162- Ruling on going to charlatans and getting treated with unlawful things
Q: The Prophet (ï·º) said: Allah did not place healing for my Ummah (nation based on one creed) in what He has forbidden to them. Yet some people when afflicted with chronic diseases seek the help of those who practice charlatanry, who have named themselves "Arab Doctors." They advise them to either eat the meat of a pig or drink alcohol, and this has happened a lot. These people use the rule of Shariah (Islamic law) as their evidence, which says: Necessities relax prohibitions. What is the ruling on getting treated with what I have mentioned? Does this rule conflict with the Hadith mentioned above?
A: This is an error which some fall into. Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) has not made the things He has forbidden a cure for people. Accordingly, this does not come under the rule you mentioned. There is no cure in those things. The cure is only in what Allah has made lawful. Therefore, when a man said to the Prophet (ï·º): 'I make alcohol as a cure.' He (ï·º) said, 'It is not a cure; rather, it is a disease.' In another Hadith, he (ï·º) said: 'Allah has not put your cure in that which He has forbidden to you.' It is not permitted for the sick to go to charlatans who use the Jinn (creatures created from fire) and claim that they have knowledge of the Ghayb (the Unseen), and claim that they can cure a person with what Allah has prohibited like the meat of a pig, or drinking alcohol or other unlawful things which Allah has prohibited. This is Munkar (unacceptable or disapproved of by Shariah and Muslims of sound intellect); rather, the sick should keep away from what Allah has prohibited, and should not use any form of cure other than what Allah has permitted. Ack person, therefore, must not go to practitioners of witchcraft or soothsayers or charlatans, nor should they be asked or believed. It is not permitted to use what Allah forbade as a cure, whether it be alcohol, pig meat, smoke or any other forbidden thing, for what Allah has made lawful fully suffices and dispenses with any need for anything He has forbidden. All praise be to Allah. We ask Allah to protect us.
[Vol. 1, Page No. 392-393]