Al-Shifa' Verse: Difference between revisions

Al-Shifa' Verse, or the Verse of Healing, is the verse 82 of Sura al-Isra' which indicates the healing effect of the Qur'an for believers. According to Quranic exegetes, the Qur'an heals both physical and psychic problems of human beings. According to some exegetes, the Qur'an is healing in the sense that it expels polytheism, disbelief, misguidedness, and moral vices, and leads to happiness, guidance, and moral virtues. According to the Verse of Healing, contrary to believers, the Qur'an intensifies the hatred, anger, jealousy, disbelief, and psychic problems of polytheists and disbelievers, and so they are not guided by the Qur'an.

The verse 82 of Sura al-Isra' is known as the Verse of Healing or al-Shifa' Verse, which indicates that the Qur'an can heal diseases. Shiite and Sunni scholars believe that all Quranic verses are healing, and so this feature is not restricted to al-Shifa' Verse. The healing power of the Qur'an has been interpreted in a variety of ways:

According to some exegetes, such as Abu l-Futuh al-Razi, al-Fakhr al-Razi, and Tabrisi, the healing power of Quranic verses lies in grounds they provide for knowing God, prophethood, the resurrection, predestination, and Imamate, since it saves people from bewilderment and ignorance, and precludes doubts, guiding people to happiness and the right path.

According to some other exegetes, such as 'Allama Tabataba'i, just as the human body might sometimes suffer from diseases, the human soul might also suffer from moral and faith-related beliefs which can be healed by the recitation of and acting upon the Qur'an.

Some exegetes maintain that Quranic verses are helpful for physical diseases as well. According to Nizami, in earlier times, when physicians were disappointed of treating a patient, they performed two rak'as of prayer and recited Sura al-Fatiha, and then recited the Verse of Healing for the improvement of the patient, and then the patient was healed.

According to al-Fayd al-Kashani, the meanings of Quranic verses heal psychic diseases, and their words heal physical diseases.

==Mercy==

'Allama Tabataba'i believes that the word, “rahma” (mercy), in the verse refers to the enlightenment of the human heart with knowledge and certainty. Thus, when one no longer has doubts, moral diseases, or problems in his or her beliefs, they return to their original nature (or fitra). In his Majma' al-bayan, al-Tabrisi takes “mercy” to mean God’s blessings. In Tafsir namuna, “shifa'” or healing is interpreted as the purification of one’s heart, and the “mercy” is interpreted as the renewal of one’s self.

According to the Verse of Healing, Quranic verses do not bring about anything for polytheists and disbelieves except loss, the intensification of their disbelief, anger, and hatred. 'Allama Tabataba'i interprets “zalimin” (wrongdoers) in the verse to refer to disbelievers, maintaining that Quranic verses give them nothing but disbelief and loss because their original nature is distorted. He takes such loss to be a consequence of their actions, since Quranic verses guide human beings to happiness.

Al-Tabrisi considers the loss of disbelievers to amount to the disclosure of their impure inner selves by Quranic verses. According to Ayatollah Makarim Shirazi, Quranic verses heal and provide mercy for everyone except for those who do not seek the truth and obstinately oppose the Qur'an and God. Thus, when they hear Quranic verses, their disbelief, hatred, and jealousy are intensified.

According to Tafsir al-safi, al-Burhan, and Nur al-thaqalayn, “zalimin” (wrongdoers) in the Verse of Healing are those who unjustly treat Ahl al-Bayt.