“Hijama”, is a therapy of fine cuts and
cupping that is widely practised in the Islamic world since ancient
times and praised by the Prophet Muhammad (Sallalahu Alayhi Wasallam) himself.
Hijama is a unique medicinal
treatment that has increasingly gotten mixed up and confused with other blood
letting techniques in the last few decades.
‘Hijama’ in arabic is derived from ‘hajm’
which means ‘sucking’.The word Hijama is also derived from the
Arabic verbs “Hajama” and “Haj’jama” which means “to minimize” or “to
restore to basic size”, or “to diminish in volume”. In Arabic they say, “A
certain person diminished the problem”, this means that s/he returned the
problem to its original size.
There is also a verb “ahjama” which means “to withdraw or
retreat from attack”. Thus the person who performed the cupping operation made
diseases refrain from attacking him or her.
Hijama is the process of applying cups to
various points on the body by removing the air inside the cups to form a
vacuum.
Wet cupping (Hijama) – This is the
process of using a vacuum at different points on the body but with small
incisions in order to remove ‘harmful’ blood which lies just beneath the
surface of the skin. (It is recommended that wet cupping (Hijama) is only
administered by a Cupping Therapist).
Wet cupping (Hijama) is best administered
at certain times of the day and days of the week. Hijama is a cure for every
disease if performed at its correct time.
The Sunnah dates for cupping are the 17th,
19th, 21st of every Islamic month
There are specific points on the body
where the cups are applied for each ailment and there are Sunnah points as well.