except in return for a fee.” So they agreed to give them a flock of sheep. One of them went and began to blow lightly and recite only Surat al-Fatihah over the man who had been stung, repeating it. The man whom the scorpion had stung then rose as though he had been released from a tether. When they came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and informed him, he said to the reciter, “How did you know that it was a healing recitation?” (1)

This is Prophetic medicine, but it is spiritual, through recitation. How many people we have seen or heard of have had a profound effect on patients—greater than the effect of material medicine, which is known through experience.

The second type is material medicine, known through experience. It is that which is practiced by physicians, whether they studied and acquired their knowledge in advanced schools or learned it through experimentation. For there are ordinary people who experiment with certain herbs and derive benefit from them, thereby becoming physicians without formal study, because this is something known through experience.

“Take me into Your care among those whom You have taken into Your care …”

His statement, “Take me into Your care among those whom You have taken into Your care”: does it derive from walī—with an open wāw and a still, ungeminated lām—meaning closeness? Or does it derive from tawallī, meaning guardianship and support? Or does it encompass both meanings?

The answer is that it encompasses both. According to the first meaning: “Make me close to You,” just as it is said, “So-and-so came close to so-and-so.” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Let those among you who possess maturity and sound judgment stand nearest to me.” (2) That is, from walī, meaning closeness.