Message for the Sick

The Twenty-Second Remedy

O brother afflicted with a severe illness such as paralysis! First of all, I give you the good news that paralysis is regarded as a blessed illness for believers. I had heard this many times from awliyā, but I had never understood the secret behind it. Recently, one of its secrets occurred to me as follows:

In order to draw near to Allah, protect themselves from the great spiritual dangers of the world, and attain eternal happiness, the awliyā have followed two principles.

The first principle is reflecting on death. That is, by being aware that the world is transient and that they are transient guests with duties in this world, they work for eternal life.

The second principle is killing the nafs-i ammāra. That is, through detachment and spiritual discipline, they strive to subdue the nafs-i ammāra in order to save themselves from its dangers and from blind impulses.

O brother who has lost half of his bodily health! Without choosing it, you have been given these two short and easy principles that are a source of happiness. For the condition of your body constantly reminds you of the passing of the world and the transience of man. The world can no longer deceive you, nor can heedlessness veil your eyes. Moreover, the nafs-i ammāra can no longer deceive someone in such a diminished bodily state through base desires and cravings. Thus, he may very quickly be saved from the danger of his nafs-i ammāra.

Indeed, through īmān, taslīmiyya, and tawakkul, a believer may benefit in a short time from a severe illness such as paralysis, just as the awliyā benefited from spiritual discipline. Compared with this benefit, that severe illness is only a small price.

The Twenty-Third Remedy

O lonely, helpless sick person! If your illness, together with your loneliness and exile, awakens sympathy even in the hardest hearts and draws compassionate glances toward you, then surely your illness, together with your loneliness, will draw to you the mercy of your Compassionate Creator, which is to be preferred above all else—provided that through your īmān you show your attachment to Him and, conscious of your helplessness before His power, call upon Him during your illness.

For He is the One who presents Himself at the beginning of every chapter of the Qur’an as Rahmān ar-Rahīm; Who, with one flash of His shafqa, causes all mothers to nurture their children with wondrous compassion; Who, with one glimpse of His mercy, fills the face of the earth with blessings every spring; and Who, with one manifestation of His mercy, brings forth the eternal Paradise with all its beauties. Since He exists and watches over you, everything exists for you.

Indeed, the one who is truly estranged and alone is the one who does not show, through īmān and taslīmiyya, a connection to Him, or who attaches no importance to that connection.