and if it exceeds the needed amount it will weaken the body’s strength and bring about another harm. When the Prophet ﷺ told him to make his brother drink honey, the man administered a dose that could neither withstand the malady nor achieve the intended purpose. After he reported back, the Prophet ﷺ realised that what had been given did not reach the required quantity. Each time the man returned, therefore, the Prophet ﷺ urged him to repeat the treatment until the dose equalled the force of the illness. When the draughts were repeated in proportion to the amount of corrupt matter, the patient recovered by Allah’s permission.
Weighing the quantities and qualities of medicines, together with the relative strength of the ailment and of the patient, is one of the foremost foundations of medicine. His ﷺ statement, “Allah has spoken the truth, whereas your brother’s stomach has lied,” highlights the proven benefit of this remedy: the persistence of the illness was not because the medicine was deficient, but because the stomach “lied” and harboured an abundance of corrupt material. Accordingly, he ordered him to repeat the dose because of that excess.
The Prophet’s ﷺ medical treatment is unlike that of other physicians. The Prophet’s medicine is certain, conclusive and divinely bestowed, proceeding from revelation, the light of prophethood and perfect intellect, whereas the medicine of others is, for the most part, conjecture, surmise and experiment. It is true that many patients do not benefit from Prophetic medicine; only those profit who receive it with acceptance, believe in the healing it contains and embrace it fully with faith and submission. The Qur’an itself—a healing for what is in the breasts—does not cure unless it is received in this way; otherwise it merely adds filth to the filth of the hypocrites and sickness to their sickness. If this is the case with the healing of hearts, how much more so with the healing of bodies! Thus, Prophetic medicine suits only wholesome bodies, just as the Qur’an’s cure suits only pure spirits and living hearts. People’s aversion to Prophetic medicine is like their aversion to seeking healing through the Qur’an, the truly beneficial cure. The fault lies not in the remedy, but in the foulness of their nature, the corruption of the locus and its refusal to accept it. Allah alone grants success.
244 – “Whoever undergoes cauterisation or seeks a ruqyah (ritual incantation) has indeed absolved himself of reliance upon Allah (tawakkul).”
Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (3/164); Ibn Ḥibbān in his Ṣaḥīḥ (no. 1408); Ibn Mājah (2/1154/3489); al-Ḥākim (4/415); and Aḥmad (4/249, 253) from