Answer
In this counseling answer:
“Even beyond illness, you have many things to be grateful for. Allah has blessed you with many things that others don’t have. Take a bit of time at the end of each day to write down or think about 3 good things that have happened to you that day. If you struggle to think of anything, then remember that it can even be things as simple as having your 5 senses, having your limbs, or that you had food to eat that day. Many Don’t even have these simple blessings that we often take for granted.”
Wa alaikum salaam wa rahmatulahi wa barakatuh sister,
Sorry to hear that you have been going through some serious health problems which seem to have been unfortunately impacting on your worship and levels of eman.
First, let me reassure you that everyone’s eman goes up and down over time. Even the most pious of people and scholars will go through this also. The key is to not let it overtake you and do your best to boost your eman once more.
Being sick and experiencing such terrible symptoms for a prolonged amount of time can easily get you down and impact on your worship as it becomes more difficult due to feelings of pain or distraction with thoughts of the illness itself.This then will commonly impact on the level of eman as you find it hard to concentrate in prayer or offer any voluntary acts of worship which make it difficult to maintain a steady level of eman. Often eman can drop along with your health status.
However, you can switch this around and actually use your poor health as a means to boost your eman. I can guarantee that however bad your health is, there are also many others that are in a worse place than you, either with regards to the actual condition they have or perhaps lack of support or even lack of access to facilities that could potentially ease their ill health.
So, amongst all this try to be grateful that it’s not worse as you remember those in a worse state than you right now. Even beyond illness, you have many things to be grateful for. Allah has blessed you with many things that others don’t have. Take a bit of time at the end of each day to write down or think about 3 good things that have happened to you that day. If you struggle to think of anything, then remember that it can even be things as simple as having your 5 senses, having your limbs, or that you had food to eat that day. Many Don’t even have these simple blessings that we often take for granted.
Try to always make time for yourself each day also, even if it is just 15 minutes to focus on yourself, to do something that you enjoy. You might even start a new hobby or do something new that gives you a chance to achieve something for yourself also. This can be a great boost to psychological wellbeing, which will impact positively on your health and eman also.
You will also find that as your eman increases, your health will also follow too. It works 2 ways, poor health can bring your eman down, but changing your mindset to a more positive one can also serve as a means to use your health to actually boost your eman too.
Amongst all this don’t give up on your salat. Even if it feels like a burden at first, like you can’t concentrate, then push through, reject Shaytan’s whispers and pray anyway. Be patient and eventually, you will conquer it in sha Allah.
Remember Allah throughout the day to protect you from Shaytan’s whispers as well as boosting your eman as you remember Allah more often. This can be very simple things that don’t require much effort on your part but remember to say bismillah before everything you do and make the recommended du’as for things like entering and leaving your house will keep the name of Allah fresh on your tongue.
May Allah bring you ease with your illness and give you the strength and patience to continue work on increasing your eman. May you find peace and happiness in the remembrance of Allah.
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