due to a flaw (1) in one of those two elements—or in both. Whenever the two are fully in place, the desired effect follows. Thus, if the heart welcomes the ruqya with complete acceptance, and the practitioner enjoys forceful aspiration, an active soul, genuine strength, firm resolve, perfect faith, an attentive heart, and penetrating insight, the recitation will, by Allah’s leave, dispel the malady.
This brings us to the question of performing ruqya with passages from the Qur’an. That is permissible, and the hadiths affirm it (2). As for the report, “Ruqyas and amulets are acts of shirk,” it has two answers:
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Abrogation: the prohibition came at the outset, because ruqyas were presumed to be a pathway to polytheism; the ruling was therefore attached to the presumption, then later to the reality. In the early period it was necessary to cut off the roots of shirk entirely—just as drinking from certain vessels was forbidden on the suspicion that they contained wine, and was later allowed.
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The more evident answer is that the hadith refers only to what is, in itself, an act of shirk. On this basis, Ahmad disliked hanging amulets before a calamity strikes, though not after it has occurred (3). Allah knows best.