When Abu Bakr as-Siddique, radi Allahu anhu, fell ill with his final illness- the illness from which he would die- he was asked: Should we not get you a doctor?

So he said: The Doctor made me ill!

Most scholars understood this to mean: The One who can cure me knows of my state, so He can cure me if He wills, but He chose for me to be sick, and I accept that.

However, Shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris says that this is not the proper understanding. What sayyidna Abu Bakr was really saying is:

“The Greatest Doctor- Allah Most High and Majestic- made me sick, and so I knew that this illness is medicine itself”.

In other words, when Abu Bakr saw that Allah made his body ill, he realized that Allah was using it to cure him of other ills: spiritual ailments. He knew that what appeared to people as illness was itself the greatest healing. It was the prescription of the Greatest Doctor, Allah Most Wise. It was purification of Abu Bakr’s heart before he died, so he can return to Allah absolutely pure in heart and soul.

Likewise, Shaykhul Islam Ahmad ibn al-Mubarak al-Lamati asked his shaykh, sayyidi Abd al-Aziz ad-Dabbagh, about the harm that afflicted the Prophet Job, alayhi assalam.

The Qur’an says:

And Ayyub when he called out to his Lord, “Great harm has afflicted me and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful,” We responded to him and removed from him the harm which was afflicting him… (Q 21: 83)

Most scholars believed that this harm was a severe physical illness that lasted for a many long years, but shaykh Abd al-Aziz ad-Dabbagh said that was incorrect, because such an illness brings one closer to Allah, and so the Prophet would not have called it harm. He said that the illness that people described only lasted a short time, about two months.

But the harm that Prophet Ayyub asked Allah to remove is distraction from Allah- things that made him turn to things other than Allah-  and that is the greatest harm that could befall the knowers of Allah: the Prophets and the Messengers, peace be upon them. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala removed that from him, and made his heart focused again on nothing but Himself.

As for the physical illness, Prophets know that these things only bring you closer to Allah. As the Messenger of Allah salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam said that Allah Most High said:

“Sicknesses themselves are My servants, and are attached to My chosen ones.”

There is also a man from an important tribe who gave his daughter in marriage to the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, and the Prophet accepted. Then the father said to him proudly: And I tell you also that she has never ever been sick! So the Prophet changed his mind and divorced her, saying:  maa lihaadhihi ‘ind Allah min khayr, which either means: “She has no good in the sight of Allah” or “Allah has no blessings/good in store for her”.

The Qur’an tells us in many places that the believers will be tested by Allah in many ways, whereas the kuffaar are left to walk proudly on the Earth, having power and wealth and pleasures. That is because these things keep one’s heart away from Allah, and so they are the greatest harm, and the greatest sickness.

So when you are ill, bear it with patience, and remember that it is actually medicine that was given to you by The Greatest Doctor, Allah the Most Wise!

والحمد لله رب العالمين على نعمه كلها

اللهم صلّ وسلم وبارك على سيدنا ومولانا محمد خير البرية

وعلى آله في كل لمحة ونفس عدد ما وسعه علم الله