Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim write:
“When a person who was sick or in some distress they would go to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) who would then place his hand on the area of pain and recite a du’a’ and then blow onto him”
[Bukhari; Muslim, Chapter of Tibb]
Imam Muslim writes:
“When the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was ill for the last time, Angel Jibril (peace be upon him) came and recited du’a’ and blew on to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)”
[Muslim, Chapter of Tibb]
Imam Muslim writes:
” ‘A’isha (may Allah be pleased with her) relates that when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was ill for the last time, she recited Sura al-Falaq and Sura an-Nas and then blew on to the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) hands. The Prophet then blew this onto his own face and body because his hands had more blessing then ‘A’isha’s (may Allah be pleased with her)”
[Muslim, Chapter of Tibb]
From the above narrations, it proves that to blow after reciting dua’s onto the sick is Sunna and the more pious the person is, the more healing power he has because he is blessed more than the less pious.
Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya writes:
“It is permissible to [to recite dua’s and then] blow upon the sick in Islam, but the words must be from the Qur’an or ahadith. If the words are not, then it is not permissible.”
[Ibn Taymiyya, At-Tawassul, Chapter on Blowing onto the Sick]
Questions
Q) Some people ask, ‘How is it allowed to blow dua’s onto the sick when some ahadith say this is forbidden?’
Answer
A) Allama Sa’idi has written the answer to this question in great detail; he has also included the opinion of all the other great scholars, and we will present this here.
Allama Sa’idi writes:
“Imam an-Nawawi in Sharh Muslim states: ‘There are two types of ahadith concerning blowing. [reciting a Du’a and then blowing onto a person]. One of the types is transmitted in Bukhari: ‘There will be people who will enter Paradise without any questioning, who have never been blown upon.’ Imam Muslim has also recorded a hadith in support of those who do not ask to be blown upon. Imam Bukhari in the chapter on Tibb [Medicine] has written dua’s that our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) recited when doing damm [reciting a Du’a and then blowing onto a person]. Imam Muslim states in ‘The Chapter on Virtues of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)’ that: “When our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was ill, the Angel Jibril came to him and performed the blowing.” The above types of ahadith apparently seem to contradict each other but in reality there is no contradiction.
“The former type of hadith refers to the prohibition of having read something that is not from the Qur’an and Sunna [i.e. Something that has pictures, diagrams or words not from the Qur’an or Sunna] and then blow upon someone. The latter types of ahadith which permit damm refer to those kalimat [words or verses] which have been taught by the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)” [Allama Sa’idi, Sharh Sahih Muslim, Chapter of Tibb].
In the same way as above there are two types of ahadith concerning ta’wiz. There are many narrations that forbid the use of ta’wiz and also many permitting their use.
Imam al-Qurtubi wrote in detail about both types of ahadith concerning ta’wiz:
“The ta’wiz that are forbidden are those ta’wiz from the Time of Ignorance – ]those which are satanic and contain an element of shirk [mantar, voodoo and magic, etc.]. The ta’wiz, which are permitted are those written with dua’s evidently from Qur’an and ahadith only.”
[al-Qurtubi, at-Tadhkirat, chapter on ‘Ta’wiz’]
Here are the narrations which show the permission for one to wear a ta’wiz around one’s neck: