If I wear a ruqya (an amulet), will it reduce my chances of going to Paradise?

According to many hadiths, the Prophet (pbuh) made ruqyas and he told us to do it in such cases. However, in Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 71, Number 606, it is said that 70,000 people of the Ummah will go to Paradise without being questioned. “Those who do not make (wear) ruqyas, do not believe in good or evil (from birds, etc.), and do not have themselves cauterized. They trust only in their Lord.” So, if I wear a ruqya, does it reduce my chances of becoming one of them? What does “make a ruqya” mean and what does “believe in good and evil” mean? Is the process the same if I want to make a ruqya for myself or for others, or how should I do it? Basically, I want to make a ruqya for myself too.

Dear Brother / Sister,

- To believe in good and evil means to believe that Allah is the creator of both good and evil. Undoubtedly, it is man who desires evil and bad, but it is Allah who creates it in accordance with man’s desire.

- Ruqya means reciting prayers and blowing for protection or relief from illness and evil. As you have mentioned, it is sunnah to make ruqya in that sense.

There is nothing wrong with writing verses, hadiths and other good prayers and wearing them on us. What matters is to know that Allah is the protector.

However, it is not permissible to attribute the effect to the prayer or to the one reciting the prayer or to the amulet; it is very dangerous. This is what the hadith points out and what makes the person be held responsible.

- In the hadith in question, there is no relationship between “ruqya and Paradise”, but rather a relationship between “ruqya and entering Paradise without being questioned”. (see Bukhari, no: 5705)

- Therefore, the answer to the question, “If I make ruqya on myself, will it reduce my chances of entering Paradise?” is “no”. This is because the hadith is about the most honorable and virtuous people of the ummah. This position is considered to be “the position of those who will go directly to Paradise without being called to account”.

- There is no doubt that people will be in different levels with different personalities, depending on their taqwa, knowing Allah with all His names and attributes and acting accordingly. The different eight levels of Paradise are arranged according to people’s levels of servitude; similarly, they follow different paths to enter Paradise.

There are different positions in various scenes such as being under the heat of the sun, suffering from thirst, taking the books of deeds from the right or left side, the good deeds being heavy or light as a result of weighing, crossing the bridge; there are also people of different values such as “those who are lightly questioned and go to Paradise, those who are heavily questioned and enter Paradise after entering Hell, and those who enter Paradise without being questioned at all”.

In the hadith, when it is mentioned that there are the most superior, the most distinguished, the most virtuous people and that they will enter Paradise without any questioning, the criteria for this rank are pointed out in order to guide people in general.

Firstly, the summary of those criteria is that they are people who have the utmost respect for Allah, who have a serious fear of Him, and who trust in Him and rely on Him.

“Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you.” (al-Hujurat, 49/13)

The summary of that evaluation is given in the verse above.

The translation of the hadith is as follows:

“They are those people who do not make (wear) ruqyas on themselves, do not believe that there is good (luck) or bad (luck) in anything (that good and evil are in the hands of any being but Allah), and do not have certain wounds cauterized. On the contrary, they trust only in Allah, who is in control of everything.”

So, belief is the source of all good, and unbelief is the source of all evil.

"Belief is both light and strength. Yes, one who acquires true belief may challenge the whole universe and be saved from the pressure of events in accordance with the strength of his belief. Saying, “I place my trust in Allah,” he travels through the mountainous waves of events in the ship of life in complete safety. He entrusts all his burdens to the hand of power of the Absolutely Powerful One, voyages through the world in ease, then takes his rest in the Intermediate Realm. Later he may fly up to Paradise in order to enter eternal happiness."

"Otherwise, if he does not rely on Allah, rather than flying, the burdens of the world will drag him down to the lowest of the low. That is to say, belief necessitates affirmation of Divine unity, affirmation of Divine unity necessitates submission to Allah, submission to Allah necessitates reliance on Allah, and reliance on Allah necessarily leads to happiness in this world and the next. But do not misunderstand this, reliance on Allah is not to reject causes altogether; it is rather to know that causes are a veil to the hand of power and have recourse to them. Knowing that attempting causes is a sort of active prayer, it is to seek the effects only from Almighty Allah, recognize that the results are from Him alone, and to be thankful to Him.” (Sözler, Nursi, pp. 314-315)

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