17:82 Al-Israa (The Night Journey)

فالقرآن مشتمل على الشفاء والرحمة، وليس ذلك لكل أحد، وإنما ذلك للمؤمنين به، المصدقين بآياته، العاملين به، وأما الظالمون بعدم التصديق به أو عدم العمل به، فلا تزيدهم آياته إلا خسارًا، إذ به تقوم عليهم الحجة، فالشفاء الذي تضمنه القرآن عام لشفاء القلوب، من الشبه، والجهالة، والآراء الفاسدة، والانحراف السيئ، والقصود السيئة فإنه مشتمل على العلم اليقيني، الذي تزول به كل شبهة وجهالة، والوعظ والتذكير، الذي يزول به كل شهوة تخالف أمر الله، ولشفاء الأبدان من آلامها وأسقامها. وأما الرحمة، فإن ما فيه من الأسباب والوسائل التي يحث عليها، متى فعلها العبد فاز بالرحمة والسعادة الأبدية، والثواب العاجل والآجل.

يقول تعالى مخبرا عن كتابه الذي أنزله على رسوله محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وهو القرآن الذي لا يأتيه الباطل من بين يديه ولا من خلفه تنزيل من حكيم حميد إنه "شفاء ورحمة للمؤمنين" أي يذهب ما في القلوب من أمراض من شك ونفاق وشرك وزيغ وميل فالقرآن يشفي من ذلك كله وهو أيضا رحمة يحصل فيها الإيمان والحكمة وطلب الخير والرغبة فيه وليس هذا إلا لمن آمن به وصدقه واتبعه فإنه يكون شفاء في حقه ورحمة وأما الكافر الظالم نفسه بذلك فلا يزيده سماعه القرآن إلا بعدا وكفرا والآفة من الكافر لا من القرآن كقوله تعالى "قل هو للذين آمنوا هدى وشفاء والذين لا يؤمنون في آذانهم وقر وهو عليهم عمى أولئك ينادون من مكان بعيد" وقال تعالى "وإذا ما أنزلت سورة فمنهم من يقول أيكم زادته هذه إيمانا فأما الذين آمنوا فزادتهم إيمانا وهم يستبشرون وأما الذين في قلوبهم مرض فزادتهم رجسا إلى رجسهم وماتوا وهم كافرون" والآيات في ذلك كثيرة قال قتادة في قوله "وننزل من القرآن ما هو شفاء ورحمة للمؤمنين" إذا سمعه المؤمن انتفع به وحفظه ووعاه "ولا يزيد الظالمين إلا خسارا" أي لا ينتفع به ولا يحفظه ولا يعيه فإن الله جعل هذا القرآن شفاء ورحمة للمؤمنين.

The Qur'an is a Cure and a Mercy

Allah tells us that His Book, which He has revealed to His Messenger Muhammad ﷺ, the Qur'an to which falsehood cannot come, from before it or behind it, (it is) sent down by the All-Wise, Worthy of all praise, is a cure and a mercy for the believers, meaning that it takes away whatever is in their hearts of doubt, hypocrisy, Shirk, confusion and inclination towards falsehood. The Qur'an cures all of that. It is also a mercy through which one attains faith and wisdom and seeks goodness. This is only for those who believe in it and accept it as truthful, it is a cure and a mercy only for such people. As for the disbeliever who is wronging himself by his disbelief, when he hears the Qur'an, it only makes him further from the truth and increases him in his disbelief. The problem lies with the disbeliever himself, not with the Qur'an, as Allah says:

قُلْ هُوَ لِلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ هُدًى وَشِفَآءٌ وَالَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ فِى ءَاذَانِهِمْ وَقْرٌ وَهُوَ عَلَيْهِمْ عَمًى أُوْلَـئِكَ يُنَادَوْنَ مِن مَّكَانٍ بَعِيدٍ

(Say: "It is for those who believe, a guide and a cure. And as for those who disbelieve, there is heaviness in their ears, and it is blindness for them. They are those who are called from a place far away (so they neither listen nor understand).") 41:44

وَإِذَا مَآ أُنزِلَتْ سُورَةٌ فَمِنْهُمْ مَّن يَقُولُ أَيُّكُمْ زَادَتْهُ هَـذِهِ إِيمَـناً فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ ءامَنُواْ فَزَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَـناً وَهُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ - وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ فَزَادَتْهُمْ رِجْسًا إِلَى رِجْسِهِمْ وَمَاتُواْ وَهُمْ كَـفِرُونَ

(And whenever there comes down a Surah, some of them (hypocrites) say: "Which of you has had his faith increased by it" As for those who believe, it has increased their faith, and they rejoice. But as for those in whose hearts is a disease, it will add suspicion and doubt to their suspicion, disbelief and doubt; and they die while they are disbelievers.) (9:124-125) And there are many other similar Ayat.

وَنُنَزِّلُ مِنَ الْقُرْءَانِ مَا هُوَ شِفَآءٌ وَرَحْمَةٌ لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

(And We send down of the Qur'an that which is a cure and a mercy to the believers,) Qatadah said, "When the believer hears it, he benefits from it and memorizes it and understands it."

وَلاَ يَزِيدُ الظَّـلِمِينَ إَلاَّ خَسَارًا

(and it increases the wrongdoers in nothing but loss.) They do not benefit from it or memorize it or understand it, for Allah has made this Qur'an a cure and a mercy for the believers.

وَإِذَآ أَنْعَمْنَا عَلَى الإنْسَـنِ أَعْرَضَ وَنَأَى بِجَانِبِهِ وَإِذَا مَسَّهُ الشَّرُّ كَانَ يَئُوساً

And We reveal of min here is explicative the Qur’ān that which is a cure from error and a mercy for believers thereby; though it only increases the evildoers the disbelievers in loss because of their disbelief in it.

We can now move to the last verse (82) cited above: وَنُنَزِّلُ مِنَ الْقُرْ‌آنِ مَا هُوَ شِفَاءٌ (And We reveal the Qur'an which is a cure). That the Holy Qur'an cures hearts and delivers people from shirk and kufr, low morals and spiritual ailments is no secret. The entire Muslim ummah agrees with it. And according to some ` Ulama', the way the Qur’ an is a cure for spiritual ailments, it is also a cure for physical diseases. The sense is that reciting the verses of the Qur'an and blowing the breath on the body of the sick person or to write its words on an amulet and putting it around the neck is also expected to be a cure for physical diseases. Hadith narratives bear testimony to it. The Hadith of Sayyidna Abu Said al-Khudri ؓ can be seen in all books of Ahadith. It says that a party of the noble Companions ؓ was in travel. In a village on their way, a scorpion had bitten the chief. The village people asked the Companions if they could suggest some treatment for it. They recited the Surah al-Fatihah seven times, blew their breath on him and the ailing patient stood cured. Later, when this incident was mentioned before the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، he declared this action of the Companions to be permissible.

Similarly, there are several other Hadith reports which prove that the Holy Prophet ﷺ has done it himself. After having recited the last two verses of the Qur'an, he would blow his breath on the sick person. It is also proved that the Sahabah and the Tabi` in used to treat sick people with the recital of the last two verses of the Qur’ an as well as with the recital of other verses from it. That it was written and placed around the neck as an amulet also stands proved. Al-Qurtubi has given details about it under his commentary on this verse.

The last sentence of the verse: (And it adds nothing to the unjust but loss - 82) tells us that the Holy Qur'an - when recited with faith and reverence - is certainly a cure. It is open. It is proven. Conversely, any denial of the Qur’ an, or irreverence to it, could also become a source of loss and misfortunes.