Honey

Honey is the one food that the Quran describes with the word shifā’ — healing:

ثُمَّ كُلِي مِن كُلِّ الثَّمَرَاتِ فَاسْلُكِي سُبُلَ رَبِّكِ ذُلُلًا ۚ يَخْرُجُ مِن بُطُونِهَا شَرَابٌ مُّخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ فِيهِ شِفَاءٌ لِّلنَّاسِ ۗ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

Thumma kulī min kulli th-thamarāti fa-slukī subula rabbiki dhululā. Yakhruju min buṭūnihā sharābun mukhtalifun alwānuhu fīhi shifā’un lin-nās. Inna fī dhālika la-āyatan li-qawmin yatafakkarūn

Then eat from all the fruits and follow the ways of your Lord laid down [for you]. There emerges from their bellies a drink, varying in colors, in which there is healing for people. Indeed in that is a sign for a people who give thought.

In Bukhari and Muslim, a man came to the Prophet ﷺ saying his brother had a loose stomach. He said, “Give him honey to drink.” The man came back saying it had made things worse; the Prophet ﷺ repeated the instruction three times, and finally said: “Allah has spoken the truth and your brother’s stomach has lied.” The man gave him honey and he was cured. Ibn al-Qayyim draws two lessons: that honey is a real medicine, and that a remedy from revelation is not abandoned because it seems slow.

In ruqyah, honey is used in two ways: as a daily nourishing food from the Sunnah, and as something recited over — like water and oil — so that ruqyah is taken by mouth in a form that also soothes the stomach. That last point matters for those who believe they have eaten or drunk sihr, where digestive symptoms are common.

1. 1

   Choose real honey

   Buy raw or minimally processed honey from a source you trust; supermarket blends labelled “honey” are often heavily filtered or mixed with syrup. Darker honeys tend to be stronger in taste; any genuine honey is fine. There is no evidence that a particular type (Sidr, Manuka, black-forest) is required — buy what you can afford.

2. 2

   Recite over it (optional)

   Open the jar and recite al-Fātiḥa, Āyat al-Kursī, the last two verses of al-Baqarah, al-Ikhlāṣ, al-Falaq and al-Nās, and the verses of sihr (7:117–122, 10:81–82, 20:69). Blow lightly over the honey and close it. Recite over a fresh jar or add fresh recitation every week or so.

3. 3

   Take it in the morning

   A tablespoon on an empty stomach, either directly or dissolved in a glass of warm — not boiling — recited water. Say “Bismillāh” before it. This is the plain “drink of honey” of the hadith.

4. 4

   Combine with black seed

   Stir half a teaspoon of ground black seed or black seed oil into the spoon of honey. This is a common daily pairing in ruqyah routines and pleasant enough to keep up.

5. 5

   Use it for the stomach

   If you have nausea, cramps or loose bowels during treatment, sip honey dissolved in warm water two or three times a day, as in the hadith. If symptoms are severe, bloody or last more than a couple of days, see a doctor — the hadith does not tell us to ignore illness.

6. 6

   Store it properly

   Keep honey sealed at room temperature; it does not need a fridge. Use a clean, dry spoon each time. Crystallised honey is not spoiled — stand the jar in warm water.

How often / how long

One or two tablespoons a day is plenty. Honey is a food, so it can be taken indefinitely, but during a ruqyah plan the useful thing is regularity — a spoon every morning, with recited water — rather than quantity. If you have a stomach complaint, take it as above for a few days and reassess.