Part 55

(tool . tg 6 ip “Yes, to the same degree that two men from among you suffer and experience.” Ibn Mas’ood # asked, “You have two rewards [then]?” He # said,

“Yes. No Muslim is afflicted with harm from sickness or from anything else, except that Allah makes his sins fall like a tree sheds its leaves”)

"1 Related by Bukhaaree (5666), who related it by way of ‘Ubaidullah Ibn ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Utbah; Ahmad (25380); Ibn Maajah (1465); and AdDaarimee (80).

Related by Bukhaaree (5667), Muslim (2571), Ahmad (3611), and AdDaarimee (2771).

Chapter - 14 The Manners Of Visiting The Sick 335

10) Crying Beside A Sick Person

The question of concern here is whether it is permissible or forbidden to cry over a sick person. It appears to us from the action of the Prophet #¢ that it is permissible to do so. ‘Abdullah Tbn ‘Umar said, ‘When Sa‘ad Ibn ‘Ubaadah # fell ill, the Prophet # went to visit him; ‘Abdur-Rahmaan Ibn ‘Aouf, Sa‘ad Ibn Abee Waqqaas, and ‘Abdullah Ibn Mas’ood # came along with him. When the Prophet # entered upon him and found him to be amidst the servants of his family, he 2% asked them, ‘Has he expired?’ They said, ‘No, O Messenger of Allah.’ The Prophet 2% then began to cry, and when the people saw him crying, they too began to cry. He # then said,

“Do you not hear that, indeed, Allah does not punish [someone] because of the tears of the eye or because of the sadness of the heart; rather, He punishes or has mercy for this,’ and he 2% pointed to his tongue. And a dead person is punished by his family’s crying over him (scholars disagree about the meaning of this last sentence; some say that this refers to when a family member wails in a loud voice over the deceased; others maintain that this refers to when, before dying, the deceased asks his family to cry over him in order to confer honor upon him; and this practice was common among the Arabs).

This hadith proves that it is permissible to cry over a sick person; it follows, then, that it is permissible to cry over a dead person, for death is a greater affliction than sickness. However, one must avoid wailing in a loud voice, for doing so is prohibited in Islam.

"I Related by Bukhaaree (1304) and Muslim (924).

11) What One Should Say To The Patient, In Terms Of Supplications And Comforting Words

When one visits a sick person, he should be very careful about what he says, for the angels say ‘Aameen (i.e., O Allah, answer this supplication)’ for whatever he says. This reality is clearly mentioned in a hadith related by Umm Salamah “&; in it, the Messenger of Allah # said,

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“Tf you go to a sick person or to the dead, then speak well, for the angels say ‘Aaameen’ to what you say.”

Umm Salamah 4 said, ‘Then, when Abu Salamah 2 died, I went to the Prophet #% and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, Abu Salamah # has indeed died. He # said to me,

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‘Say: O Allah, forgive me and him, and give to me in his place a good recompense.’

I said that, and Allah gave me in his place one who is better for me than him: Muhammad #8 (ie., she 4% then married the Messenger of Allah #¢).”")

It is recommended for the visitor to invoke Allah 3 to forgive the patient, to have mercy on him, to grant him health, and to purify him from his sins. And the visitor should say those supplications that the Prophet #¢ said upon visiting the sick; here are some of those supplications:

a) “Never mind, may it (the sickness) be a purification, if Allah wills.” Tbn ‘Abbaas & said, “The Prophet #8 entered upon a [sick] Bedouin to visit him. And whenever the Prophet 2% would enter upon a sick person to visit him, he # would say,

1) Related by Muslim (919), Ahmad (25958), At-Tirmidhee (977), AnNassaaee (1825), and Ibn Maajah (1447).

Chapter - 14 The Manners Of Visiting The Sick 337

“Never mind, may it (the sickness) be a purification, if Allah wills,’

So he said to the Bedouin, ‘Never mind, may it (the sickness) be a purification, if Allah wills.’ The Bedouin answered, ‘You said: purification. Certainly not! Rather, it is a fever that is raging or taking its vengeance upon an old man, bringing him to the brink of the graves.’ The Prophet # said,

“Then in that case, yes.’”"1]

The Prophet's saying, “Never mind” means that sickness atones for sins, so that if a person becomes healthy again, he achieves health and atonement for his sins; but if he does not become healthy, he at least achieves atonement for his sins. Ibn Hajr said, “Among the benefits we take from the hadith is that a patient should accept people’s supplications for him; he should not complain or grumble - as did the Bedouin in the hadith - when others invoke Allah to purify him from his sins.”

b) “O Allah, cure...so and so.” When Sa‘ad Ibn Abee Waqqaas became sick, the Messenger of Allah # visited him. This is a partial wording of the hadith in which Sa‘ad #& gave an account of the visit: ‘He # then placed his hand on his forehead, after which he wiped his hand over my face and stomach. He #% then said,

“O Allah, cure Sa‘ad...’” And in Muslim’s narration of the hadith, the Prophet 2 repeated, “O Allah, cure Sa’ad,” three times.

" Related by Bukhaaree (3616).

"1 Related by Bukhaaree (5659), Muslim (1628), Ahmad (1443), At-Tirmidhee (2116), An-Nassaaee (3626), Maalik (1495), and Ad-Daarimee (3196), in whose narration the supplication is not mentioned.

c) “Iask Allah the Supreme, Lord of the magnificent throne to cure you (seven times).” Ibn ‘Abbaas # reported that the Prophet # said,

“No person visits a sick person, not coming at it the moment of death, and says seven times in his presence, ‘I ask Allah the

Supreme, Lord of the magnificent throne to cure you,’ except that Allah cures him from that sickness.”” 11)

d) “O Allah cure your slave, [and] for You may he cause much harm to the enemy [of the Muslims], and may he walk to the Prayer." ”’ Tbn ‘Amr reported that the Prophet # said,

GIB J 5 “When a man goes to visit a sick person, then let him say, ‘O

Allah cure your slave, [and] for You may he cause much harm to the enemy [of the Muslims], and may he walk to the prayer. Pl

Abu Daawood related it with this wording: ‘’Or may he walk for You to a funeral (i.e., to the funeral prayer and to the burial).”

12) Placing One’s Hand Over The Sick Person.

It is recommended for the visitor to place his hand over the body of the sick person and supplicate for him. Since nothing specific is related from the Sunnah, we cannot say for sure whether by placing his hand over the sick person, the visitor does an act that helps to alleviate or remove the patient's pain. Nonetheless, the

1) Related by Ahmad (2138), At-Tirmidhee (2083), and Abu Daawood (3106) - the above-mentioned wording is from his narration of the hadith, and Al-Albaanee ruled that it is authentic.

"1 Related by Ahmad (6564), and the above-mentioned wording is from his narration of the hadith. Abu Daawood (3107) related it too, and AlAlbaanee declared his narration to be authentic.

Chapter - 14 The Manners Of Visiting The Sick 339

visitor should still, in following the practice of the Prophet 2%, place his hand over the patient. Ibn Battaal pointed out that the patient feels a sense of camaraderie and friendship when the visitor places his hand over him, and the latter, especially if he is pious, might help alleviate the patient’s sickness when, along with placing his hand over him, he supplicates for him. It is related in a number of Ahadeeth that the Prophet #& placed his noble hand over a sick person; for example, this is mentioned in the previously related Ahadeeth of Sa’ad Ibn Abee Waqqaas 4: “He #% then placed his hand on his forehead, after which he wiped his hand over my face and stomach. He #% then said,

“O Allah, cure Sa‘ad..."”"

And in another hadith, ‘Aaisha % said, “When the Messenger of Allah # would visit a sick person, he would place his hand on the spot that was hurting. Then he #% would say, ‘Bismillah.””")

13) Reading Invocations Over The Patient.

It is recommended for a visitor to read invocations over the patient, for this was the practice of the Prophet #¢; a pious person should especially do so, for his invocations are more beneficial to the patient than those that are read by person who is not so pious. There is a special term for reading invocations over the sick: Ar-Ruqyaa. The Prophet # would perform Ar-Ruqyaa over sick relatives and Companions, and he # approved of certain invocations used for Ar-Ruqyaa that he heard from some of his Companions. Here are some of them:

a) Ar-Ruqyaa With Al-Mu’awwidhaat The term ‘Al-Mu’awwidhaat’ refers to the last two Chapters of the Qur’an - “The Daybreak Chapter” and “The Mankind Chapter” - as well as to (according to some scholars) “The Purity Chapter.”

‘Aaisha 4 said, “Verily, when anyone from his family became

"I Tbn Hajr said in Al-Fath (10/126), “Abu Ya’laa related it with a Hasan chain.”

sick, the Prophet #% would spit lightly upon him with AlMu’awwidhaat (the same practice that a Muslim should perform before going to bed: first, reading the last three Chapters of the Qur’an, then spitting lightly into one’s hand, and then wiping one’s hand over one’s body, except that here, this practice is applied on the patient).

b) Ar-Ruqyaa With ‘‘Faatihatul Kitaab (The Opening Of The Book, i.e., ‘The Opening Chapter’)

In summary of a long hadith, Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudree # came across a people whose chief fell ill through a venomous bite. Abu Sa’eed 4 performed Ar-Ruqyaa on him with “The Opening Chapter” of the Qur’an. The chief became cured, and as a reward to Abu Sa’eed .#, he gave him a number of sheep. Abu Sa’eed 2 refused to accept the sheep right away, saying that he first wanting to discuss the matter with the Prophet #, to see if he # approved. He # went to the Prophet # and informed him of what happened; he 4 said, “‘O Messenger of Allah, by Allah, I performed Ar-Ruqyaa on him with nothing other than ‘The Opening Of The Book.”” The Prophet # smiled and said,