Hijama in the Hadith: What the Sahih Narrations Say

Three narrations, all graded sahih and recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, sit underneath everything a Muslim means by hijama. They are short. They are worth reading in full, with their references, rather than through the paraphrases that circulate online - because the paraphrases tend to add things the narrations do not say.

The short answer

The Prophet ﷺ was cupped himself, paid the man who cupped him, and named cupping among the best of the remedies people use. That is recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari (5680, 5696) and Sahih Muslim (1577, 2205). These narrations are why Muslims keep hijama as a Sunnah. They are religious text, and they are quoted here as religious text - not as a promise of any particular result.

The first narration: the best of remedies

Anas ibn Malik was asked about the wages of the one who does cupping. He said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was cupped by Abu Taybah, who was given two measures of food, and the Prophet ﷺ spoke to Abu Taybah's masters so that his dues were lightened. And he ﷺ said: "The best of the remedies you use is cupping."

Sahih al-Bukhari 5696; Sahih Muslim 1577.

Two things in this narration are easy to miss. The first is that the Prophet ﷺ did not only speak about cupping - he had it done, and he paid the person who did it. Hijama was not a theory to him; it was a practice, and a paid craft, done by a person with a skill. The second is the word remedies: the narration places cupping among the ordinary means people use, the way one would speak of honey or rest.

The second narration: three things

Ibn Abbas reported that the Prophet ﷺ said that healing is in three things - a drink of honey, the cut of the cupping blade, and cauterisation with fire - "and I forbid my ummah from cauterisation."

Sahih al-Bukhari 5680, 5681.

The narration names three traditional means and then, in the same breath, restrains one of them. It is a reminder that the Sunnah here is not "anything traditional is good"; it is careful, and it draws lines.

The third narration: if there is any good

Jabir ibn Abdullah reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: "If there is any good in your remedies, it is in the cut of the cupping glass, a drink of honey, or cauterisation that suits the ailment - and I do not like to be cauterised."

Sahih Muslim 2205.

Notice the shape of the sentence: if there is any good. It is measured. It does not promise anything to anybody; it points to where good is to be found among the means people use.

What these narrations do not say

They do not name a disease. They do not promise a result. They do not tell any individual person that hijama is right for them on any particular day.

That is why we quote them and stop. Hijama, as we offer it, is a Sunnah practice kept with care - and care includes not putting words into the Prophet's ﷺ mouth that are not there. When you see a post online that turns one of these narrations into a list of conditions hijama will fix, it has added something. We would rather give you the narration itself, with its reference, so that you can read it for yourself and ask a scholar you trust about anything further.

The same care is the reason a session here starts with screening questions. A Sunnah practice is still done on a real body, and sometimes the honest answer is not today, or speak to your doctor first. Hijama is a traditional practice and is not a substitute for medical care.

Reading further

• What actually happens in the room, step by step: your first hijama session.
• How it differs from the cupping athletes use: hijama vs sports cupping.

Where we are

Hikma Hijama Cupping is inside the HAWA Fairfax Community Center at Fair Lakes, in Fairfax, Virginia. Sisters are seen by a woman practitioner and brothers by a man, one person at a time, with a sterile single-use kit. By appointment only.

Hijama is a traditional practice and is not a substitute for medical care. If you are on medication, pregnant, or unsure for any reason, speak to your doctor first and say so at intake.