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Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences, 9(5) May 2015, Pages: 1-15

AENSI Journals

Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences

ISSN:1995-0772 EISSN: 1998-1090

Journal home page: www.aensiweb.com/ANAS

Corresponding Author: Dr. Mohammed Rahmatullah, Pro-Vice Chancellor University of Development Alternative House

No. 78, Road No. 11A (new) Dhanmondi R/A, Dhaka-1209 Bangladesh

Phone: 88-01715032621; Fax: 88-02-8157339; E-mail: [email protected]

Healing with Arabic scriptures and symbols: a less documented aspect of traditional

healing methods in Bangladesh

Sharmi Sultana Ayshi, Prince Suvro Biswas, Tawshif Rahman, Mazharul Islam Shuvo, Tonema Azad,

Khondoker Nurain Haque, Mohammed Rahmatullah

Department of Pharmacy, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1209, Bangladesh.

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: Received 4 December 2014

Received in revised form 10 January

2015 Accepted 8 February 2015

Available online 20 February 2015

Keywords:

Arabic scripture, symbol, spiritual

healing, Imam

Faith or spiritual healing is a part of traditional healing systems in many countries and is nearly always connected with religion. In Bangladesh, where the various religions

among the people are Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity, spiritual healing

plays an important part in the traditional systems of healing among all the religions. Among the population, nearly 90% are Muslims; as a result, among Muslims, spiritual

healing consists of wearing amulets containing Quranic verses or uttering incantations

from the Quran or making use of various Arabic numerology, alphabets and symbols. Such healing is usually done by an Imam who conducts the prayers in a mosque. The

objective of the present study was to document the healing practices of an Imam, who

used Arabic scriptures, numbers and symbols in his healing process. Altogether, 25 inscriptions were obtained from the Imam. The Imam used these inscriptions to not

only treat diseased persons but also for more esoteric purposes like warding off evil or

ghosts, or subduing an enemy or for reconciliation between two or more persons. Although there may be debates over whether such healing practices do really heal

through some inherent power within the inscriptions or is merely a reflection of a

placebo effect, nevertheless the fact remains that Muslim people do go to Imams, more so when they are told by modern doctors that their disease has reached a terminal stage

without any further possibility of cure.

© 2015 AENSI Publisher All rights reserved.

To Cite This Article: Sharmi Sultana Ayshi, Prince Suvro Biswas, Tawshif Rahman, Mazharul Islam Shuvo, Tonema Azad, Khondoker

Nurain Haque, Mohammed Rahmatullah., Healing with Arabic scriptures and symbols: a less documented aspect of traditional healing

methods in Bangladesh. Adv. in Nat. Appl. Sci., 9(5): 1-15, 2015

INTRODUCTION

Traditional medicine has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the sum total of the

knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures,

whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis,

improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness (WHO, 2000). As such, anything that can be and are

used in healing process of any disease, mental or physical, can be construed as traditional medicine if such

process is not in line with the modern or allopathic system of medicine.

Traditional medicine is generally mentioned as taking a holistic approach where the physical, mental, social

and environmental state of the patient is taken into account during the healing process. The mental state is often

not only purely mental but also contains a spiritual dimension, more so when the patient is religious. Even under

normal circumstances, a religious person may seek help through prayers or religious performances from a

„Divine being‟ he or she considers to be the “Creator” in not only curing diseases but also staying free from

diseases and remaining in sound body and mind.

Bangladesh has a population of over one hundred and eighty million. The majority are Muslims or

followers of Islam, the rest being Hindus, Buddhists, Christians or animists. Every religion including the

animists has faith or spiritual healing as a part of their traditional medicinal systems, which may consist of

prayers, worship, incantations, wearing amulets (containing scriptures, symbols or numbers considered to be

„holy‟), and offering sacrifices. The Islamic practice of this form of traditional medicine consists of offering

prayers, Salat, reciting from the holy Quran, and wearing amulets containing verses from the holy Quran, or

Arabic special numerals, symbols or lettering. This is a common Islamic traditional practice where the healer is

2 Sharmi Sultana Ayshi et al, 2015


usually the Imam, i.e. the person who conducts the daily prayers of the congregation five times within every 24

hours. The Imam may use familiar verses from the holy Quran or may have his own symbols, arrangement of

Arabic letters or numbers, or diagrams and tables, which he may put in an amulet and tell the sick person to

wear it, or may write these up in saffron on paper and then tell the person to drink water, which has been used to

wash off the letterings. Various Surahs from the holy Quran may be recited in a loud voice by the patient‟s

bedside, special prayers offered in mosques, and „sadqahs‟ (sacrifice of animals, usually a cow, goat or poultry)

made and the meat offered to the destitute.

We had been conducting ethnomedicinal surveys or surveys on the traditional medicinal practices of

Bangladesh over a number of years ((Nawaz et al., 2009; Rahmatullah et al., 2009a-c; Chowdhury et al., 2010;

Hasan et al., 2010; Hossan et al., 2010; Mollik et al., 2010a,b; Rahmatullah et al., 2010a-i; Akber et al., 2011;

Biswas et al., 2011a-c; Haque et al., 2011; Islam et al., 2011; Jahan et al., 2011a,b; Rahmatullah et al., 2011a,b;

Sarker et al., 2011; Shaheen et al., 2011; Das et al., 2012; Hasan et al., 2012; Hossan et al., 2012; Khan et al.,

2012; Rahmatullah et al., 2012a-d; Sarker et al., 2012; Azam et al., 2013; Nahar et al., 2013; Rahmatullah et al.,

2013a,b). As part of this survey on traditional medicinal treatment, we had previously conducted a survey on

amulets containing Quranic verses and Arabic numbers arranged in special tabular form (Bhuiyan et al., 2014).

The objective of this study was to document the practices of a healer in Netrakona district who used Quranic

verses, and Arabic scriptures, numbers, alphabets, and symbols to treat diseases, some of which ailments were

esoteric in nature.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Prior informed consent was first obtained from the Imam of a mosque at Bri-Kalika village in Netrakona

district, Bangladesh. The Imam was thoroughly apprised as to the nature of our visit and consent obtained to

disseminate any provided information both nationally and internationally. The Imam wrote down for the

interviewers the various figures in Arabic language, which he used for healing and other purposes. The Imam

emphasized that these writings should be taken good care of, the person using these writings should not harbor

impure thoughts, and before applying or wearing these writings on pieces of paper, the person should perform

„wudu‟ (ablution), and the person should free his mind of any evil thoughts or should not do any evil actions.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Altogether 25 writings containing various Arabic alphabets, numbers, symbols or verses from the Quran

were obtained from the Imam as shown in Figures 1-25.

Fig. 1: This writing on a piece of paper should be kept on top of head to be cured from any type of headache.



Fig. 2: This writing on a piece of paper should be tied to the throat to get cured from chicken pox.

Fig. 3: This writing should be tied around the neck so as not to have bad or evil dreams. Note that this writing

starts with the Arabic numerology for Allah, the Supreme and only God to the Muslims.



Fig. 4: This writing should be worn around the throat for fever, headache, evil dreams and teething pain.

Fig. 5: This writing should be kept in the house if there are episodes of cholera in the neighborhood. According

to the Imam, the writing protects the persons of the household against cholera.



Fig. 6: These inscriptions in tabular form are written on a piece of paper with color obtained from saffron. The

paper with the writing is to be washed in water and the water taken orally in cases of blood dysentery.

Fig. 7: These inscriptions should be tied to the waist with a piece of black string for waist pain.

Fig. 8: These Arabic numbers in tabular form is to be tied to the waist if there is excessive bleeding following a

girl‟s first menstruation.



Fig. 9: This inscription is to be tied near the spleen area of the body if there is any enlargement of the spleen.

Fig. 10: If an infant is too lean, these inscriptions are to be tied to the right hand of the infant.

Fig. 11: To stop bed wetting, this inscription along with attar (rose essence) is put in an iron amulet and tied to

the wrist.



Fig. 12: These inscriptions written on a piece of paper is tied to the throat to stop vomiting.

Fig. 13: These Arabic numbers in tabular form is tied to the throat for throat pain.

Fig. 14: These inscriptions written on a piece of paper with saffron is to be tied to the forehead of a person

suffering from epilepsy.



Fig. 15: These inscriptions are to be tied to the thigh of a pregnant woman to expedite delivery.

Fig. 16: These inscriptions are tied around the neck of any child who becomes afraid after dreaming during

sleep.

Fig. 17: These inscriptions are to be tied to the throat of a person if the person dreams too much accompanied

with crying during dreams.



Fig. 18: These inscriptions are to be worn around the neck to subdue an enemy.

Fig. 19: These inscriptions are to be worn around the neck in case of danger or apprehending danger.

Fig. 20: These inscriptions are to be worn around the neck to fulfill any desire. Note that the table contains

various numbers in Arabic language.



Fig. 21: These inscriptions are to be worn around the neck to ward off ghosts or evil spirits.

Fig. 22: These inscriptions are to be tied to the hand to ward off „evil eye‟.

Fig. 23: These inscriptions are to be kept along with to obtain quick release from prison.



Fig. 24: If there is any dispute with any person, these inscriptions are to be written on a piece of paper with

saffron, the names of the two persons and their father‟s names are to be written on the paper beneath

the inscriptions and the paper is to be put inside a ball of flour and fed to a black dog. Also to be noted

is that these inscriptions consist of symbols and not Arabic letterings.

Fig. 25: These inscriptions containing Arabic numbers in tabular form is to be worn around the arm during

times of severe danger.

Religion has always taken a role in the healing system. Faith is a fundamental point of religion, and if a

patient has faith that his/her Creator will ensure a recovery, the patient gets the necessary emotional support to

recover quickly. The idea behind faith or spiritual healing is to strengthen the faith in a patient for recovery with

the help of incantations from sacred texts and scriptures, or wearing amulets containing numbers, symbols, or

texts from sacred texts, or simply writing up texts, numbers or symbols which are considered sacred and then

oral partaking of water which the sheet containing the inscriptions has been washed with. In Bangladesh,

various religions also offer animal sacrifices as well as worship towards healing a sick person. In the Muslim

religion, the Imam may also read particular chapters from the Quran and then blow on the sick person‟s body.

Certain texts or Surahs of the Quran are considered to be particularly valuable in this aspect. The sick may also

pray to God and recite Surahs from the Quran, but the praying and recitations by the Imam is considered better

as the Imam is a „holy person‟.

Such healing practices are not uncommon in practically all religions and regions of the world. For instance,

religious Jews think of the doctor as „schleach‟, i.e. a messenger who has obtained his learning from God to cure

illnesses. Religious Jews are also fascinated with numerology; according to them, the 613 mitzvot corresponds

to 613 parts of the body, and violation of a mitzvah leads to disease of the particular part of the body. Illness can

also be caused by a mezuzah incorrectly written; a mezuzah is a small metal case containing a part of the sacred

text of the Jews which is affixed to the doorway in a building. A sick person will go to the rebbeh (rabbis with



special powers) and ask the rebbeh to use those special communion powers with God to heal the person Rozen,

2003).

The socio-cultural practice of spiritual healing is also present among the Brokpas, an ethnic community of

Central Ladakh, where shamans (lhama/lhapa) healers claim to possess miraculous curing powers. Brokpas

believe disease to result from bad spirits, sorcerers, forest divinities, spirit of the deceased, evil eye, and even

social quarrels or enmity (Bhasin, 2008). Spiritual remedies are also done in rural churches and traditional

medicinal practice in Gondar Zuria district, Northwestern Ethiopia (Ragunathan and Solomon, 2009). Magico-

religious practices are routinely done before conducting any treatment for illness by the Mising community of

Assam, India (Gam, 2013). The Raji tribes of Uttarakhand, India also categorize diseases by three types and

treatment is done accordingly. The three types are deity-linked diseases, spirit-linked diseases and body-linked

diseases (Pandey and Pandey, 2010).

There is a serious lack of documentation on faith or spiritual healing practices within Bangladesh. However,

enough anecdotal evidences exist to suggest that even the literate and affluent section of the society also engages

faith or spiritual healers (Imams by Muslims, Purohits by Hindus, Priests by Christians), more so when the

allopathic doctor has declared the disease to be terminal. Faith in a patient does not always have to signify faith

in a deity or otherwise. Faith can also be a belief that the treatment being offered will prove effective in curing.

As such, allopathic treatment also necessitates an element of faith in the physician and the treatment that is

being given. Such faith or belief or trust helps the patient to have confidence, which in turn gives the patient a

psychological boost and which may be helpful in ultimate recovery. How much such faith plays a role in the

ultimate recovery process needs to be determined in an extensive manner.

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