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The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) went to visit a sick Bedouin who was suffering severe pain. Encouraging and consoling him, the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “It is a purification.”
The Bedouin said: “Rather, it is a fever that boils in an old man and leads him to the grave.”
Thereupon, the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Then, it is so.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim]
In most cases, a person recovers or continues to be ill due to himself. If we have joyful thoughts, we become happy. So, when we entertain hopeful thoughts about recovery and put our trust in Allah Almighty, we get actually cured, by Allah’s permission. On the contrary, if obsessions about illness overcome us, we will mostly remain sick.
Our Lord has opened the door of hope to every sick person. He says: {...Call upon Me; I will respond to you...} [Surat Ghāfir: 60] He also says: {Allah has the Most Beautiful Names, so call upon Him by them...} [Surat al-A‘rāf:180]
One of Allah’s beautiful names is “Ash-Shāfi”. So, let us seek closeness to Allah Almighty by this name so that we can draw close to our purpose and fulfill our needs.
Whenever the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) visited a sick person, or a sick person was brought to him, he would say: “Adh-hib al-bās Rabba an-nās, ishfi wa anta Ash-Shāfi la shifā’a illa shifā’uka shifā’an la yughādiru saqama (O Allah, the Lord of the people, remove the trouble and heal, for You are the Healer. No healing is of any avail but Yours; healing that leaves no ailment).” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim]
Healing is cure and recovery from illness.
Our Lord, Exalted be He, is the One Who removes trouble and sickness, and cures the ill through the proper means as well as through hope. An ill person may recover without medicine, or he may recover by undergoing medical treatment, which leads to cure. Both are the same as far as the ability of Allah is concerned.
As Allah Almighty cures sick bodies, He also heals hearts, chests, and souls and purifies them from their sickness and discomfort. In the Qur’an, He says: {O mankind, there has come to you an exhortation from your Lord, a cure for [illness] of the hearts, a guidance and mercy for the believers.} [Surat Yūnus: 57]
Allah Almighty heals whomever He wills, and He may keep the methods of remedy out of the doctors’ reach, if He so decides.
He alone can bring about healing. He has no partner and there is no true healing but His. Abraham (peace be upon him) is quoted in the Qur’an as saying: {And when I am ill He heals me.} [Surat ash-Shu‘arā’: 80] Also, the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “... There is no healer but You.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri]
Out of Allah’s bounty, He does not send down a disease except with its remedy. The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) is authentically reported to have said: “O servants of Allah, make use of medical treatment for Allah has not created a disease without making a remedy for it, with the exception of one disease: old age.” [Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi; Sahīh (authentic)]
A person may fall ill and all means of cure get blocked, and hope begins to vanish and distress hardens, with no refuge in sight among created beings. In a situation like this, he seems to say:
It has destroyed me, though it is something hidden.
I would not be weakened by the vicissitudes of life.
But now, if I even rest my head upon my hand,
I get attacked by what weakens my hand.
If the night becomes tougher than the day,
One would wish that the day were dark as night.
Under such circumstances, one, driven by his innate disposition, resorts to his Lord in bad need and submissiveness. {...Then when you are afflicted with hardship, to Him alone you cry out for help.} [Surat an-Nahl: 53] The believer invokes Allah by His name “the Healer”, saying: O Allah, cure me; O the Healer, heal me.
Likewise, the disbeliever resorts to Allah and stands submissive and weak at His door hoping to be cured. {When adversity befalls man, he cries out to Us. Then when We grant him a favor from Us, he says, “I have been granted this only because of my knowledge.” It is rather a test, but most of them do not know.} [Surat az-Zumar: 49]
After such persistence and patience, relief comes, and the Healer gives His permission for healing. {Is He [not better] Who responds to the distressed when he calls out to Him, and Who relieves suffering...} [Surat an-Naml: 62]
His bounty is great and His giving is ceaseless. At a certain point, you find that the needs are fulfilled, the supplications are answered, mercy descends, the tribulation comes to an end, and the cure arrives.
How often a doctor tells a patient that he will die, and he leaves in sadness and distress;
yet it is the doctor who dies, and the patient lives on.
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: “Allah Almighty does not afflict His servants to ruin them, but to test their patience and servitude to Him. Allah has the right of the servitude of hardship upon His servants.”
The difference between the believers and others is that the believers know that everything is in the Hand of Allah Almighty and that He is the Healer and the Most Merciful of those who show mercy, and that the disease has only been sent for a good purpose only known to Allah, the Most Merciful. {...But it maybe that you dislike something which is good for you...} [Surat al-Baqarah: 216] No matter how things become hard and turbulent, they are all subject to Allah’s will. {...Allah’s decree always prevails, but most people do not know.} [Surat Yūsuf: 21] So, the believer meets his illness with contentment and submission to Allah’s will, seeking divine reward.
The believer also knows that “whatever had befallen him would not have missed him; and whatever had missed him would not have befallen him.” Allah Almighty says: {Say, “Nothing will ever befall us except that which Allah has decreed for us...} [Surat at-Tawbah: 51] And the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “If you spend the like of Uhud of gold in the cause of Allah, Allah will not accept it from you until you believe in destiny, and until you know that what had befallen you would not have missed you and what had missed you would not have befallen you. If you die believing in other than this, you will enter Hellfire.” [Narrated by Abu Dāwūd; Sahīh (authentic)]
‘Ali ibn Abi Tālib passed by ‘Adiyy ibn Hātim (may Allah be pleased with both of them) and found him sad and dejected. He asked him: “O ‘Adiyy, why are you sad and dejected?”
He said: “Why should I not be so, whereas my children were killed and my eye was gouged out?”
Thereupon, ‘Ali said: “O ‘Adiyy, if a person accepts the predestination of Allah, it happens to him and he gets rewarded; and if he does not accept the predestination of Allah, it still happens to him, and his deeds are rendered worthless.”
Scholars said: The more a person stands in need of Allah and in humble submission to Him, the more readily his supplications get answered and relief comes.
Everyone of us has necessarily experienced illness and seen how it exposes our weakness and that there is no power nor strength except through Allah. Yet, when the cure comes and the illness and trouble go away, our condition changes, as the poet says:
We invoke our Lord in every distress and then forget Him after the relief.
How could we hope that our invocations be answered, whereas we have blocked the way by sins?!
Amazing indeed is our attitude towards Allah Almighty!
If you are afflicted with a disease, you should know that Allah is the Healer and nothing escapes His power. If you think that your illness is incurable, you thus distrust your Lord. Just turn to Him, place your trust in Him, show patience in pursuit of reward from Him, give charity, and implore Him pressingly: O Allah, the Healer! Indeed, He is the Truth, His speech is true, and He is Able to do all things. He says: {Your Lord says, “Call upon Me; I will respond to you...} [Surat Ghāfir: 60]
The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Verily, Allah is Modest, Generous. He is too Modest to turn down His servant empty-handed when he raises his hands (in supplication) to Him.” [Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi; Sahīh (authentic)] Allah Almighty says: {Is He [not better] Who responds to the distressed when he calls out to Him, and Who relieves suffering...} [Surat an-Naml: 62]
If you go through such a situation, Allah, out of His bounty, bestows upon you His great reward. The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “No affliction hits a Muslim except that Allah expiates his sins on account of it, even if it is the prick of a thorn.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri - this is his wording - and Muslim]
Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: “Allah has such high ranks in His Abode of Honor - i.e. Paradise - that will only be attained by the afflicted.”
Moreover, an afflicted person can derive some consolation from others who are also afflicted. Indeed, afflictions and sadness are common among people.
Many are the afflictions and many are those who have to endure them patiently!
You are not alone in tribulation; your hardship may be less compared to the hardships of others.
Many are those who have been ill and confined to their beds for years. They turn to the right and the left in severe pain and suffering.
Remember that this life is the prison for the believers and an abode of sadness and afflictions. As houses are alive with their inhabitants in the morning, they may suddenly become ruined and empty in the evening. {We have created man in hardship.} [Surat al-Balad: 4]
Accept your life as it is and adapt to it. Indeed, it is innately hard and perfection is not part of its nature.
Were it not for the bitterness of illness, one would not know the taste of good health.
We have a good example in Ayyūb (Job) (peace be upon him).
A believer should constantly ask Allah for safety and good health. ‘Abdullah al-Taymiyy (may Allah have mercy upon him) used to say: “Ask Allah for safety and soundness constantly, for the afflicted person, even if his affliction is severe, is not more entitled to supplication than a sound and healthy one, who is not safe from afflictions.
Indeed, those who are afflicted today were sound and safe only a short while ago, and those who will be afflicted tomorrow are sound and safe today.”
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: “Among the most effective ways of curing an illness is doing good, charity, Dhikr (remembrance of Allah), supplication, and repentance.”
Ask the doctor who fell severely ill: How did you fall ill despite your medicine?!
And ask a sick person who recovered despite the failure of doctors to treat him: Who restored good health to you?!
Indeed, He is the Most Merciful Lord, the Healer. {And when I am ill He heals me.} [Surat ash-Shu‘arā’: 80]
O Allah, the Healer, cure us and cure all sick Muslims, O Lord of the worlds!