“Can one treat his own sicknesses and cure himself by reading the Qur’an and reading Hadith reports of the Messenger?”

Shaykh ‘Abdul Qādir ‘Īsā ash-Shādhilī  ق said:

This is an error, simply because both the Book and Sunnah have within them many types of medicine for various ailments of the ego and the heart, and with them, there must be a doctor to prescribe the appropriate medicine for each illness and malady.

The Companions were unable to treat themselves with only reading the Holy Qur’ān. They stuck closely to the ‘hospital’ of the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ for he was the one to purify them and take care of their training. Allāh described him as such: “It is He who sent a Messenger to an unlettered people, reciting unto them His verses, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the wisdom” [al-Juma’ah:2]

An example is found in the Ḥadith of the Noble companion, Ubayy ibn Ka’b. He said: “The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ asked them to recite and so they recited, and the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ expressed approval of their affairs (their modes of recitation). There occurred in my mind a sort of denial which did not occur even during the pre-Islamic Days of Ignorance. When the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ saw how I was affected (by a wrong idea), he lightly struck my chest, whereupon I broke into a sweat and felt as through I were looking at Allah with fear.

Purifying the heart is one thing, and teaching the Qur’ān is another.

[Adapted from Realities of Sufism by Shaykh ‘Abdul Qādir ‘Īsā ash-Shādhilī ]