Reciting Surah Maryam During Pregnancy

Question:

It has become a custom in my family that when a woman is pregnant she is told to recite Surah Maryam, I wonder if this practice is from the Sunnah or a practise of the Sahaabah. Please shed some light on this.

JAZAKALAH

Answer:

In the name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-raḥmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

We did not find any virtue in Shariah pertaining to the recitation of Surah Maryam for pregnant women. However, it is possible that reciting Surah Maryam for a pregnant woman has been proven beneficial. One may follow the experiences of others in this. Furthermore, in Surah Maryam the incident of the pregnancy and birth of Maryam Allayhis Salaam is mentioned. Those women serve as moral strength for a pregnant woman.

Mufti Shafi Saheb Rahmatullahi Allahi Mentions in Mariful Qura’an under the commentary of the following verse:

وَنُنزلُ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ مَا هُوَ شِفَاءٌ وَرَحْمَةٌ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

We reveal the Qur‘ān, which is cure and mercy for the believers”[1]

The Holy Qur’an cures hearts and delivers people from shirk and kufr, low morals and spiritual ailments is no secret, The entire Muslim Ummah agrees with it. According to some Ulama, the way the Qura’an is a cure for spiritual ailments; it is also a cure for physical diseases.[2] The Hadith of Sayyidina Abu Said al-Khudri رضي الله عنه can be seen in all books of Ahaadith. It says that a party of the noble companions was in travel. In a village on their way, a scorpion had bitten the chief. The village people asked the Companions if they could suggest some treatment for it. They recited the Surah Al Fatiha seven times, blew their breath on him and the ailing patient stood cured. Later, when this incident was mentioned before the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he declared this action of the companions to be permissible.

Similarly, there are several other Hadith reports which prove that the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has done it himself. After having recited the last two verses of the Qura’an, He would blow his breath on the sick person. It is also proved that the Sahaaba رضي الله عنهم and the Ta’been used to treat sick people with the recital of the last two verses of the Quraan as well as with the recital of other verses from the Holy Quraan. [3]

From the above we conclude that all verses of the Holy Qura’an could be recited for Ailments and sicknesses.[4]

And Allah Ta‘ala knows best
Mufti Luqman Hansrot
Fatwa Dept.


 

[1] (Surah Al Israh,Verse 82)

[2] Hadith narratives bear testimony to this fact.

[3] (Mariful Quraan, Vol 5, Page 542-543, Darul Uloom Karachi)

[4] { وَنُنزلُ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ مَا هُوَ شِفَاءٌ وَرَحْمَةٌ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَلا يَزِيدُ الظَّالِمِينَ إِلا خَسَارًا } [الإسراء: 82] إلى غير ذلك من الآيات الدالة على اختصاص المؤمنين بالنفع بالقرآن؛ لأنه هو في نفسه هدى، ولكن لا يناله إلا الأبرار.
(تفسيرابن كثير،دار المفيد, بيروت ،ج1, ص34)