Appendix 2: Other Medicine Known To Be A Cure For All Maladies
1. Honey
The Holy Qur’an says:
وَأَوْحَىٰ رَبُّكَ إِلَى النَّحْلِ أَنِ اتَّخِذِي مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُيُوتًا وَمِنَ الشَّجَرِ وَمِمَّا يَعْرِشُونَ
And your Lord inspired the bee [saying]: ‘Make your home in the mountains, and on the trees and the trellises that they erect. (Surah an-Nahl, 16:68).
وَأَوْحَىٰ رَبُّكَ إِلَى النَّحْلِ أَنِ اتَّخِذِي مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُيُوتًا وَمِنَ الشَّجَرِ وَمِمَّا يَعْرِشُونَ
Then eat from every [kind of] fruit and follow meekly the ways of your Lord.’ There issues from its belly a juice of diverse hues in which there is a cure for the people. There is indeed a sign in that for a people who reflect. (Surah an-Nahl, 16:69).
Imam al-Sadiq (ʿa) is reported to have said:
Amir al-Mu’minin (ʿa) said: Licking honey is a cure from every malady. Allah, the Exalted, said: ‘There issues from its belly a juice of diverse hues in which there is a cure for the people …’1
Imam Musa ibn Jaʿfar al-Kazim (ʿa) is reported to have said:
اَلْعَسَلُ شِفَاءً مِنْ كُلِّ دَاءٍ إِذَا أَخَذْتَهُ مِنْ شَهْدِهِ
Honey is a cure from every malady if you take it from its honeycomb.2
2. Eating Red Raisins
Imam al-Sadiq (ʿa) is reported to have narrated a tradition from Amir al-Muʾminin (ʿa) that says:
مَنْ أَكَلَ إِحْدَى وَعِشْرِينَ زَبِيْبَة حَمْرَاء مِنْ أَوَّلِ النَّهَارِ، دَفَعَ اللهُ عَنْهُ كُلَّ مَرَضِ وَسَقْمِ
Whosoever eats twenty-one seeds of red raisins from the beginning of the day, Allah would dispel from him every malady and sickness3
Amir al-Mu’minin (ʿa) is reported to have said:
إحدى وعشرون زبيبة حمراء في كل يومٍ على الريق يدفع جميع الأمْرَاضِ إِلَّا مَرَضِ الْمَوْتِ
Twenty-one red raisins every day on an empty stomach repels all maladies except the malady of death.4
3. Black Cumin Seed (Al-Habbah Al-Sawdaʾ)
Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (ʿa) is reported to have said:
عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْحَبَّةِ السَّودَاءِ فَإِنَّهَا شِفَاءٌ مِنْ كُلِّ دَاء إِلا السَّامِ ، يَعْنِي الْمَوْتُ
Upon you is the black cumin seed (al-habbah al-sawda’), for indeed it is a cure from every malady except sam, which means death.5
4. Cupping And Blood Letting
The Holy Prophet (S) is reported to have said:
من احتجم يومَ التَّلَثَاء لِسَبْعِ عَشَرَةَ أَوْ تِسع عشرة أو لإحدَى وَعِشْرِينَ مِنَ الشَّهْرِ كَانَتْ لَهُ شِفَاءٌ مِنْ كُلِّ دَاء مِنْ أَدْوَاءِ السَّنَةِ كُلَّهَا
Whosoever does cupping on a Tuesday of the seventeenth, nineteenth or twenty-first of the [lunar] month, it would be a cure for him from every malady of the maladies of the year.6
Imam al-Sadiq (ʿa) is reported to have said:
الْحِجَامَةُ فِي الرَّأْسِ هِيَ الْمُغِيثَةُ تُنْتَفَعُ مِنْ كُلِّ دَاءِ إِلَّا السام
Cupping on the head is a helper which is of benefit for every malady save death.7
5. Sipping Milk
Amir al-Mu’minin (ʿa) is reported to have said:
حسو اللبن شفاء منْ كُلِّ دَاء إلا الموت
Sipping milk is a cure from every malady save death.8
6. Eating Barley Bread
Explaining the importance of barley, Imam al-Rida (ʿa) is reported to have said:
وَمَا دَخَلَ جَوفًا إِلا وأخرج كل دَاء فِيهِ وهو قوت الأنساء
And barley did not enter any stomach save that it removed from it every malady; and it is the sustenance of the Prophets.9
- 1. Shaykh al-Kulayni, al-Kafi, v.6, p. 332
- 2. Al-Barqi, al-Mahasin, v.2, p. 499.
- 3. Mirza Nuri, Mustadrak al-Wasaʾil, v.16, p. 312.
- 4. Al-Barqi, al-Mahasin, v.2, p. 548.
- 5. Al-Maghribi, Da’aʾim al-Islam, v.2, p. 149.
- 6. Shaykh al-Saduq, al-Khisal, pp. 385-386.
- 7. Al-’Amili, Wasaʾil al-Shi’ah, v.17, p. 112.
- 8. Shaykh al-Saduq, al-Khisal, p. 636.
- 9. Al-’Amili, Wasa’il al-Shi‘ah, v.17, p. 4