What Ibn Masʿud told his wife to say instead
She had been going to someone who made the pain stop.
اشْفِ أَنْتَ الشَّافِي لاَ شِفَاءَ إِلاَّ شِفَاؤُكَ شِفَاءً لاَ يُغَادِرُ سَقَمًا
Ishfi anta-sh-shāfī, lā shifāʾa illā shifāʾuk, shifāʾan lā yughādiru saqamā
“Heal, You are the Healer. There is no healing but Your healing. A healing that leaves no illness behind.”
His objection was to amulets and charms, not to asking.
Where this comes from
Zaynab objected. My eye was streaming and I used to go to a man who recited over it, and when he did it settled. Abdullah said that was the devil's own work, poking at it and then leaving it alone. Then he told her what would have been enough.
The full narration
Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: Zaynab, the wife of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, told that Abdullah said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saying: spells, charms and love-potions are polytheism. I asked: Why do you say this? I swear by Allah, when my eye was discharging I used to go to so-and-so, the Jew, who applied a spell to me. When he applied the spell to me, it calmed down. Abdullah said: That was just the work of the Devil who was picking it with his hand, and when he uttered the spell on it, he desisted. All you need to do is to say as the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to say: Remove the harm, O Lord of men, and heal. Thou art the Healer. There is no remedy but Thine which leaves no disease behind
Source
Sunan Abī Dāwūd · 3883
- Al-Albani: Sahih
- Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid: Sahih
- Shuaib Al Arnaut: Sahih Lighairihi
- Zubair Ali Zai: Daif
Note on the chain. Scholars differ on this chain. Zubair Ali Zai grades it Daif. The majority (3 of 4) authenticate it.
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