Emotional Freedom Therapy (EFT)

Sep 21, 2023 | Medical Matters

QUESTION:

Is EFT tapping permissible? Please elaborate on this type of therapy if it is unacceptable in Shariah.

ANSWER:

Emotional Freedom Therapy (EFT) is an alternative treatment for physical pain and emotional distress. It is also referred to as “tapping” or “psychological acupressure”. People who use this technique believe tapping the body can create a balance in your energy system and treat pain. According to its developer, a disruption in energy is the cause of all negative emotions and pain.

Proponents say that tapping helps you access your body’s energy and sends signals to the part of the brain that controls stress. They claim that stimulating the meridian points through EFT tapping can reduce the stress or negative emotion you feel from your issue, ultimately restoring balance to your disrupted energy.

There are various stages of the treatment. Part of the treatment is to accept yourself despite the problem. For example, one is required to say to oneself, “Even though I’m sad my mother is sick, I deeply and completely accept myself.” This leads a person to become oblivious of others and simply move on, irrespective of what the situation may be. If one is addicted to pornography, or involved in an illicit affair, or involved in substance abuse, one will accept it and move on. This is totally against Shariah as we are required to acknowledge our errors and make amends. We should be remorseful, engage in sincere Taubah and try to reform. Since this is a treatment developed by a Kaafir named Gary Craig, there is no effort to reform, repent and please Allah Ta’ala. It is about being concerned with one’s self, whereas the problems in life are the consequence of our sins. Those that spend their lives in the obedience of Allah live a life free of depression and distress, and if they experience some problems in life, then this is to elevate their status.

Also, the patient is required to acknowledge the hurt or issue at every stage of the treatment. This requires one to remember those who have hurt him/her in the past, or the wrongs perpetrated against him/her. This again is against the teachings of Shariah as we haven’t been created to think and remember our past. We have been created to worship Allah Ta’ala and to please and obey Him in every way possible. At the same time, we are encouraged in Shariah to forgive and overlook the harm that people may have caused to us in the past. This lesson was demonstrated to us by Rasulullah Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam on various occasions and particularly at the time of the conquest of Makkah. In conclusion, we are required to move forward and not live in the past, while this treatment takes the patient into the past where one remembers the unfavourable incidents and hurt which is against the very grain of Shariah.

Some Muslim therapists try to add a little Islamic flavour to it by including some Wazifas in the treatment, and making the patient visualise on certain things which are again uncalled for, such as two Buraaqs with a carriage entering the body and one’s spiritual mentor is seated in the carriage. The spiritual mentor can be anyone, including Allah. It is human nature that the patient (with the intervention of Shaytaan’s evil whispering) could begin to conjure up images in one’s mind of how Allah Ta’ala would look in the carriage. Even if images are not conjured up, then too the mere mention of travel (albeit on a carriage) indicates moving from point A to point B. This could result in having the thought and belief that Allah Ta’ala leaves and absents himself from one place and moves to the next; whereas this is completely against the basic tenet and belief in the omnipresence of Allah Ta’ala. Further, this type of treatment was never found in the lifetime of Rasulullah Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the Sahaabah and those that followed him, nor is such a treatment proven from the Quraan and Hadith.

Yes, if the treatment consisted of only acupuncture without any of the above extras, then the treatment would have been in order. However, since there are various wrongs attached to the treatment as explained above, we do not approve of Eft/Body-talk or any other treatment equivalent to them.

From the past 14 centuries the Ummah have been reciting verses of the Quraan Sharif, Duas from the Ahadith Sharif, the Asmaa-ul-Husna etc. for depression and emotional distress. Similarly, it is recorded in a narration that recitation of ‘La Hawla Wala Quwwata Illah Billah’ is a cure for 99 illnesses which inter alia: includes depression, anxiety, etc. We too should recite the very same Duas, verses of the Quraan Sharif, Manzil, Aayatul Kursi, etc. as treatment for our illnesses and there is hope that we will be granted peace and happiness Insha’Allah.

ALLAH TA’ALA ALONE IN HIS INFINITE KNOWLEDGE KNOWS BEST!

ANSWERED BY:

Maulana Abdul Kader Fazlani

Date: – 03 Rabi ul Awwal 1445 / 19 September 2023

CHECKED AND APPROVED BY:

Mufti Mohammed Desai Saheb

 

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