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Attitude during sickness
A person aware of his faith will be steadfast and put himself in
Allah's hands whenever he is sick because he realises that his illness
is a test from Allah, just as he realised that his health is a test from
Allah. He realises that trials and afflictions are tests from Allah just
as are well-being and prosperity and ease, and indeed the latter are
probably more serious and difficult tests. For this reason, no matter
how uncomfortable he is, he will be steadfast and continue to pray in
sincerity to Allah. He knows that it is Allah Who created illness and
thus it is Allah Who will give the cure. In the Qur'an, Allah praises
the steadfastness of a believer during illness and lists it among the
qualities of
"true devoutness":
…Rather, those with true devoutness are those who believe in
Allah and the Last Day, the Angels, the Book and the Prophets,
and who, despite their love for it, give away their wealth to their
relatives and to orphans and the very poor, and to travellers and
beggars and to set slaves free, and who establish prayer and pay
zakat; those who honour their contracts when they make them,
and are steadfast in poverty and illness and in battle. Those are
the people who are true. They are the people who have taqwa.
(Surat al-Baqara: 177)
While being steadfast, the believer will also take the treatment
required to make him better. He will not be emotional or childish to
attract the attention of those around him. He will consciously take
the treatment and medicine recommended for his illness. This be-
haviour will actually be a prayer to Allah. At the same time and as a
result of living according to the teachings of the Qur'an, he prays
constantly that Allah will help and cure him. In the Qur'an, Allah
gives Ayyub (as) as an example of this attitude of faith:
And Ayyub when he called out to his Lord, "Great harm has af-
flicted me and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful."
(Surat al-Anbiya': 83)
24 Hours in the Life of a Muslim
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