Allah yashfeek, may Allah heal you

Allah yashfeek (اللَّهُ يَشْفِيكَ) means "may Allah heal you". It is a short dua that Muslims say to anyone who is sick, injured or in pain, in person, on the phone or in a message. Yashfi comes from shifa, healing. The Prophet ﷺ called Allah by the same root when he visited the sick: "anta ash-Shafi", You are the Healer, and "la shifa'a illa shifa'uk", there is no healing but Your healing (Sahih al-Bukhari 5675).

For a man, a woman or a group

In speech the endings are often dropped, so you will hear "Allah yashfeek" said to everyone. The forms above are the correct ones.

Is Allah yashfeek in the hadith?

The exact phrase is a common way of speaking, not a hadith. But the Prophet ﷺ used the same verb. He said: "Whoever visits a sick person whose time has not come, and says seven times beside him, As'alullahal-azima rabbal-arshil-azimi an yashfiyak (I ask Allah the Magnificent, Lord of the Magnificent Throne, to heal you), Allah will cure him of that illness" (Sunan Abi Dawud 3106, graded sahih). So when you can, say the fuller Sunnah wording too.

Other words for the sick

• La ba's, tahurun in sha Allah: "No harm, it is a purification, if Allah wills". The Prophet ﷺ said this whenever he visited someone ill (Sahih al-Bukhari 3616). It reminds the sick person that illness wipes away sins.
• Allahumma-shfi (name): "O Allah, heal (name)". When Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas was very ill in Makkah, the Prophet ﷺ put his hand on his forehead and said: "Allahumma-shfi Sa'dan", O Allah, heal Sa'd (Sahih al-Bukhari 5659). Put the person's name in its place.
• Shafak Allah (شَفَاكَ اللَّهُ, to a woman shafaki): "may Allah heal you", the same dua in another form.
• Shifa'an ajilan (شِفَاءً عَاجِلًا): "a quick recovery", the Arabic "get well soon".

For the full duas with your hand on the sick person, see the dua for visiting the sick, and for your own pain, the dua for health.

The reply

Say ameen, and thank them with jazakallahu khayran, may Allah reward you with good. Some reply with a dua back, such as wa iyyak, "and you too", asking that Allah keep them well.

Can I say it to a non-Muslim?

Yes. Praying for a non-Muslim's health is fine, and it is good manners. The Prophet ﷺ visited a Jewish boy who used to serve him when he fell ill (Sahih al-Bukhari 1356). What the Quran forbids is asking forgiveness for someone who has died upon shirk (9:113), which is a different matter.

Spellings

Allah yashfeek, Allah yashfik, Allah yeshfeek and Allah yashfiq are the same phrase. Yashfeeki (to a woman) and yashfeekum (to a group) are its other forms.

1. Sahih al-Bukhari 5675, from Aishah.
2. Sunan Abi Dawud 3106; Jami at-Tirmidhi 2083, from Ibn Abbas, graded sahih by al-Albani.
3. Sahih al-Bukhari 3616, from Ibn Abbas.
4. Sahih al-Bukhari 5659, from Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas.
5. Sahih al-Bukhari 1356, from Anas.
6. Quran 26:80 and 9:113, Sahih International translation.

The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.