Ruling on reciting ruqyah in unison over sick people
Question

                In my mosque, they always recite ruqyah for the sick; no week goes by without the mosque announcing a request for volunteers to recite ruqyah for someone. Usually they form a circle around the person and recite Qur’an, either by sharing out the ajza’ (parts) of the Qur’an, or one person recites some soorahs of the Qur’an, whilst the others repeat after him. Sometimes they recite Qur’an for blessing after divorce, graduation from school or a number of other things that I have seen myself. Or they pass out books of supplications (du‘aa’s) and verses to be recited during this gathering, but they do not provide any evidence for what they are doing. Sometimes in these circles there is mixing with women. I also attended a gathering in which they recited the basmalah (the phrase Bismillah ir-Rahmaan ir-Raheem (in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful) over some water, then they began to sprinkle it on the members of a family. Can you tell me whether these practices are permissible or innovated? I have stopped attending these gatherings altogether. Is there any book on the fiqh of ruqyah and ta‘weedh (seeking refuge with Allah from the Shaytan)? Can we use ruqyah for trivial things such as divorce and graduation?
Praise be to Allah.
    Firstly: 

    It is not correct to make ruqyah something widespread that is 
    done by everyone. How many there will be among these volunteers who do not 
    recite Qur’an well or do not understand its meanings! Based on that, this is 
    the first problem with what these people are doing of asking volunteers to 
    perform ruqyah for the sick. Most of them may not be qualified for that, and 
    they (the organizers) will not have fulfilled the conditions that must be 
    met by the raaqi (the one who performs ruqyah). 

    See the answer to question no.
    7874

    Secondly: 

    There is no basis in Islam for reciting ruqyah in a group, as 
    far as we know, whether that is done by reciting it in unison or repeating 
    it after one of them. This is not the way to perform ruqyah. What is 
    normally done with regard to ruqyah is that it is done by one person who 
    recites over the sick person the ruqyah that is Islamically prescribed; 
    there is no reason why someone else should not help him if he becomes tired 
    or he stops, so that the other person may perform ruqyah for the sick person 
    after him. But with regard to more than one person reciting in unison or 
    repeating after a reciter or raaqi, this is something for which there is no 
    basis in Islam, as stated above, and it does not come under the heading of 
    treating the sick with ruqyah. With regard to recitation of the Islamically 
    prescribed ruqyah by a particular reciter or raaqi over water, which is then 
    used to wash the sick person or given to him to drink, that is permissible. 
    We have discussed this in the answer to question no.
    96793

    Thirdly: 

    Recitation of Qur’an on the occasion mentioned (in the 
    question) and similar occasions is something for which there is no basis in 
    the Sunnah, whether that is recitation of a random passage from the Qur’an 
    or recitation of al-Faatihah in particular on some occasion, because the 
    basic principle with regard to acts of worship is that they are based on 
    tawqeef [i.e., they can only be 
    known through divine Revelation and sound texts of hadeeth, with no room for 
    ijtihaad]. There were (among the early 
    generation) occasions such as divorce, marriage and so on, during which not 
    a single letter of the Qur’an, al-Faatihah or anything else, was recited by 
    the people present. All goodness is in following the earlier generations and 
    all evil is in following innovations introduced by those who came after 
    them. 

    Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 
    al-Faatihah and other specific soorahs are only to be recited in the cases 
    prescribed by Islam. If they are recited in other cases as an act of 
    worship, then this is regarded as an innovation. We have seen many people 
    reciting al-Faatihah on all occasions; we have even heard people saying, 
    “Recite al-Faatihah for the deceased” or “for such and such” and so on. All 
    of this comes under the heading of reprehensible innovations. Al-Faatihah 
    and other soorahs are not to be recited in all situations, in all places and 
    at all times, and we should object to the one who does that.

    End quote from Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb, tape no. 
    371 

    See also the answer to question no.
    147645

    Fourthly: 

    Mixing of men and women is haraam and reprehensible; the 
    prohibition is more emphatic and the abhorrent nature of the act is greater 
    if that mixing takes place in one of the houses of Allah and is done openly 
    and attributed to Islam! We have quoted the evidence for the prohibition on 
    mixing in the answer to question no. 
    1200 

    What appears to us to be the case from the questions asked by 
    the brother is that the people who do these actions and supervise them are 
    not people of knowledge; he should explain to them the mistakes that they 
    are making and show them this answer of ours, in the hope that Allah will 
    guide them to give up what they are doing wrong; you should also be gentle 
    in telling them not to do it. May Allah guide and help you. 

    And Allah knows best.