Seekinghelpfromthejinn—whatitmeans,anditskinds

With so many people afflicted by the spiritual illnesses (‘ayn, sihr, ḥasad, mass, and physical complaints that are in reality a spiritual illness wearing the body down), the need for ruqyah has become pressing, whether a person recites over himself or turns, after Allah, to a raqi for help. Raqis, however, differ in method: in how they recite, and in whom they rely on: Allah, or the jinn, or something else. Lately it has become common for a raqi to claim help from a Muslim jinnī: he will say, for example, that he has a Muslim jinnī who helps him break sihr, assists him in worship, or whom he “uses” for this and that.

A practitioner of long experience writes that the matter has become thoroughly tangled, splitting people into two camps — one that supports seeking the jinn’s help and one that forbids it. Because it is such a sensitive question, and the argument around it so loud, this series was put together “to clarify, not to attack”, and to set out the fatwas of the leading scholars.

What isti‘ānah means

Isti‘ānah is asking for help: in Arabic, “I sought his help, and he helped me.” The technical meaning does not depart from the ordinary one.

The two kinds of help

1. Help from Allah

Seeking Allah’s help is called for in everything, in worldly needs such as provision and in the relief of distress:

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

Iyyāka naʿbudu wa-iyyāka nastaʿīn

"It is You we worship and You we ask for help." — Sūrah al-Fātihah 1:5

قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ ٱسْتَعِينُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱصْبِرُوٓا۟

Qāla Mūsā li-qawmihi-staʿīnū billāhi wa-ṣbirū

"Said Moses to his people, 'Seek help through Allah and be patient…'" — Sūrah al-Aʿrāf 7:128

Seeking Allah’s help means turning to Him in du‘ā, and it also means following His commands, staying away from what He forbade, and drawing near to Him through acts of obedience:

وَٱسْتَعِينُوا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِ

Wa-staʿīnū biṣ-ṣabri waṣ-ṣalāh

"And seek help through patience and prayer." — Sūrah al-Baqarah 2:45

2. Help from other than Allah

This covers people helping one another, and humans seeking help from the jinn. The two are not alike.

• Help from the jinn is forbidden, and it can amount to shirk and kufr:

وَأَنَّهُۥ كَانَ رِجَالٌۭ مِّنَ ٱلْإِنسِ يَعُوذُونَ بِرِجَالٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْجِنِّ فَزَادُوهُمْ رَهَقًۭا

Wa-annahu kāna rijālun mina-l-insi yaʿūdhūna bi-rijālin mina-l-jinni fa-zādūhum rahaqā

"And there were men from mankind who sought refuge in men from the jinn, so they [only] increased them in burden." — Sūrah al-Jinn 72:6

• Help from other humans is permitted — the jurists agree it is allowed in any good thing a person is able to do, on the strength of “And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression” (Sūrah al-Mā’idah 5:2). It can even become obligatory in an emergency (if someone is facing destruction and another person’s help is the only route to safety), since Allah says, “And do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction” (Sūrah al-Baqarah 2:195).

Ibn Taymiyyah’s three cases

In volume eleven of Majmū‘ al-Fatāwā, Ibn Taymiyyah sets out three situations in which a human might “use” the jinn:

Ibn Taymiyyah’s three casesEach is set out in full below.

• Using them in obedience to AllahPraiseworthy: it is da‘wah to Allah.
• Using them in permitted mattersAllowed only if the means is itself permitted.
• Using them in forbidden mattersHarām for the aggression and injustice in it.

1. Using them in obedience to Allah. For example, a man with a believing jinnī companion from whom he takes knowledge might use him to convey the Sharī‘ah to the jinnī’s own kind. That is praiseworthy: it is da‘wah to Allah. The jinn came to the Prophet ﷺ, he recited the Quran to them, and they returned to their people as warners; among the jinn there are righteous ones, devoted worshippers, ascetics and scholars.
2. Using them in permitted matters. This is allowed only if the means is itself permitted. If the jinnī will only serve on condition of shirk (a sacrifice offered to him, bowing or prostrating to him, or the like), then it is forbidden.
3. Using them in forbidden matters: plundering people’s wealth, terrifying them, and the like. This is harām for the aggression and injustice in it, and worse still if the means used is itself harām or shirk.

The pages that follow examine whether these three cases give any licence to what some raqis do today; the scholars’ answer is that they do not.