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What about taweez?
What do you call it?
It is called ruqya.
They asked the Prophet
(s), "We used to have ruqya before Islam. Is it ok to keep
it?" He said, "Yes."
We explained about the
importance of ruqya in Islam and sometimes when they change
the name (of what it is technically known as ruqya), it
brings confusion. That special one you have has been done in
Damascus in time of Grandshaykh, and it was like 70 years ago.
Mawlana used to live on the mountain, he has a house which is now a
big zawiya, and it is on the mountain that overlooks all of Damascus
(Jabal Qasyoun). They used to come to Grandshaykh, people
complaining a little bit about the origin of what we call ruqya
in Arabic. And in many ahadith, the Prophet (s) under ruqya
you can find many ahadith where the Prophet said that it is
acceptable.
In one of the main
hadiths supporting that is once some Sahaba were traveling in one of
their travels, going from one place to another and they came to a
place where there is a tribe and that tribe had a very sick person
and he is head of the tribe. And they passed by the Companions and
asked, "Do you have anything that might cure the patient?" And they
said, "Yes we can." They said, "Can you do that?" They said, "What
will you reward us if we do so?"
So, here is another thing
that can be derived, that means you can exchange by giving in
exchange a gift of sheep or goat or whatever you ask for. And they
came down and recited on the sick man Surat al-Fatiha. And after
that he was cured and the tribe was very happy and loaded them with
gifts. And on the way back to the Holy Prophet (s) they were
discussing amongst each other, "Is it acceptable to take the gifts
or not," because they had used the Holy Qur'an and du`a of
the Prophet to make that cure. So they came to the Prophet (s) and
asked him, and he said, "It is alright what you took and and you
keep it and give me a share." That is to authenticate that payment
is accepted and the Prophet is taking his share.
So ruqya is
mentioned in the book Shams al-Ma`arif. Who is the author of
Ihya `uloom ad-deen. [Imam Ghazali] If you see some of his
books they contain many symbols, such as triangles and circles,
which contain words and numbers.
And that is why
awliyaullah used these today and they use new ones. Every time
there is a different one that works. You need to get the fresh one,
that cures the afflictions that are coming down today. Though still
the old ones are ok, but they might not give full cure.
So the originality of
that ruqya is from Grandshaykh who lived on the mountain in
Damascus. After he moved there (from Turkey) many people began to
move there and some of them begin to have problems. They begin to
see faces and some people are harmed by these beings. That mountain
is full of prophets buried there, and it has Maqaam al-Arba`een.
There are 40 Substitutes, al-Abdal, the saints that Allah honored
Sham with them. That is from fadaa'il ash-Sham, special
benefits of Sham. And you can go to their Maqaam al-Arba`een,
and they come each night to pray there. You cannot stay there, you
will run. There are lot of maqaams and many Sahaba are buried there.
But also there are lot of jinn, protectors. And so neighbors come
and complain "we have this problem", "I have problem with my wife,"
"I have this problem with our child," and so on.
So by the holy order of
the Prophet (s) Grandshaykh put a pen in your hand and went to
sleep. So when he woke up and of course he was in a vision, his hand
was writing and as it was writing it was writing in a circle and
what he wrote is the ruqya that we use. That is protection
from effects of jinn and any harm that we face. That was a ruqya
given to our Grandshaykh for his followers and the Prophet (s) said
in that vision, "There is no way that a jinn can interfere with that
person and if he has difficulties then they will be getting better
and better."
So after he wrote it, he
needs more to be written and what I know, after like around 50 years
he ordered my wife to write them for him. He wants someone who is
not yet mature who is innocent and pure. And it has to be with
zafraan, as the normal ink is mixed with urea. Many books today
are used with that ink. It has to be pure. So with a plume, a quill
she used to write it.
Q: Excuse me. I tried to
write with zafraan. It is very difficult how to do it?
Shaykh Hisham: You must
dilute with water. Then it becomes thick.
So we still have one that
is written by hand.
So later we asked Mawlana
Shaykh Nazim, as it is difficult to write so many copies by hand, so
he gave permission to print it and so we had it written by a
calligrapher and then printed it. So the best one is written by
hand, but now with permission the printed one is the same. So now it
is printed in hundreds and given out.
Q: a lot of times it is
said it must be written 10-00 times to get the fadeelah,
blessings, of that taweez?
Shaykh Hisham: Which one.
For this one no. For others maybe that is the case.
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