The Supplications of Yunus and Ayyūb (as)

The Supplication of Ayyūb (as)

I said: “Brother, do not behave like him. Devote all your power of patience to this present moment. Think of the mercy of Allah and the rewards of the Hereafter, and realize that your fleeting and short life is being transformed into a long and eternal life. Give thanks with relief instead of complaining so bitterly.”

At this, he became completely relieved and said: “Alhamdulillāh, my illness has been reduced tenfold.”

The Fifth Point

This point consists of three matters.

The First Matter

A true and harmful calamity is one that afflicts a person’s religious life. In the face of such a calamity, one must at all times seek refuge in Allah and supplicate to Him.

Calamities that do not concern religion are, in reality, not calamities. Some of them are warnings from Allah, the Most Merciful. For example, when a shepherd throws small stones at his sheep as they enter another’s field, they understand this as a warning and a protection from an unlawful act, and they return contentedly. In the same way, there are many events that appear to be calamities, while in reality they are Divine admonitions and warnings. Another portion of them serves as expiation for sins. Yet another portion serves as a means of dispelling a person’s heedlessness, making him aware of his powerlessness and weakness, and granting him a certain form of hudūr.

As we have previously explained, calamities such as illnesses should not be regarded as calamities, but rather as a grace from Allah and a means for the purification of sins. It is related in a narration: “Just as ripe fruits fall from a mature tree when it is shaken, so too do the sins of a believer fall away when he trembles with fever.”

Ayyūb (as) did not make his supplication for the sake of his own comfort, but in order to continue his worship. Only when the illness affected the dhikr he uttered with his tongue and the contemplation he performed in his heart did he ask for healing. Likewise, we too should make that supplication first and foremost for the healing of our spiritual wounds that arise from sins. When physical illnesses hinder our worship, we should seek refuge in Allah. Yet we should do so not in a complaining or accusatory manner, but in a humble and refuge-seeking manner.

Since we are content with His rubūbiyyah, we must also be content with what He gives us through that rubūbiyyah. To complain by criticizing His decree is an objection against His mercy and a protest against qadar. Whoever criticizes qadar strikes his head, as it were, against an anvil. Whoever objects to His mercy shuts himself off from it. Indeed, just as trying to take revenge with a broken hand only worsens the fracture, so too does the afflicted person double his calamity if he meets it with objections, complaints, and anxiety.