Why Has Allah Given Me a Sickness?

Give you an example: someone passes away, may Allah give them Jannat ul Firdous. Someone close to you passes away, or someone perhaps has an accident and they break their bones or become paralyzed—what a big test! May Allah make it easy for such people.

Someone, for example, loses a job and they cannot pay the, for example, perhaps the monthly installments that they are supposed to be paying for something they might have bought or purchased, and then it’s taken away from them, it’s repossessed, and so on. It becomes a massive challenge.

Life’s Tests and Losing Faith

Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is obviously testing us. I know of people who lose their faith sometimes, and they start thinking to themselves, after having been obedient for so many years, they start saying, “You know what, where is Allah? What is He doing? Where is Allah in my life? I’m sick, I’m ill, and I’m just not getting better. And I’m praying every day for the last 20 years, it hasn’t helped me.”

A Conversation with a Doubting Soul

I remember entering a hospital once, and there was a person who was telling me, “I’m considering abandoning Islam.” I asked, “Why?” He said, “Because I’m a Muslim.

I’ve been praying to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala for so long, and I’m just not getting better.” I said, “Well, you know what? Two things. What are you considering becoming?” He says, “I’m looking into this faith and that faith,” and he gave me a few names.

I told him, “I know of people in that faith you want to go into who are even worse than you, and I know of people in the other faith who are also quite sick. It’s not going to do with what faith you belong to. It’s going to do with the test of that faith that you have—that’s what it is.”

The Bigger Picture

You cannot say, “I’m abandoning Islam because Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is not curing me.” Well, everyone has to die at some point.

Are you going to say, “I’m abandoning belief in totality because people die?” If that’s the case, you’ve lost what is going to come after that death, and this is what makes you a believer. May Allah grant us an understanding.

Faith Tested: Strengthening or Faltering?

So, some people lose their faith when they are tested, and others become stronger when they are tested. You know, when you have a problem, you start calling out to Allah: “Oh Allah, help me! Oh Allah, guide me! Allah, strengthen me. I’ve got an examination—Allah, open the doors.”

Allah may or may not give you exactly what you’ve asked for, but He will definitely keep in store for you something in the layer of the prayer that you have made. Subhanallah, so you’re never at a loss.

The Meaning of Prayer

If I say, “Oh Allah, help me to pass this examination,” I might fail it, but that prayer of mine was not a waste. The reason is that as a result of calling out to Allah, that act of worship was so blessed that perhaps the other examination in the hereafter, He will make me pass it.

And He will say, “Look, we might not have given you success in that exam, the mathematics test that you had that you were praying for, but we gave you something bigger, and that is the success in this huge exam on this particular day—the Day of Judgment.”

May Allah grant us ease on that day, Ameen.

Powerful Dua for Shifa (Healing)

When you’re facing illness or difficulty, it’s important to turn to Allah for help. A powerful dua for shifa (healing) is:

اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّ النَّاسِ، أَذْهِبِ الْبَأْسَ، اِشْفِ أَنْتَ الشَّافِيْ، لَا شِفَاءَ إِلَّا شِفَاؤُكَ، شِفَاءً لَّا يُغَادِرُ سَقَمًا

Allahumma Rabban-naas, adh-hibil-ba’s, ishfi antash-Shafi la shifa’a illa shifa’uk, shifa’al-la yughadiru saqama.

O Allah, Lord of mankind, remove this illness, Cure! You are the Healer. There is no healing except Your healing, a healing which does not leave behind any illness.

This dua is a reminder that Allah has the power to cure all ailments, and no matter how long we wait, His mercy is endless.

The Almighty’s Plan

When we look at things, we will always understand the plan of the Almighty, and sometimes, if we don’t, we should be believing that there is a bigger plan. The Almighty definitely has something that we don’t realize and recognize.

Faith and Transformation

Going back to the point I was making: some people lose their faith, some people become strong. Some people, after having worshipped Allah for so long, something happens in their lives that makes them falter.

And you have some people who spent their lives in the disobedience of the Almighty, doing that which was against what the Almighty had asked, but towards the end, Allah gave them the Tawfiq, the acceptance, the goodness, and the opportunity to turn, and they turned.

They turned in such a way that they became better people. They stopped their sins, they sought the forgiveness of Allah, and you know what, my brothers, my sisters, when you seek the forgiveness of Allah, don’t ever let the devil come to you and make you doubt the mercy of Allah.