Beware of the Silent Stalker … Sickness

[Khalid Saifullah]

It seems like a bottle of poison was accidentally spilled on this earth from the sky! How else do you explain so much sickness nowadays? In fact, sickness has become so prevalent that it is no more a question of staying healthy, but finding a sickness you like!

Sickness is the sister of death - a silent stalker. It can strike a new-born as well as a perfectly healthy person. It doesn’t discriminate between a beggar and the Specialist himself … it can strike whilst you are sleeping or whilst skating, or whilst you are asleep or whilst boarding a flight at an airport. You can never be adequately prepared for the onset sickness, but you can be agreeable to accept it whenever or however it knocks on your door.


Why Sickness?

The very words - cancer, TB, stroke, paralysis, sugar, tumor and heart attack - are all associated with pain and suffering. They bring forth images of a helpless person, completely bedridden, strapped to a hospital bed, with dozens of tubes snaking in and out of his body. Notwithstanding this gruesome image, the Almighty never afflicts any of His servants without a reason, but it is up to the patient to do some soul-searching and come up with the reason himself. And the “inner” reason is not uniform, it is different for everyone.

At the crucial stage of sickness, studies have revealed a startling fact: if we do not approach sickness correctly as with all other pain and calamities that befall us, it may lead us to atheism and outright rejection of the Almighty Himself.

One of the many wisdoms of sickness – and our Creator is not answerable to anyone for what He does – is that through it, we recognize the value of health; just like through evil, we realize the value of good; through hunger, the value of food, and through exertion, the value of rest. But there is nobler significance to all this pain and discomfort, and that is to give us a message that it is only the Almighty alone Who is beyond pain, decay and suffering. He is the Ever-Lasting and the Ever-Living, there is no power greater than Him and His Might will never diminish, ever. Sickness is to let us know that as healthy, mighty or able-bodied we think we are, it will not last for ever. It is a very humbling experience.

Sickness has also been created to show us just how weak and dependant we can become, not only on the Almighty, but on others too... like doctors and medicines, close family and relatives, well-wishers and neighbours, and maybe even the manager at Al-Barakah Bank, as it is the Almighty who cures, but the hospital that takes away your money! We can not even lift a finger except with His leave.

Helpless and weak people are in no position to behave like they will never die one day, like they should be earning so much money as if they will live for 1 000 years, run up debts which can not be repaid, or become such tyrants that no revenge will be extracted from them. Sickness has been created as a mercy to us in order to mend our ways and meet our Creator in a pure state, free of blemish and sin. Sometimes, we become so engrossed in the world that we forget to willfully think of the Almighty; so the Almighty, through His mercy, forces us to think of Him!

It is for this reason that the sick are supposed to be in a reflective mode and close to the Almighty. They are special not because they are suffering, but because the Almighty has given them an opportunity of cleansing their soul, repent and start a new lease on life.


Reason for Sickness

Why me? But why me?

Apart from the fact that we have no right to ask this question, the sooner we come to accept our sickness and see the goodness in it for ourselves and realize that
the Almighty never places a burden on us which we can not bear, the sooner we will be on our path to recovery – physically as well as mentally.

Sickness is something that we should psychologically prepare for long before it even occurs. It is like preparation for death. A person who emerges from a sickness reformed, such sickness is a blessing for him, but one who recovers whilst thinking that his recovery was due to his own treatment and intellect, it was just “one of those things that happens,” and still persists in his wrong ways, then this sickness is nothing but a curse and a drain on the purse for him. For such people, prolonged sickness is better. Better a sick body than a sick mind!

Sickness is not meant to only restore your physical health, but your spiritual health too. Look at the once powerful boxer, the admiration of everyone - Muhammad Ali - today struggling with Parkinsons, and the feared wrestler – the Undertaker – forced into early retirement. If someone accidentally head butts Messi, Kaka or Rooney on the field, their soccer skills are placed on hold until they recover! Ponder the fate of some rulers of powerful “untouchable” countries who all suffered prolonged pain and frustrating sickness which no doctor could cure before they agonizingly died. Did their gym membership and vitamin supplements preserve their health so as to indefinitely continue their careers? Could they overcome their sicknesses? What lesson is there for us in these examples?

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in a hospital bed, dying for nothing. You can eat right and exercise regularly, but you will die exactly on your appointed time. If you give up smoking, red meat and sugar, you will not live a second longer, though it may seem so. The point is to keep fit with the intention of staving off death, impressing others with your six-pack or your hour-glass figure, or in order to elongate your life, are all erroneous. Health must be kept up solely with the intention of keeping up the worship of the Almighty.

Doctors will tell you that sickness is the vengeance of nature for the violation of her laws and will make all types of predictions regarding the life-expectancy of their patients, but these are not always accurate. A new-born is diagnosed with two holes in his heart, but lives for sixty years, whilst a healthy athlete suddenly feels a pain in his chest at 25 and dies instantly. A smoker lives a fairly healthy life till 69, but dies three months after he quits the habit. Wasn’t his quitting supposed to give him ten years more? Are we really in control of our health? Are we really in control of anything?

Health is a trust which needs nurturing, and sickness should be regarded as a roadblock – a momentary stop – on our road of life, to occasionally refresh and refocus us, physically as well as spiritually.


Treatment Regimes

Many people spend their health gaining wealth, then spend all their wealth in regaining their health. Private healthcare is not cheap. A heart operation can set you back a million rand, and many do not have non-interest based Medical Aids like Roshmed. Thus, it is not surprising that many people will look for cheaper alternatives – many of which are not based on Islamic or scientific principles.

As appealing as these schemes sound, beware of them.

The most blatant of such medical hoaxes are the likes of Mr Penny, King Mowlana and Bapa Patel who claim fantastic results by using dubious instruments such as Green Powder, Secret Rings, Sacred Smoke and Magic Sticks in their treatment. Sangomas, seers, astrologers and mediums all boast fantastic results, of course with the help of the jinn who force the practitioner to practice filthy and polytheistic rituals in order to effect cure.

For those who think the crystal, the bones and skins are all taboo in treatments, the devil can also make his appearance through modern methods of treatment in plush and respectable consulting rooms. Such practitioners need not be living in seedy neighbourhoods or in remote townships. They are not dressed in traditional or queer clothing, and they may even be educated. They are living in our midst, some even use modern machinery and have given their treatments convincing and
appealing scientific names.

Both goodness and darkness have power; but, as Muslims we do not sell our soul to the devil and fail our test. Muslims adopt wholesome treatment methods and ask the Almighty for help. Our noble Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) informed us that there is a cure for every sickness; so for some, cure will be found in modern Surgery, for some in Tibb, for some in Homeopathy and for some in Nutrition. Remember, cures done through dark powers always come back to haunt you if you do not continue with it.


Cure for All

Let us make a collective prayer for the complete recovery of everyone in the ummah. Remember that whilst it is the medicine that goes down the throat, it is the Almighty Who cures. So recite Durood Sharief and “Allahumma Shaafi Allahumma Kaafi” before popping those pills.

Also remember that you can be cured in three years or in three days, so have faith and give sadaqah (charity) often, recite Surah Fatiha, the Manzil, and other incantations from the Qur’an and Sunnah and blow on yourself. It is also good to take a second medical opinion, but also try items such as zam zam water, kulunji (black seeds), honey and ajwah dates in which the Almighty has placed curative properties and for which you do not need a prescription to obtain from Islamic shops.

Lastly, the sick are very close to the Almighty. Our Lord appoints 70 000 angels to ask forgiveness for those who take the effort of visiting them, so ask them to pray for you and for themselves too. Sickness is a worldly malady. The inhabitants of paradise will not even experience a mild headache, so take it in good cheer.

[LaSorcia]

Thank you for this. You posted a word in good season for me.

[M.I.A.]

I didn't buy into the curing illness business..

But I guess I have learned not to make things worse.

...Now if only money grew on trees.

And you could walk away from illness.