What prayers (duas) can we say for a person who is mentally ill?

What prayers should we recite for a person who is mentally ill or who is pestered by evil creatures?

Dear Brother / Sister,

By taking refuge in Allah, being diligent in belief and worship, and not listening to the suggestions of the devil, which are effective on enchantment, one reduces the effect of the devil on him and is protected from the effect of enchantment. For what the devil does is nothing but to frighten through suggestion, to make people doubt, to delude them, and to give them groundless delusions and promises that have no results. As a matter of fact, the following is stated in the Holy Quran:

“Satan makes them promises, and creates in them false desires; but Satan’s promises are nothing but deception.” (an-Nisa, 4/120)

RECITATION OF THE CHAPTER OF AN-NAS AGAINST DARK FORCES AND MAGIC

“Say: I seek refuge with the Lord and Cherisher of Mankind,
The King (or Ruler) of Mankind, The Allah (for judge) of Mankind.
From the mischief of the Whisperer (of Evil), who withdraws (after his whisper),
(The same) who whispers into the hearts of Mankind.

Among Jinn and among men.” (an-Nas, 114/1-6)

The last three chapters of the Holy Quran, namely the chapters of “al-Ikhlas, al-Falaq and an-Nas”, called “Muawwidhat”, which are prayers to seek refuge in Allah and which are recited against our enemies, both visible and known, and against our hidden enemies, both visible and invisible, are a panacea, and those three chapters are (so to speak) the “aspirins of the Quranic pharmacy”. Therefore, one should seek refuge in Allah with them and protect himself from the darkness of the night, the evil of devils, jinn, sorcerers and deluders.

It is well known that the effect of magic is closely related to the psychological state of the person, his pessimism, delusions and doubts. The chapters of al-Falaq and an-Nas point to those issues and ask people to seek refuge in Allah alone when such a situation happens to them, as in normal situations. As a matter of fact, the following is stated in the Quran:

“Likewise did We make for every Messenger an enemy,- evil ones among men and jinn, inspiring each other with flowery discourses by way of deception.” (al-An’am, 6/112)

According to the verse above, we see that man is open to all kinds of dangers and can be easily deceived by his enemies from jinn and humans, both by the ornate and magical words he is exposed to and by the fictional writings in books, the true intentions of which are unknown. We understand that he should listen to whomever he listens to in the name of Allah and start his work with His name by saying “Audhu… Bismillahi…” to be protected from them, and that he should read the books he reads in the name of the truth to receive messages about the truth and should start with “Audhu… Bismillahi…”. For the devil cannot easily intervene in the works that are started and finished in the name of Allah. The evil intentions of sorcerers and some literati and philosophers who aim to deceive people can be thwarted only in this way. Otherwise, it is possible for them to deceive people through those ways, and to enchant their readers or listeners by immersing them in the rhythm of the issue. That is how most of the misguided people are misguided. Therefore, in those three chapters, we are asked begin with the inculcation of the “Tawhid Belief” with the chapter of al-Ikhlas and seek refuge in Allah with the chapters of al-Falaq and an-Nas.

As a matter of fact, Yazir, the tafsir scholar, interpreted this chapter extensively, and quoted an interesting hadith from Abu Dharr reported by Qurtubi in his tafsir. In the hadith, the Prophet drew attention to “human devils” and said,

“Have you sought refuge in Allah from human devils?” (Hak Dini Kur’an Dili, X/191)

In short, if we pay attention to our prayers and worship in our daily lives, seek refuge in Allah with prayers and be as close to Him as we should, we will be under His protection and be protected from magic and from sorcerers and evil spirits who can practice magic. 

While I was doing this study, I met a psychic whom I had been curious about before. Due to the insistence of my friends, I asked him to have a look at me. He looked in the water, called his jinn and asked them if I had been bewitched. Then, he looked in the water and at me several times and asked, “What are you protected by?” When I replied, “What do you mean?”, he asked me curiously, “What do you read every day?” When I said, “What happened?”, he said, “They have tried to bewitch you many times, but they have failed. If they had done it to a normal person who was not protected by a special prayer, he would have been done away with by now!” I told him that I read “Jawshan al-Kabir” every day and after the prayers I say my prayers and tasbihat according to the sunnah.

In that case, we should apply to doctors and the science of medicine for treatment rather than sorcerers, who are known to have contact with evil spirits and do wrong things. In the case of treatment by prayer (dua), we should refer to the prayers recommended by the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), as well as the prayers we have given examples from the Quran. It would also be good to follow the following advice, narrated from Aisha (r.a.), which the Prophet (pbuh) himself did;

“When the Prophet (pbuh) went to bed, he would blow on his hands and read the Muawwidhatayn (chapters of al-Falaq and an-Nas) and Qul Huwallahu Ahad, then wipe his hands over his face and body, repeating it three times. When he was ill, he would order me to do the same to him.” (Bukhari, Fadailul-Quran, 14, Tibb, 39)

The Prophet (pbuh) did not send the sick to sorcerers for treatment. He sent them either to physicians, to the science of medicine, or to the pharmacy of the Quran and Sunnah. Thus, he wanted them to benefit from universal healing. Besides, Allah Almighty declares that the Quran is “a mercy and a healing for the believers” (al-Isra, 17/82) and points to the Quran as a source of reference for our spiritual problems.

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