Just a few days ago I was listing one of your Majlis Irfan tape which was held in Lahore amongst the ladies. Come a bit closer because this is being recorded, I don’t want it to be recorded feebly, yes? That Majlis was held for the ladies in Lahore. Yes, I know that, yes. And one of the questions was about Dham, I don’t know how to put it in English. Correct. And Huzoor… And I mentioned the Dham of snake. Yes, your own experience. Exactly, yes, that’s right. The snake was made available. Yes, that’s right, yes. You did not get frightened.
Yes, I wonder if you could speak a bit in details, please, on that subject. Pardon? Could you please kindly speak on that subject in a bit details? Because that was a short answer. What is there which requires further explanation, if you pinpoint that, I’ll speak only on because I took some time describing all this phenomena and I proved it from traditions that this Dham, that is, reciting of certain verses of the Holy Quran by way of prayers, by way of prayer and breathing on water or something which you want to give a patient immediately after that, by way of blessing.
And then to expect some relief of the patient from the ill that he or she is suffering. That is, in nutshell, the philosophy of Dham. That I explained and proved my point from the traditions of the Holy Prophet, that once certain companions of his were out on a journey, they were left without food or water, and the tribes which occupied that region were hostile tribes. They attempted to get some food from there and they refused point blank. Then it so happened that their chief fell ill and suffered from very severe headache which would not respond to their local treatments.
And at that somebody thought of these two wayfarers and thought that maybe they know some trick, whereby this person could be, the chief could be cured. So they sent for them and they brought them back to their establishment, their village or maybe temporary abode, and they knew of nothing except Surah Fatiha. And they read Surah Fatiha, recited it over a little water and made him drink that water. That is the incident which I quoted there. And when he drank that water, he was cured.
So being very grateful to these two companions, the tribespeople gave them with some, I mean, loaded them with some gifts like goats and other edible things and so on and so forth. Now when they brought those things home, and a debate started between the two of the companions. One believed that it is haram, that is forbidden, to sell verses of the Holy Quran. And because it amounts to selling the verse of the Holy Quran, I would not partake of this food which is given to us. The other said that no, it is not at all like that. That has a different meaning altogether.
To sell the verses of the Holy Quran has nothing to do with this situation. We cured them with the help of Surah Fatiha and they gave a gift to us. I mean, that is no selling. So when this debate reached the Prophet, he smiled and approved of the whole thing, the whole incident and said, what have you brought? Show me, I will also partake. So that all the fears or suspicions that might have been entertained by some, they would be removed because when the Prophet himself would eat something of that, every other suspicion would be dispelled.
So that is the incident which establishes. And also the Prophet asked a counter question. He said, who told you that Allah has told me that Surah Fatiha, one of the names of Surah Fatiha is shifa, cure. So that was a way of telling them that you are so right, but it is so surprising that you, without knowing it, that is the way of saying, that without knowing Allah had told me, you also correctly realised that Surah Fatiha should have some quality of cure. So not only the question of dam was solved in that regard, but also the other question of money which somebody gives you as a present was solved. That shows nobody had demanded any money. That is a precondition attached to it.
So if somebody does dam and does not demand any money whatsoever, offers it totally free of charge just by way of helping, it is possible that such a dam would be proved beneficent. And also if somebody being obliged after this wants to give a gift, in principle that gift, if accepted, is legal. I mean according to Islamic law, one can have no objection against such a transaction. Transaction is what I mean. Somebody offers the benefit of Surah Fatiha or some other verses without any intention of getting any money against it, without any intention of receiving any benefit out of that, he does it only to convey a benefit to the other party.
And if by their own free will, having been pleased, they offer something, there is no harm. This is what has been established in this. But now dam has been turned into a regular business. So the Ahmadis should refrain from such a thing. Because it has become a regular business and so much hocus-pocus has been attached to it that everything has lost validity. In fact people have gone to such extents that crimes are being committed in the name of dam. And there are certain dams mentioned by the mullahs, so-called mullahs or peas here, more than mullahs, the peas are involved, which teach you how to commit a crime with the help of some verses of the Holy Quran.
When things have gone wrong to that extent, and totally carried beyond the pious intentions of the Prophet and his companions, then it is far better to abstain from such practices and be on the safe side. Because otherwise you will be abetting this tendency. And also this dam has become a superstition. Now this is another point which perhaps I didn’t make clear in that session, which I want to make clear now. You draw your authority of dam from that incident, but there the worldly treatments and efforts had failed. And the dam did not obviate the need of ordinary human cures known to man.
When all human efforts had failed, then dam was acceded to, and because it had a sense of prayer in it, so Allah heard the prayer and cured the person. And maybe the water only plays a psychological part, or maybe there is some unknown phenomena to us, whereby really some sort of blessing is transferred to the water on which you have breathed after reading some verses of the Holy Quran. But whatever the case may be, if you remain stuck to this situation, there is no harm.
You have attempted to cure patients by all means available to mankind, known to mankind, or accessible to you, and then when you have failed as an additional measure, you have access to dam. There is no harm in that. But what is being done now is not this. There are people who are quacks, spiritual quacks, who declare to the ignorant people that when they suffer from a disease, they do not have to go to a doctor, to a physician of any sort. They have got a cure for everything, by way of breathing certain verses of the Holy Quran upon the diseased people, or the diseased cows, or other animals.
And they charge the fees for that. This is their own personal interest in that. The result is that many a precious life is lost because of these malpractices. And this is what should be positively discouraged. Normal practice should be to have recourse to all the human knowledge of cure, which is available to you, or which is accessible to you. Having exhausted your resources, and even before that, you can continue praying. Prayer is a different independent phenomenon. And if on top of this, you have recourse to some dam like Surah Fatiha, which has been proved authentic by this tradition, then there is no harm.
But in the present circumstances, as I have mentioned, the malpractice has become so common and so prevalent in the Muslim society that it has become a great curse. In fact, religion, Islam is being distorted in the name of these damduruls. I can quote one example, an interesting but very tragic example at the same time. Once my late uncle Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad Sahib was walking home from Anarkali where he had gone for some shopping. And at that time, immediately after the partition, we lived in a nearby building called Ratan Bagh.
So it was a few minutes walk from Anarkali. So he met an old man with a long white beard who asked him for a rupee or so because he said he was hungry and he required that much money. So apparently he was a respectable person. Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad Sahib immediately gave him one rupee, although during that time a rupee was quite some money. Later on it became just nothing. But I am talking of the early days after the partition. Anyway, this gentleman who had asked, begged him for money, he became very pleased. And he said, look here gentleman, you stand here, you have done me a good favour, so in turn I’ll do you a good favour.
So Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad Sahib, out of curiosity, stood there and said, what is it you can do for me? He said, I’ll tell you a dhamm, you know, a trick by reciting certain verses, whereby from now on you can travel without ticket to anything, any place, all your life. And nobody will ever catch you. So he had a good laugh. He was also shocked. He said, what are you saying? He said, yes, yes, I know. You know, I travelled from Karachi to here and nobody caught me. Originally holy traditions, very pious traditions, they have been distorted and turned into the very opposite of what they stood for.
