Good health is essential for carrying out all of life’s tasks with joy. Without a healthy mind and body, daily activities are disrupted. Health is an abundant blessing from Allah for His servants. Only a person who is ill can truly appreciate the importance and value of this blessing. When illness takes hold of the human body, it disrupts not only worldly affairs but also religious worship. Obligatory and mandatory acts of worship may still be performed, though with difficulty, but voluntary and supererogatory acts of worship are often missed. However, for believing, Muslim servants, illness too is a blessing. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: “No fatigue, illness, anxiety, sorrow, harm or distress befalls a Muslim, not even a thorn that pricks him, but that Allah expiates some of his sins for it.” (Muslim: 2573) In other words, illness is one of the means by which a believing servant’s sins are forgiven. The very illness that causes a slight decline in a person’s worship can itself act as a purifier for their soul.
Moreover, by exercising patience during illness, a believing servant’s rank rises higher with Allah. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “No Muslim is pricked by a thorn or hurt by something greater than that, except that a rank is raised for him because of it, and a sin is removed from him.” (Muslim: 6327) In the difficult time of illness, patience and reliance upon Allah earn the servant this reward.
The deeds a believer performs while healthy continue to bring them reward even while they are ill. If they are unable to perform those deeds due to incapacity, they still receive the equivalent reward of the deeds they would have performed. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: “When a servant falls ill or travels, the same reward is recorded for him as when he used to perform that deed while healthy and at home.” (Bukhari: 2996) Such a great reward comes simply because of worship performed while healthy. Every human being faces hardship and trials. Some face hardship over their very life, others over insufficient wealth. No one on Earth is free from calamity and hardship. Illness is one such calamity. But believing servants are the exception. Because when illness is accepted as a test from Allah, and one seeks forgiveness from Him and exercises patience, countless rewards are earned. However, this requires complete faith in Allah and sincerity of intention as a precondition. Otherwise, illness will bring nothing but physical suffering, with no other benefit. A hadith states that a person is tested according to the strength of their faith. If someone’s faith is strong, their trial will also be severe. And if their faith is weak or soft, they will be tested according to that level of faith. (Tirmidhi: 2398)