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Fatwa CenterPerforming Ruqyah does not necessitate touching patient
Question
I understand that it is permissible to do Ruqyah (healing through Quranic recitation and supplication) on someone else, such as a man doing Ruqyah on his wife, but does the person who performs Ruqyah have to touch the afflicted person, such as placing the hands on the forehead? If so, is it forbidden to touch certain parts of the body, such as the feet, or any part from the navel to the knees, or is Ruqyah performed without touching the other person?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The Ruqyah is achieved by reciting (the Quran and Prophetic supplications) on the patient and blowing onto their body, or by reciting on water and so forth and giving it to the patient to drink or to pour it over their body and the like. Therefore, it is not necessary for the person who performs the Ruqyah to touch the body of the patient. Rather, it is not permissible for him to touch the body parts that are not permissible to touch, such as the ‘Awrah (what must be covered of the body).
If the patient is a non-Mahram (marriageable) woman, then it is not permissible for a non-Mahram man to be in seclusion with her or touch her.
The fatwa of the Permanent Committee for Scientific Research and Iftaa reads:
“It is not permissible for the person who is performing the Ruqyah to touch the body of the woman onto whom he performs the Ruqyah, as this leads to temptation. Rather, he should recite onto her without touching her. There is a difference between the work of the person who performs the Ruqyah and the work of the doctor; the doctor may not be able to treat except by touching the place he wants to treat, unlike the person who performs the Ruqyah; his work, which is reciting and blowing, does not depend on touching.”
Shaykh Ibn Jibreen said in his Fataawa, “It is not permissible for a non-Mahram man to touch anything from the body of the woman when performing the Ruqyah, and it is not permissible for her to show anything from her body, like her chest, neck, and the like. Rather, he recites on her even if she is behind a screen, and the Ruqyah would still be effective. It is a Sunnah that the sisters who recite the Quran learn the Ruqyah in order to treat the decent women with it.”
Shaykh 'Abdur-Rahmaan al-Suhaym said in his Fataawa:
“It is not permissible to go to someone who touches a non-Mahram woman, because it is forbidden for him to touch her. If someone is sincere in his dealings with Allah and with the people, he stays far from what is forbidden. Therefore, if a woman knows that the person who will treat her [perform Ruqyah on her] will touch anything from her body, it is not permissible for her to go to him. I know some people who perform Ruqyah, and they treat many cases, but they do not need to touch the woman, and none of them allows himself to be in seclusion with a non-Mahram woman.”
Allah knows best.
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