Taweez – Talisman

About the Taweez of Grandshaykh `AbdِِِAllah al-Fa’iz ad-Daghestani ق

Suhbat: الشيخ محمد هشام قباني

What about taweez? What do you call it?

It is called ruqya.

They asked the Prophet ﷺ, “We used to have ruqya before Islam. Is it ok to keep it?” He said, “Yes.”

We explained about the importance of ruqya in Islam and sometimes when they change the name (of what it is technically known as ruqya), it brings confusion. That special one you have has been done in Damascus in time of Grandshaykh, and it was like 70 years ago. Mawlana used to live on the mountain, he has a house which is now a big zawiya, and it is on the mountain that overlooks all of Damascus (Jabal Qasyoun). They used to come to Grandshaykh, people complaining a little bit about the origin of what we call ruqya in Arabic. And in many ahadith, the Prophet ﷺ under ruqya you can find many ahadith where the Prophet ﷺ said that it is acceptable.

In one of the main hadiths supporting that is once some Sahaba were traveling in one of their travels, going from one place to another and they came to a place where there is a tribe and that tribe had a very sick person and he is head of the tribe. And they passed by the Companions and asked, “Do you have anything that might cure the patient?” And they said, “Yes we can.” They said, “Can you do that?” They said, “What will you reward us if we do so?”

So, here is another thing that can be derived, that means you can exchange by giving in exchange a gift of sheep or goat or whatever you ask for. And they came down and recited on the sick man Surat al-Fatiha. And after that he was cured and the tribe was very happy and loaded them with gifts. And on the way back to the Holy Prophet ﷺ they were discussing amongst each other, “Is it acceptable to take the gifts or not,” because they had used the Holy Qur’an and دعاء of the Prophet ﷺ to make that cure. So they came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him, and he said, “It is alright what you took and and you keep it and give me a share.” That is to authenticate that payment is accepted and the Prophet is taking his share.

Who is the author of Ihya `uloom ad-deen?

[Imam Ghazali]

If you see some of his books they contain many symbols, such as triangles and circles, which contain words and numbers.

And that is why Awliyaullah used these today and they use new ones. Every time there is a different one that works. You need to get the fresh one, that cures the afflictions that are coming down today. Though still the old ones are ok, but they might not give full cure.

So the originality of that ruqya is from Grandshaykh who lived on the mountain in Damascus. After he moved there (from Turkey) many people began to move there and some of them begin to have problems. They begin to see faces and some people are harmed by these beings. That mountain is full of prophets buried there, and it has Maqaam al-Arba`een. There are 40 Substitutes, al-Abdal, the saints that Allah honored Sham with them. That is from fadaa’il ash-Sham, special benefits of Sham. And you can go to their Maqaam al-Arba`een, and they come each night to pray there. You cannot stay there, you will run. There are lot of maqaams and many Sahaba are buried there. But also there are lot of jinn, protectors. And so neighbors come and complain “we have this problem”, “I have problem with my wife,” “I have this problem with our child,” and so on.

So by the holy order of the Prophet ﷺ Grandshaykh put a pen in your hand and went to sleep. So when he woke up and of course he was in a vision, his hand was writing and as it was writing it was writing in a circle and what he wrote is the ruqya that we use. That is protection from effects of jinn and any harm that we face. That was a ruqya given to our Grandshaykh for his followers and the Prophet ﷺ said in that vision, “There is no way that a jinn can interfere with that person and if he has difficulties then they will be getting better and better.”

So after he wrote it, he needs more to be written and what I know, after like around 50 years he ordered my wife to write them for him. He wants someone who is not yet mature who is innocent and pure. And it has to be with zafraan, as the normal ink is mixed with urea. Many books today are used with that ink. It has to be pure. So with a plume, a quill she used to write it.

Q: Excuse me. I tried to write with zafraan. It is very difficult how to do it?

الشيخ هشام : You must dilute with water. Then it becomes thick.

So we still have one that is written by hand.

So later we asked Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, as it is difficult to write so many copies by hand, so he gave permission to print it and so we had it written by a calligrapher and then printed it. So the best one is written by hand, but now with permission the printed one is the same. So now it is printed in hundreds and given out.

Q: a lot of times it is said it must be written 1000 times to get the fadeelah, blessings, of that taweez?

الشيخ هشام : Which one. For this one no. For others maybe that is the case.