Ruqya Shariya: Observing the rise of a new faith healing tradition amongst Muslims in east London

Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify the primary reasons for the popularity of a new form of faith healing amongst young Muslims in east London. Examining the actual practice of this new healing tradition as it is found in east London and the social landscape within which it is enmeshed have been distinguished as the two central objectives of the study. In achieving the former, participant observation and semi-structured interviews were undertaken with a local healer and his clients, whilst the latter was largely achieved by employing a general format of research that involved gathering data from a number of scattered sources, like pamphlets, transcripts, forums, audio and video recordings, etc. The findings suggest that the popularity of this tradition is in large part due to a “hybridisation” of key themes drawn from “Islam” and “science” that are seen to be attractive for a younger generation of Muslims.

Keywords:

• medical anthropology
• culture and health
• religion, science and magic
• Islam and modernity
• Quranic healing

Notes

1  Other terms sometimes evoked are “Quranic treatment” or just “ruqya.”

2 These features are not only present amongst practitioners in Muslim diasporas, but can also be found amongst those associated with the ruqya shariya tradition in parts of the Muslim world, where such a distinct style contrasts from the otherwise largely homogenous one of the locals (Spadola, 2007, p. 281).

3 Some of the languages the book has been translated into are: Urdu, French, English, Indonesian, Malay.

4 This does not account for private practitioners who mainly offer their services to family and friends on a part-time basis; only those who advertise themselves as healers or are known within their communities as such.

5 The usual sequence of segments from the Quran he recites is: [1:1–7], [2:1–5], [2:102], [2:163], [2:255–257], [2:284–286], [3:18–19], [7:117–122], [10:81–82], [20:69], [68:51–52], [108:1–3], [109:1–6], [112:1–4], [113:1–5], [114:1–6] and [25:23]. This is followed by a few prophetic prayers invoking protection and healing.

6 In fact, Ibn Qayyim's book on “prophetic medicine” is an extremely influential one, and is heavily drawn upon by many of those associated with Quranic healing or Prophetic medicine today.

7 Although I cannot offer any academic sources for this assertion, during my research, I came across some individuals who had either been invited to perform ruqya as a healer or knew of a situation where such an event occurred. One particular healer had in fact been invited on a number of occasions.