Sabr Part 2
Section 15 of 15 · Faraid in Islam · Ustadh Mahmud Kurkcu
Sickness as Cleansing, and a Comprehensive Dua
There are those who say of a person, this one has never been sick — two years, three years without so much as a cold — and take it as a sign of blessing. But from a different perspective it might equally be said: there is something wrong here; Allah does not think much of this person. Where sickness comes, even something as small as a cold, and ṣabr is shown toward it, Allah (swt) washes away sins continuously — it is a cleansing process. So if a person is sick, he shows ṣabr and says, alḥamdulillāh, it is from Allah (swt). If diagnosed with cancer, the same: alḥamdulillāh, from Allah (swt). If diagnosed with AIDS, the question must first be asked — how did this come about? But if the person is a good, practising Muslim, then alḥamdulillāh, there is nothing to worry about, even in that case. May Allah (swt) not test anyone with a hardship beyond what can be borne.
May Allah (swt) make His servants people who truly understand the concept of ṣabr, and establish it as a permanent attribute of theirs, so that it is recognised when ṣabr is called for rather than mere taḥammul. May Allah (swt) grant the ḥasanāt of ṣabr without even sending the test that earns it — Allah (swt) is capable of anything — for no one wishes for hardship, however difficult.
A man once came to Rasūlullāh (peace be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah, teach me a comprehensive duʿāʾ.‡ The man then remarked that this was a simple, well-known duʿāʾ. Rasūlullāh (peace be upon him) grew angry at this and said: you are asking for everything that is good — all the good of this world, and all the goodness of the Hereafter, and protection from Jahannam besides — what more could be asked for? Small duʿāʾs of this kind must be made with an understanding of what is actually being asked. So it is asked: O Allah, give us ṣabr, the quality of ṣabr, and enable us to make shukr as is due — for shukr can never be made to Allah (swt) in the measure deserved, and, for the most part, ṣabr too falls short. Allah (swt) is asked to top up this ṣabr, and to enable the maintaining of shukr for as long as life lasts, and to grant death as Muslims, in the company of Muḥammad (peace be upon him) on the Day of Judgement, entering Jannah with the dukhūl al-awwalīn, the first company of Muslims to enter, immediately behind Muḥammad (peace be upon him), as his neighbours in Jannah — and, beyond this, the greatest favour of all, the sight of His noble Face.
Alḥamdu lillāhi Rabbi al-ʿālamīn. Subḥānaka Allāhumma bi-ḥamdik, nashhadu an lā ilāha illā anta waḥdaka lā sharīka lak, nastaghfiruka wa natūbu ilayk.
وَٱلْعَصْرِ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَفِى خُسْرٍ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ
“(I swear) by the Time, man is in a state of loss indeed, except those who believed and did righteous deeds, and exhorted each other to follow truth, and exhorted each other to observe patience.” (103:1–3)
Ṣadaqa Allāhu al-ʿAẓīm.
***
* Kept as heard. He glosses nasaf himself as "half"; the ordinary Arabic word for half is niṣf, and this may be an ASR mishearing of it, but the reading is not certain enough to correct, and the word is given exactly as said, together with his own gloss.
** Kept as said. "Under a tree — not much of a tree" is his own aside and is kept as given.
*** Kept as said. "Woman is one of the poisonous arrows of shayṭān" is given as a statement of the Prophet (peace be upon him); the wording could not be matched to a specific hadith collection and is flagged rather than silently attributed.
**** Kept as said. Sultan ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd II (r. 1876–1909) was not in fact the last Ottoman caliph: three further Sultans and Caliphs followed him, the last being ʿAbd al-Majīd II, who held the title of Caliph alone from 1922 to 1924.
† Kept as said. He says such a person "condemns everybody to jannah for sure" as the parallel case to the story that follows (drinking, condemnation "for life… eternity"); the sense of the passage throughout is Jahannam, not Jannah, and is given here accordingly.
‡ Kept as heard. The actual words of the duʿāʾ taught here were not carried through to what survives of this exchange — only the surrounding words are — and nothing has been supplied in their place.