“May Allah cure you. In the name of Allah I perform ruqyah for you.”

This is a supplication offered by Gabriel—the noblest of the angelic messengers—for the Prophet ﷺ, the noblest of all messengers; for Gabriel is the foremost of the angelic messengers, whereas Muḥammad ﷺ is the foremost of the human messengers. Gabriel asked him, “Have you fallen ill?” and he replied, “Yes.”

From this we learn that there is no harm in a sick person saying to people, when they ask him, “I am ill.” Such an answer is not considered a complaint. True complaint is to bring one’s grievances about the Creator before the creation, saying, for example, “Allah has made me ill with such-and-such,” thereby complaining about the Lord to His servants—and that is impermissible. Jacob said, “I only complain of my anguish and sorrow to Allah” (Q 12:86). However, if the sick person merely informs others of his illness without any note of grievance, there is nothing wrong with it. Some common folk put it neatly: “information, not complaint,” and that is indeed sound.

The ḥadith also shows that we should recite this ruqyah for the sick: “In the name of Allah, I perform ruqyah for you,” that is, “I recite over you for protection from everything that harms you—whether illness, grief, anxiety, or distress… from the evil of every soul or the eye of an envier. May Allah cure you.” “From the evil of every soul” includes human souls, the souls of jinn, and others besides them; “or the eye of an envier” is what people call the evil eye. The envier—Allah’s refuge is sought—detests the fact that Allah bestows His favors upon His servants; his soul is vile and malignant, and from that corrupt soul there may issue