Prophetic Medicine | Cupping Therapy (Hijaamah)

The procedure, rules and benefits of using cupping therapy for various diseases.

I woke up this morning only to realize my cell phone wasn’t working; I rushed to the showroom and got it repaired. When a device stops functioning properly we take it to the manufacturer to get it repaired because the manufacturer is the creator of that particular device and knows the best about it.

Similarly, When we fall sick or something goes wrong in our body who would have a better treatment plan than the Creator of our body and our souls Allaah , Subhan Allah!

“O mankind! Verily, there has come to you the Messenger (Muhammad) with the truth from your Rabb (Sustainer, Lord). So believe in Him, it is better for you. But if you disbelieve, then certainly to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. And Allah is Ever All-Knowing, All-Wise.” (Quran: 4/170)

Allah sent Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a blessing to mankind to call people to the oneness of Allah and lead them to the straight path.

Tibb-e-Nabawi is the divine medicine that was Gifted by Allah to Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) by WAHEE (revelation). It is the true healing for both the doctor & patient, for the sick and healthy.

Out of many treatment plans and cures ascribed by Prophet Muhamad (peace be upon him) mentioned in the Tibb-e- Nabaawi , one of them is the Cupping Therapy.

Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with them both) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Healing is to be found in three things: drinking honey, the knife of the cupper, and cauterization of fire.” [Bukhari].

According to a hadeeth narrated by Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with him), the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If there is any good in your medical treatments, it is in the knife of the cupper, drinking honey, or cauterization with fire, as appropriate to the cause of the illness, but I would not like to be cauterized.” [Bukhari]

Anas ibn Maalik (may Allaah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allaah was treated with cupping by Abu Tayyibah. He commanded that he should be given two measures of food, and he spoke with his tax-collectors, who reduced his taxes. He said, “The best treatment you can use is cupping.” [Muslim]

One may question if there is a specific time on which cupping therapy is recommended?

Yes, with regard to the times when cupping is recommended:

It was reported from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with them both) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The best times to be treated with cupping are the seventeenth, nineteenth or twenty-first [of the month].” [Al-Tirmidhi; the isnaad is Da’eef]

It was reported from Anas ibn Maalik (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever wants to be treated by cupping, let him do it on the seventeenth, nineteenth or twenty-first, lest the blood flow too copiously and kill him.” [Ibn Majah; there is some weakness in the report].

Cupping Therapy is of three types:

Dry cupping
Dry massage cupping
Wet cupping

The first two types are not the form of Sunnah.

Wet cupping – This is the process of using a vacuum at different points on the body but with incisions in order to remove ‘harmful’ blood which lies just beneath the surface of the skin. (It is recommended that wet cupping should be administered by a cupping therapist).

Cupping helps in detoxifying the blood and stimulating the formation of new blood. We suffer from increased accumulation of toxins as we age that stem from poor diet and our lifestyle as well as pharmaceutical drugs resulting in different diseases.

There are total 9 points where the Prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him) performed cupping. These are known as the ‘Sunnah points’

Some of the Sunnah points are given below:

Posterior jugulars
Upper back, between the shoulders
Centre of the head
Above the nape cavity
Hip

It is said that using cupping therapy on these points, is a cure for majority of diseases. However cupping is also done on some specific sites for different types of diseases and or pain.

Reported by Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that (while in Ehraam), prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) took hijaama on the top of his foot due to the pain that area.

Narrated by Abu Dawood

It has been proven that this therapy is beneficial for various auto immune disorders like thyroid, osteoarthritis, Systematic blood disorders like hypertension, hypotension and angina pectoris. Reproductive disorders like infertility, Poly cystic ovarian disorders, urinary incontinence, menstrual pain or endometriosis. Breathing problem (asthma), cough and common cold, migraine and other headaches, diarrhea and constipation, body pains, nerve pain, stomach ache and heartburn, many skin problems, allergies, chills at toes and fingers, tonsillitis and other throat problems, stroke, cancer, diabetes, memory loss, liver problems, gout, piles, hair loss, eye problems such as early cataract, conjunctivitis and myopia, etc.

It is also effective for people suffering from spiritual diseases like Black magic (sihr), possession by Jinn, Evil eye (nazar) and jealousy (hasd).

Ibn al-Qaiyum (may Allaah have mercy on him) mentions that the Messenger (peace be upon him) was cupped on his head when he was afflicted with magic and that it is from the best of cures for this if performed correctly. [Zaad al Ma’aad (4/125-126)].

There are absolutely zero side effects and 100% cure guaranteed In Sha Allah.

Since this treatment is recommended by the beloved Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) there is absolutely no doubt in its benefits, and in the safety of this treatment. In sha Allah!

Anisa Kissoon, who is responsible for having Cupping treatment legally acknowledged and registered with the Association of Complementary Medicine in the UK writes that “After experiencing my own personal illness and pain for 16 years, I had Cupping treatment and it helped me to the extent that I could lead a normal life. This made me passionate about it and I wanted to bring it to the rest of the world.”

Kissoon also writes about a cancer patient in the UK who was bedridden and the doctors had given up on her and she had come home to die. The doctors were about to send a doctor to her home to cut her spinal cord to stop her pain but this would mean that she would be paralyzed. After cupping therapy this woman could stand up on a frame and the pain was much less. “This poor woman gained pain relief and immense strength,” says Kissoon, “and her husband was amazed. Of course the doctors were amazed too!”

Another woman could not get pregnant for five years and was thinking about IVF or fostering a child but after one Cupping therapy treatment she got pregnant after just one month. Subhan Allah!

Lastly, one must always remember that cure to any form of disease is solely in the hands of Allah, without His will and permission nothing is possible.