief in the success of efficacy of the treatment (due to absence, or weakness of evidence).
04 Ibn Ḥajar pointed out based on the ḥadīth of the women suffering fits, that if a person has enough strength, and is able to bear hardships, then that type of person can embrace hardships rather than ease (through treatments, whether religious or worldly), as this will facilitate entry into Paradise (because it expiates sins, solidifies īmān, and hardens the resolve).
Footnotes
1. https://en.hespress.com/93915-more-than-50-of-moroccans-believe-prayer-is-more-effective-than-vaccination-in-preventing-covid-1.html2. Al-Fatḥ al-Bārī (13/25).
3. https://www.alathar.net/home/esound/index.php?op=codevi&coid=248686.
4. Meaning, its probable, most likely to be so, there is a strong belief in it being so.
5. The Shaykh uses an expression to mean that this would be a long or never-ending conversation about these things.
6. Al-Bukhārī (no. 5705).
7. Meaning, istirqā, to ask another to do ruqyah upon you, not ruqyah in and of itself.
