Answered by: Ustaadha Bint Salih.
Question:
Asalaam alaikum,
I’m a Pakistani born in the UK. The reason I’m contacting you is that I need some help on something. My mother said she was taught this by her mother. A 2month child was crying in our home. My mum and dad said she may have “beela” or “bila”? I don’t know what this is. My mum then started reading something. She read auudbilah, bismillah and then started reciting something in Arabic. She said if a person does this and starts yawning then this baby has “bila/beela”. Afterwards she kept saying bismillah, Allah. I asked my dad what is this when we were going to mosque. He said it’s a type of dua that if read the Beela will go away, that’s if its beela. If it’s something else it won’t. I think beela is like colic pain for babies. I don’t know. I asked my dad what is recited he said he doesn’t know only the reciter knows and if he tells someone what it is, the effect wears off. Therefore my grandmother told my mum what to be recited when she grew old and said she had no use for it. My dad said my grandmother use to recite that when I or my sisters would cry when we were young too. When I heard this I was a bit nervous. I wanted to know what is all this. My parents pray pay zakat etc. Are religious and are against black magic and all that stuff. I’m just confused about this. Could you please clarify? Jazak allah.
Answer
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
After asking a few of my Pakistani friends, I learnt that Bila/beela is what is referred to as colic. Ie when the baby cries for no apparent reason, but it is highly likely that it is due to some pain in the stomach from the collecting of gas.
The procedure you mentioned is nothing which is proven through Quran or Sunnah. Most likely it is an ancient practice, but Islamically there is no basis to it.
Only Allah knows best.
Ustaadha Bint Salih.
Darul Ifta Birmingham.
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah