وضع اليد على موضع الألم
A short, specific ritual for physical pain: place the hand directly on the painful area while reciting a set formula, combining touch with words of refuge.
ضَعْ يَدَكَ عَلَى الَّذِي تَأَلَّمَ مِنْ جَسَدِكَ، وَقُلْ: بِسْمِ اللَّهِ (ثَلَاثًا)، وَقُلْ سَبْعَ مَرَّاتٍ: أَعُوذُ بِعِزَّةِ اللَّهِ وَقُدْرَتِهِ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا أَجِدُ وَأُحَاذِرُ
“Place your hand on the part of your body where you feel pain and say 'Bismillah' three times, then say seven times: 'I seek refuge in Allah's might and power from the evil of what I feel and what I guard against.'” (meaning, not a literal translation)
Narrated by Uthman ibn Abi al-'As, who complained to the Prophet ﷺ of a pain he had felt in his body since embracing Islam; the Prophet ﷺ taught him this formula in response — a specific personal complaint met with a specific, repeatable formula, rather than a general abstract teaching.
Ibn al-Qayyim discusses this hadith as an example of Prophetic ruqyah that pairs a physical act (the hand on the affected spot) with verbal dhikr — treating pain as something addressed at both the bodily and spiritual level simultaneously. He notes the specific repetition counts (three, then seven) as part of the transmitted formula, not incidental detail, consistent with how precisely other ruqyah formulas in the tradition are also preserved.
This is a devotional practice rather than a physical intervention modern medicine would study directly — it's presented here as a matter of religious practice, not a claim about pain physiology.