Prophetic medicine, ruqya and hijama

Domain XI · Traditional medicine & indigenous healing · Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya · 1300 · Islamic world

What it is

This entry covers three related but distinct things, none of which is a psychotherapy and none of which the psychotherapist performs:

Format

• Prophetic medicine, ruqya and hijama have no session protocol for psychotherapists. The phases below are the psychotherapist's own process, built from the CFI and the clinical guidance cited; their order and timing are.
• Phase A: Engagement and cultural assessment (sessions 1-2, or within intake).

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Ruqya and prophetic medicine: religious authority rests with Islamic scholars and official fatwa bodies (e.g. Jordan's General Iftaa' Department), local imams and Muslim chaplains. Scholarly views differ, for example on whether jinn possess or only influence people. No state licensing scheme for ruqya practitioners (raqis) is documented in the sources cited.
• Hijama: authority rests with health regulators, and arrangements differ sharply by country. Saudi Arabia: licences are issued by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, under rules approved by the Ministry of Health (announced 17 February 2015). Applicants must be registered health practitioners with the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, complete NCCAM training and pass its test, and…
• Qatar: the Ministry of Public Health's Department of Healthcare Professions (circular DHP/2026/33, 6 July 2026) sets an 18-month transitional pathway to license practitioners without a medical background. It requires accredited training with a supervised-case logbook, an exam and an interview. Practice is limited to licensed health facilities, under infection-control policies and with field inspections. Accredited…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Goals: usual evidence-based treatment for the presenting problem, with the client's faith-based coping included where they wish, and regular review of benefit and harm from all sources of help.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• retraction under family or community pressure; fear of jinn retaliation. It is working when the client is safe and stays engaged.
• practices turning into rituals that increase distress or take up the day; guilt when practice "fails". It is working when practices calm rather than escalate fear.
• abrupt stopping of medication, relapse, or bleeding risk where anticoagulants and hijama combine. It is working when the prescriber knows everything the client takes.
• the client withholding detail because the interpreter is from their community; the interpreter adding their own view. It is working when the client's terms appear accurately in your notes.
• the client editing their account to sound "less religious" or "more medical"; you steering away from the topic. It is working when the client brings up spiritual explanations without prompting.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.