The interpretation of their statement must be resolved to this, and there is no one among the scholars on the issue who asserts its prohibition. Once this is established, it is disliked for a free man to consume the earnings of a cupper, and it is disliked to learn the craft of cupping or to hire oneself out for it, due to the reports regarding it and because it involves lowliness, so engaging in it was disliked, like waste removal. The statement of the Imams from whom we mentioned its dislike is interpreted in this way, in order to reconcile the reports narrated regarding it and to harmonize the proofs indicating it. And Allah knows best.
Section: As for hiring a cupper for something other than cupping—such as bloodletting (fasd), shaving hair, trimming it, circumcision, or cutting a part of the body when there is a need for it—this is permissible. This is because the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) statement, "The earnings of the cupper are impure," refers to cupping, just as he forbade the fee of a prostitute, meaning for the act of prostitution. Likewise, if he earns through another craft, it is not impure by any scholarly consensus. This prohibition is contrary to analogy (qiyas), so it is restricted to the specific case in which it was mentioned. Furthermore, these matters are required by necessity and there is no prohibition in them, so hiring for them is permissible, and taking payment for them is allowed, like all other permissible benefits.
Section: It is permissible to hire an oculist (kahhal) to apply kohl to one's eye, because it is a permissible act, it is possible to perform it, and it is necessary to determine it by a duration, because the work is not precisely defined, so it is estimated by time. It is necessary to specify the amount he applies, whether once every day or twice. As for estimating it by recovery, the Qadi said: It is not permissible, because it is not known. Ibn Abi Musa said: There is no harm in stipulating a cure with the physician, because when Abu Sa'id performed ruqyah (incantation) for the man, he stipulated a cure. The correct view, if Allah wills, is that this is permissible, but it would be a reward (ja'alah) and not a hiring (ijarah). For hiring requires a duration or a known work, whereas reward is permissible for an unknown work, like returning lost property or a runaway slave, and the hadith of
(12) In the original: "yukrahu" (it is disliked). (13) In B and M: "mukhtassin" (restricted). (14) Dropped from B and M. (15) The hadith with its full text and verification will come in the following issue on page 137.
