How Sound Are the Hadiths About Writing the Qur’an and Drinking It for Healing?

Question

Honoured teacher, could you please guide us on whether reports of this kind are authentic? If drinking the Qur’an is meant to bring healing, why do they point to such practices instead of encouraging reflection on its verses?

Imam al-Sadiq said: “Whoever writes Surah Yasin seven times with rosewater and saffron and drinks it seven times in succession will remember all that he has heard, prevail over anyone with whom he debates, and be held in high regard among people. Whoever writes this surah and hangs it on his body will, by God’s permission, be protected from envy, the evil eye, jinn and human beings, madness, bewilderment, illness, and disease. If a woman drinks its water, her milk will increase, and, by the will of God Most High, it will be good and nourishing for her as a nursing mother.”
Tafsir Ahl al-Bayt, vol. 12, p. 484; Mustadrak al-Wasa’il, vol. 4, p. 315; al-Burhan
َّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ

Accepted Answer

Yes, such hadiths have been transmitted, though with an interrupted chain of transmission.

Of course, healing through the Qur’an has its own elevated methods and particular mysteries. It calls for a specialist, follows specific principles and rules, and is prescribed only under particular conditions.

We must never forget that God alone is the healer. Until God grants permission, no medicine will have any effect. By His will alone, without any medicinal means, the Exalted God can heal; but if He appoints a means for healing, none is more beautiful than the Qur’an.

Yūnus 57  أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ قَدْ جاءَتْكُمْ مَوْعِظَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَ شِفاءٌ لِما فِي الصُّدُورِ وَ هُدىً وَ رَحْمَةٌ لِلْمُؤْمِنينَ   
O people, an admonition has come to you from your Lord, and a healing for what is in your hearts, and guidance and mercy for the believers.

Al-Isrāʾ 82  وَ نُنَزِّلُ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ ما هُوَ شِفاءٌ وَ رَحْمَةٌ لِلْمُؤْمِنينَ وَ لا يَزيدُ الظَّالِمينَ إِلاَّ خَساراً   
We send down of the Qur’an that which is healing and mercy for the believers; but it adds nothing to the wrongdoers except loss.

Fuṣṣilat 44  وَ لَوْ جَعَلْناهُ قُرْآناً أَعْجَمِيًّا لَقالُوا لَوْ لا فُصِّلَتْ آياتُهُ ءَ أَعْجَمِيٌّ وَ عَرَبِيٌّ قُلْ هُوَ لِلَّذينَ آمَنُوا هُدىً وَ شِفاءٌ وَ الَّذينَ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ في‏ آذانِهِمْ وَقْرٌ وَ هُوَ عَلَيْهِمْ عَمًى أُولئِكَ يُنادَوْنَ مِنْ مَكانٍ بَعيدٍ   
Had We made it a Qur’an in a foreign tongue, they would surely have said, “Why are its verses not clear? A foreign-language Qur’an from an Arab messenger?” Say, “For those who believe, it is guidance and healing. But those who do not believe have heaviness in their ears, and it is as though they are blind to it. They are like those who are called to from afar.”

How Sound Are the Hadiths About Writing the Qur’an and Drinking It for Healing?

The essence and first answer at a glance (60-word summary)

Answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat)

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