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Sickness – The Most Powerful Way Allah Removes Sins

Dr. Yasir Qadhi
10 December, 2019

Of the blessings of those who fall sick is that sickness is one of the strongest and most powerful antidotes to the sins that we commit. There is hardly anything that will expiate our sins that is more powerful than trials and afflictions that befall us.

Allah says:

And whatever strikes you of disaster – it is for what your hands have earned; but He pardons much.

(Quran 42:30)

Every sickness and calamity that happens: a death of a loved one, a loss of a relative, financial economic, distress physical hardship, a fever, any type of pain and suffering.

Read Also: Don’t Let Calamity Shake You: A Story of Dealing with Trials

Sickness – A Blessing in Disguise

Once the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) visited a sick person who was suffering from fever, he said:

I have good news for you. For verily My Lord has told me that fever is my punishment that I inflict upon my believers so that they don’t have to be punished in the hell.

This is a punishment that Allah inflicts so that you are saved from the punishment of the next life. so in fact, it is a blessing in disguise.

And once the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) visited a female companion, Umm Sa’ib. She was also suffering from fever; she was tossing and turning. When Prophet Muhammad asked her:

 What is the matter?

 She said:

 “I have a severe fever may Allah curse it!”

 The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

 Do not curse the fever, for verily it forgives sins like a furnace gets rid of the impurities in iron.

(Muslim)

 When you put an iron into the furnace, it is full of impurities; when you take it out, it is 100% pure. So, the Prophet (peace be upon him) compared the fever to a furnace, and this is a very good comparison because both are burning.

And in another hadith he said:

 It will get rid of your sins like a tree in the fall. When you shake it all, the leaves come down. So too will the sickness get rid of your sins.

Every Calamity is for your Good

 This is something that applies to every single calamity and misfortune. So much so, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

 Even if a thorn pricks one of you, it will expiate some of your sins.

(Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

 And in a famous hadith, he said:

Amazing are the affairs of the believers, because everything that happens to him happens for his good. If some good happens and he’s happy, he thanks Allah, and so that’s good for him. And if some bad happens, then he is patient, and Allah rewards him for that patience.

(Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

The believer is always a winner, he is never a loser. No matter what calamity befalls the believer, he will always come out on the upper hand having won over because he has Allah on his side. And when you have Allah on your side, you don’t care what is happening in the rest of humanity.

 We don’t wish to be sick, we don’t wish for a calamity, but every one of us will fall sick and will face calamities. When it happens, then we rise up to the challenge, we renew our Iman in Allah, and we humble and submit ourselves to Him. And through all of this, we appreciate the blessings even in falling sick and in having the calamity that we have had.

sins Sickness blessing in disguise remove sins
About Dr. Yasir Qadhi
Yasir Qadhi was born in Houston, Texas and completed his primary and secondary education in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He graduated with a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston, after which he was accepted as a student at the Islamic University of Madinah. After completing a diploma in Arabic, he graduated with a B.A. from the College of Hadith and Islamic Sciences. Thereafter, he completed a M.A. in Islamic Theology from the College of Dawah, after which he returned to America and completed his doctorate, in Religious Studies, from Yale University. Currently he is the Dean of al-Maghrib Institute, the Resident Scholar of the Memphis Islamic Center, and a professor at Rhodes College, in Memphis, TN.