Message for the Sick

Indeed, caring for the sick brings considerable thawābThe rewards granted in the Hereafter for deeds performed in pursuit of Allah’s pleasure and acceptance. to believers. Showing concern for the sick and visiting them without burdening them are part of the sunnahThe sayings, actions, and approvals of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) that serve as a model for Muslims. of the Prophet (saw)Sallallāhu alayhi wa sallam (Peace and blessings be upon him), and they serve as an expiation for the sins of a believer. In a hadithA report of the sayings, actions, or approvals of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). it is stated: “Ask the sick to pray for you, for their supplications are accepted.”

If the sick person is a relative, especially one’s father or mother, then caring for them counts as a significant act of worship and brings considerable thawābThe rewards granted in the Hereafter for deeds performed in pursuit of Allah’s pleasure and acceptance.. Comforting the sick and bringing joy to their hearts is regarded as giving a meaningful form of sadaqahVoluntary charity given for the sake of Allah.. Truly blessed is the child who can bring peace to the sensitive hearts of his father and mother during their illness and receive their blessed prayers.

Indeed, it is one of the most honourable truths of social life that a child, in return for the shafqaCompassionate and unconditional love, such as a mother's love for her child. of his father and mother, approaches them during their illness with complete respect and tender love. Before this scene, which displays the loyalty of a good child and the nobility of humanity, even the angels express their appreciation by saying, “MāshāAllāhAn expression meaning “What Allah has willed,” used to express admiration or appreciation while acknowledging Allah’s will., BārakAllāhAn expression meaning “May Allah bless it,” used to express appreciation, joy, praise, or gratitude..” Moreover, because of the pity, compassion, and tender love that surround the sick person, he experiences during illness pleasant and refreshing moments that lighten the pain of the illness and sometimes remove it altogether.

The acceptance of the supplication of a sick person is an important matter. I myself prayed for thirty or forty years for healing from a severe muscular pain from which I suffered. Eventually, I understood that the illness had been given as a cause for supplication. Since supplication cannot remove supplication itself, or since a supplication cannot eliminate itself, I understood that the fruit of a supplication made in this world will appear in the Hereafter.^[1]

That is, supplication is a kind of worship in which a sick person, through awareness of his helplessness, takes refuge in Allah. For this reason, although the supplications I made for healing over thirty years appeared not to have been answered, it never occurred to my heart to stop making them. For illness merely indicates the time for supplication; healing is not its result. If the Compassionate All-Wise One grants healing, He does so out of His mercy.

When supplications are not answered in the way we wish, it cannot be said that they have not been answered. The All-Wise Creator knows better what we need; He grants what is more beneficial for us. Sometimes He answers the supplications we make for worldly matters not in favour of this world, but in favour of the Hereafter. Indeed, supplications that gain purity through the secret of illness, especially when they arise from weakness, helplessness, humility, and neediness, are very close to acceptance. Illness is the source of such sincere supplication. Both the religiously observant sick and the believers who care for them should benefit from such supplications.