The leaflet came through the letterbox, or the number came from an auntie, or the advert appeared on your phone at two in the morning when you could not sleep. "Black magic removed in 3 days. Love problems, business, family. 100% guaranteed."
You were desperate enough to call. And now someone you have never met is telling you that your problem is very serious, that it was done by someone close to you, and that it will cost more than you expected to fix.
Stop here for ten minutes and read this first.
Seeking ruqyah is permitted. The question is from whom.
Nothing in this article is against asking for help. The Companions recited ruqyah, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) approved it with one clear condition:
"There is no harm in ruqyah as long as it does not involve shirk." — Sahih Muslim 2200
That single sentence is the test for everything below. Ruqyah is recitation of the Quran and the authentic duas, asking Allah alone for cure. The moment someone moves away from that, towards hidden words, jinn, sacrifices, or claims to see the unseen, they have left ruqyah behind, whatever they call themselves.
The stakes are also higher than money:
"Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and asks him about anything, his prayer will not be accepted for forty nights." — Sahih Muslim 2230
"Whoever goes to a soothsayer and believes what he says has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad." — Sunan Abi Dawud 3904
A fake aamil does not only take your savings. He can take your prayer.
12 warning signs of a fake aamil or peer
1. He asks for your mother's name to "check" your problem. There is no basis in the Quran or the Sunnah for diagnosing anyone from their name or their mother's name. This is the most common opening move, and it is a calculation, not knowledge.
2. He tells you who did it. No human being can know this. Naming a sister-in-law, a neighbour or a former friend destroys families and is a claim to knowledge of the unseen. We have written about this question at length.
3. He guarantees a result, or names the number of days. Cure is from Allah. "Guaranteed in 72 hours" is a sales line, and it is a claim no person of knowledge would make.
4. The price keeps rising. The first call is free or cheap. Then the problem turns out to be "deeper", "double", "from a graveyard", and every stage needs more money. Real recitation does not get more expensive because you are frightened.
5. He asks for your hair, nails, clothing or a photograph. Ruqyah is recited over the person or over water and oil. Requests for personal items are a mark of the people who do sihr, not the people who remove it.
6. He works with jinn, or says "my jinn will check". Using jinn is not a shortcut to cure. It is the method of the very thing you are trying to escape. A raqi seeks refuge from them; he does not employ them.
7. He asks for a sacrifice to anyone other than Allah, or tells you to slaughter a black chicken at a crossroads, bury something, or throw an egg into running water at midnight. These rituals have no place in the Sunnah.
8. The taweez contains things you cannot read or verify. Squares of unknown letters, names that are not Allah's names, symbols, or anything he refuses to explain. A taweez that is permitted contains only the words of Allah, His names and Durood Sharif, and nothing hidden. What we write, and why it is not tilsam, is set out here.
9. He tells you to stop praying, or to do something haram. Missing salah "for the amal to work", reciting backwards, entering the toilet with the Quran. Anything that pulls you away from Allah is not treatment from Allah.
10. He frightens you into staying. "If you stop now it will come back twice as strong." "Your child will be affected next." Fear is how he keeps you paying. Whether sihr can return is a real question, and it has an honest answer.
11. He wants to be alone with a woman, asks her to remove clothing, or touches her during "treatment". This is never part of ruqyah. A woman can be treated with a mahram present, or remotely, or she can recite over herself.
12. He discourages you from seeing a doctor. The Prophet (peace be upon him) told people to seek treatment. Anyone who wants you to rely only on him, and never on medicine, is protecting his income, not your health.
What a genuine raqi looks like
The signs are just as clear in the other direction:
- You can hear and understand what he recites. It is the Quran and duas from the Sunnah, said out loud.
- He names his sources. Surah and verse, book and hadith number, so you can check them yourself.
- He teaches you to recite for yourself. The aim is that you stop needing him. You can do ruqyah on yourself at home without anyone present.
- He says plainly when something sounds medical and tells you to see a GP or doctor first.
- He never names a culprit, and he does not claim to know what is hidden.
- Any fee is stated upfront, once, in plain words. Taking a fee for reciting the Quran is permitted in itself; the Companions accepted payment for reciting Al-Fatiha over a sick man, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "The most deserving of what you take a wage for is the Book of Allah." — Sahih al-Bukhari 5737. What is not acceptable is a fee that grows with your fear.
- He respects your privacy. What you tell him goes no further.
If you have already paid someone
You are not stupid, and you are not the first. These people are good at what they do, and they find people at their weakest.
- Stop contact. You do not owe him a final payment to "close" anything. Nothing will come back because you stopped. Allah says: "The magician will not succeed, wherever he comes." — Quran 20:69
- Remove anything he gave you that you cannot read or verify. Ask someone with knowledge to look at it before you dispose of it.
- If he threatened you or took money under false promises, report it to the police. In the UK and the USA, obtaining money by false claims is a crime, and "spiritual" does not change that.
- Make tawbah if you believed what he said about the unseen, and return to the morning and evening adhkar. That is the protection that does not cost anything.
How we work
We will not read your situation from your name. We will not tell you who did it. We do not do sihr or tilsam, we do not work with jinn, and we do not promise results in days, because the result is with Allah.
What we do is read what you write about your own situation, answer from the Quran and authentic narrations with the source named, teach you what to recite yourself, and tell you plainly when it sounds like something a doctor should see first. If you would like that, you can describe your situation privately here.
Sources
- Sahih Muslim 2200 — ruqyah is permitted when it contains no shirk
- Sahih Muslim 2230 — going to a fortune-teller
- Sunan Abi Dawud 3904 — believing a soothsayer
- Sahih al-Bukhari 5737 — a wage for reciting the Book of Allah
- Quran 2:102 — sihr; Quran 20:69 — the magician will not succeed