Seeking treatment (tadawi)

Seeking treatment is lawful in general. Most jurists hold it permitted; the Shafi'is and some Hanbalis hold it recommended; most Hanbalis hold that leaving it is better. ^{1 2}

Tadawi is taking medicine, and dawa is what one treats with; the jurists use the word in this sense. ¹ Related words include tabbib (synonym of treatment), tamrid (caring for the sick) and is'af (relief, which is broader because it is not limited to illness). ⁵

The jurists cite the hadith of Abu al-Darda: God sent down the disease and the cure, and has set a cure for every disease; treat yourselves, but not with the unlawful. They also cite the hadith of Usama ibn Shurayk: "Treat yourselves, for God has not set down a disease without setting down a cure for it, except one: old age." ⁵ The Hanafis and Malikis hold it permitted; the Shafi'is, al-Qadi, Ibn Aqil and Ibn al-Jawzi among the Hanbalis hold it recommended. For the Shafi'is the recommendation applies when the benefit is not certain; where it is certain, as with opening a vein at a site, it is obligatory. Most Hanbalis hold leaving it better, as nearer to trust in God. ² Ibn al-Qayyim argued that the command to treat does not contradict trust in God, and that leaving the means weakens trust; trust requires taking the means. ^{2 6}

Treatment by action includes suitable foods, medicines and drugs, and bloodletting, cautery, cupping and surgery. A narration of Ibn Abbas says the cure lies in three things, a cupping cut, a draught of honey or a branding; it also says the Prophet ﷺ disliked cautery. Some Companions were cauterized, so scholars read the prohibition as a discouragement, not a ban. ⁶ Treatment by abstention is a diet, refraining from what increases or brings on the disease. ⁶

Jurists agree in general that treatment with what is unlawful or impure is not allowed, on the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud that God has not put your cure in what He forbade you, and on Umar's letter to Khalid ibn al-Walid (may God be pleased with him) forbidding him to rub himself with wine. ³ The Malikis apply this to every impure or unlawful thing, except in necessity, when a salve is used if death is feared without it. The Hanbalis add everything repugnant, except camel urine. The Hanafis require knowledge that the thing cures and no other remedy. The Shafi'is forbid only pure unlawful or impure substances; a substance dissolved in another medicine is allowed on two conditions. ³

The muhrim is forbidden scent; one who uses it owes ransom. The Hanafis hold that scent in itself, such as musk, ambergris and camphor, requires ransom, while oil and vinegar with a scent do not. The Shafi'is hold scent forbidden even in treatment, with ransom owed. ^{4 7 8}

The Hanbalis hold that if an injured person does not treat his wound and dies, the injurer is liable, since treatment is neither obligatory nor recommended. The Shafi'is distinguish a fatal wound, which must be treated, from a lesser one. ⁹

Jurists agree that recitation is allowed under three conditions: it uses God's words or names and attributes; it is in Arabic or in words whose meaning is known; and the one who recites believes it works only by God's leave. The narration of Awf ibn Malik says that there is no harm in recitation so long as it contains no shirk. The narration of Ibn Mas'ud that recitation, amulets and love-charms are shirk is read by the scholars as referring to what is not from God's names. ^{9 10}

Jurists agree that men may wear silk for itch or lice, on the narration of Anas about Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf (may God be pleased with him) and al-Zubayr; the Malikis in the accepted view forbid it outright. The Hanafis allow silk for binding a wound, with disapproval. ⁴ Jurists agree that a nose of gold may be made; the Malikis, Hanbalis and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan add the tooth, and the Shafi'is add the fingertip, on the narration of Arfaja ibn As'ad, whose silver nose stank and who was told to take a gold one. ^{4 7}