By Al Arabiya
The government of Saudi Arabia is now pushing for a law against the misuse of the ‘ruqyah’ (religious healing) by various practitioners, the Saudi al-Watan newspaper reported on Monday.
The government is planning on issuing licenses to eligible practitioners.
People with good knowledge of Shariah (Islamic law) will be granted license to perform the ‘ruqyah’, al-Watan said citing its sources.
A newspaper reported that under the new law, the practice of ‘ruqyah’ by expatriates will be regarded as a violation to the terms of their work contracts. Arrest and deportation will await violators.
“Some of those who practice ‘ruqyah’ even commit sexual assaults on women, beat people, or convince patients they are possessed by jinns,” Othman al-Othman, a consultant at the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia), was quoted by the saudi daily as saying.
Many have made a living out of this practice, making healing their career.
Some healers earn as much as SR30,000 ($8,000) a month by just offering and selling water and oil to trusting Muslims, convincing them of their healing capacities and turning their houses into money-making factories, as described by the report.
Profits gained from the practice will be taken into account.
Al-Othman said that there is already an existing committee that looks in the religious healing activities in the Kingdom aiming to prevent people from violating Shariah.
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