The Islamic teaching with regard to illness
Indeed, illness is a great blessing from Allah and its benefits are innumerable. Even though man feels pain due to his illness, in reality it is a means of peace and comfort. The illness is actually an excellent way of healing the spiritual illnesses. It is these spiritual illnesses that should be considered as the destructive illnesses. It is very clear that however much unaware a man is, when he is inflicted with an illness, diseases or with any sort pain, he starts to remember his Creator and turns to him though repentance and forgiveness.
However, the state of the great pious people is that they actually welcome wholeheartedly any sort of pain, just as they welcome any sort of peace and comfort. Like a Persian poet once said:
“Whatever comes from the beloved, it is always for our betterment.”
However, we who are spiritually weak, should at remain patient when afflicted with any illness or disease and have a firm belief that Allah shall remove us from this pain and discomfort. We should not lose the reward that was to be earned by being impatient and bewailing. Everyone knows that a calamity cannot be removed by being impatient and indeed to be deprived of the great blessings and rewards is another calamity in itself in addition to the initial one!
Whenever they become ill or a calamity befalls them, many ignorant people start to utter improper words, some which in fact takes them out of the folds of Islam. Allah forbid! They utter things such as ‘He is the Oppressor!’ Such people are those as regards whom the Quran has stated, “They are in loss in this world and the hereafter.”
Now We shall cite a few benefits of being inflicted with illnesses through the light of the Ahadith so that our readers may read them attentively and act upon them. May Allah grant us all guidance…Ameen
Hadith: Hazat Abdullah bin Mas’ud Radiallahu Anhu reported that The Messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alahi wasallam has said, “Whatever pain is inflicted on a Muslim, whether it be in the form of an illness or something else, then Allah removes the sins from him just as the leaves fall from a tree.”[Bukhari]
Continued with next Post on The Islamic Perspective on the effect of fever
