Hadithcore
Sahih al-Bukhari, 2103
sahih

Narrated Ibn `Abbas:

Once the Prophet (ﷺ) got his blood out (medically) and paid that person who had done it. If it had been illegal, the Prophet (ﷺ) would not have paid him.

حَدَّثَنَا مُسَدَّدٌ، حَدَّثَنَا خَالِدٌ ـ هُوَ ابْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ـ حَدَّثَنَا خَالِدٌ، عَنْ عِكْرِمَةَ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ قَالَ احْتَجَمَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَأَعْطَى الَّذِي حَجَمَهُ، وَلَوْ كَانَ حَرَامًا لَمْ يُعْطِهِ‏.‏

References2 variants
In-Book Reference
Book 34, Hadith 56
USC-MSA web (English) reference
Vol. 3, Book 34, Hadith 316 (deprecated numbering scheme)
Sharh · explanationclick to expand
A Hijaamah therapist is the one who performs Hijaamah (i.e., wet cupping therapy), which is (a form of alternative medicine) used to remove bad blood from the body by making superficial incisions on the skin using surgical scalpels, and removing the bad blood using a funnel-like device or special cups on the skin to create suction.It is used to treat different types of pain. In this hadeeth, Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with them) inferred the permissibility of (undertaking) Hijaamah therapy and the lawfulness of its fees from the action of the Prophet ﷺ, because he ﷺ had Hijaamah performed on him and paid thetherapist a fee. Had paying the Hijaamah therapist been impermissible, the Prophet ﷺ would not have had it performed on him nor paid the fee. The hadeeths about the unlawfulness of the earnings obtained through performing Hijaamah that described such earnings as ‘unlawful’, and indicate their inferiority and urge Muslims to embody noble manners and seek other loftier means of earning a living. It is also possible that the prohibition was prescribed in the early days of Islam and was later abrogated when the Prophet ﷺ paid the Hijjamah therapist the fee. .
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Compare isnād across 2 related chains →