Kitab at-Tibb: The Book of Medicine

Kitab at-Tibb — the Book of Medicine — is one of the most distinctive and frequently cited sections of Sunan Ibn Majah. While all major hadith collections contain some material on prophetic medicine (al-tibb al-nabawi), Ibn Majah's treatment is more extensive and systematically organized than most, making his Sunan the primary hadith reference for the genre of prophetic medicine literature that flourished across Islamic civilization.

The section opens with the famous hadith: 'O servants of Allah, seek treatment, for Allah has not created a disease except that He has created a cure for it, known to those who know it and unknown to those who do not — except one disease: old age.' This hadith established the Islamic foundation for medical treatment as both permitted and encouraged, countering any tendency toward fatalistic rejection of medicine. A parallel narration adds that the treatment of a given illness with the correct medicine cures it by Allah's will — integrating divine agency into the medical process without removing human responsibility to seek remedies.

The chapters on black seed (habbatus sawda, Nigella sativa) are among the most cited in prophetic medicine literature. The Prophet said: 'Use the black seed, for it is a cure for every disease except death.' This hadith, appearing in the two Sahihs as well but elaborated more fully in Ibn Majah, became one of the most studied in the literature on prophetic medicine and has attracted significant contemporary scientific interest in the therapeutic properties of Nigella sativa. Ibn Majah records variant narrations of this hadith from multiple chains, strengthening its authentication.

The honey chapters record the Quran's statement that from bees' bellies comes a liquid of varying colors in which there is healing for people, alongside hadiths describing the Prophet's recommendation of honey for stomach ailments. The Prophet is described as recommending honey combined with recitation of the Quran for a man whose brother complained of stomach pain — combining physical and spiritual remedies in a way characteristic of the prophetic approach to healing.

The chapters on cupping (hijama) preserve the Prophet's strong recommendation of this therapeutic technique. He called it 'the best of what you treat yourselves with' and reportedly had it performed on himself regularly. Ibn Majah records hadiths specifying the recommended days of the month for cupping (the 17th, 19th, and 21st of the lunar month), the parts of the body where it is most beneficial, and its effects on specific conditions. These hadiths became the foundation for a substantial literature on Islamic cupping therapy.

The ruqya (spiritual healing through recitation) chapters record the Prophet's permission and recommendation of specific forms of seeking healing through Quranic recitation and prophetic supplications, while distinguishing these from prohibited forms of magic or divination. The permissible forms — reciting al-Fatiha, al-Falaq, an-Nas, and specific du'as — are recorded with the accounts of Companions using them successfully, giving the practice strong prophetic endorsement.

The chapters on prohibited remedies address the limits of prophetic medicine. The Prophet prohibited treatment with intoxicating substances on the grounds that Allah has not placed the cure for this community in what He has prohibited. This hadith, primarily preserved in Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah, became a reference point for scholars debating the conditions under which otherwise prohibited substances might be used medicinally — a question with ongoing relevance in medical ethics within Islam.

Kitab at-Tibb in Sunan Ibn Majah has been the foundational reference for every major work on prophetic medicine, from Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya's Zad al-Ma'ad to contemporary Islamic medical literature. The section's comprehensiveness and organization made it the natural starting point for anyone seeking to compile the prophetic recommendations on health and healing into a systematic form.