Illness in Islam — Divine Wisdom, Expiation of Sins, and the Believer's Response to Trials
Fear of Allah is the refuge in times of calamity, and consolation in times of worry and misfortune. Trials are an everlasting divine law, and a requirement of Allah’s wisdom and justice — whose impact is clearly evident in poverty and wealth, health and sickness, fear and security, deficiency and abundance, and in everything we love and hate. We do not escape the circle of trials.
“And We tested them with good and evil that perhaps they would return.”
“And We test you with evil and with good as trial, and to Us you will be returned.”
Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “We test you with hardship and ease, health and sickness, wealth and poverty, lawful and unlawful, obedience and disobedience, guidance and misguidance.”
The wise and prudent person must be certain that all things have been completed, and that Allah has determined everything — both small and great — and knows what was and what will be, and if it were to be, how it would be.
“There is no creature on earth or bird that flies with its wings except that they are communities like you. We have neglected nothing in the Register.”
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “The first thing Allah created was the Pen. He said to it: Write. It said: O Lord, what should I write? He said: Write the decrees of everything until the Hour comes.”
Fate is inevitable, and what does not happen, creation has no power to create. If a person is destined for a difficult situation and things become difficult for him, then he must wear a belt with two ends: one of them is patience, and the other is contentment, so that he may receive the full reward for doing so. How many hardships have been difficult — impossible for the entire world to remove — and then they were relieved with ease in less than a moment.
It was said to Al-Hasan: O Abu Saeed, where did this disposition come from? He said: From a lack of contentment with Allah. It was said: And where did the lack of contentment with Allah come from? He said: From a lack of knowledge of Allah.
When Saeed ibn Jubair was brought to Al-Hajjaj to be killed, a man cried, so Saeed said to him: What makes you cry? He said: Because of what happened to you. Saeed said: Then do not cry, for it was in God’s knowledge that this matter would happen. Then he recited:
“No disaster strikes upon the earth or among yourselves except that it is in a register before We bring it into being.”
Whatever befalls a person — if it pleases him, then it is a clear blessing, and if it displeases him, then it is still a blessing. On the one hand it expiates his sins and he is rewarded for it, and on the other hand there is wisdom and mercy in it that he does not know.
“But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah knows, while you do not know.”
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “How amazing is the affair of the believer, for his affair is all good. If something good happens to him, he is thankful, and that is good for him. And if something bad happens to him, he is patient, and that is good for him. And that is only for the believer.”
The Wisdom and Benefits of Illness
All mankind agree, without hesitation, that health is a crown on the heads of the healthy which only the sick can see, and that health and wellness are a blessing that many people are deceived by. Diseases and ailments are widespread like fire in dry wood — from which no age is free, no country is independent, and no human being is spared, except those whom Allah has mercy on.
Eight things are indispensable for a young man — and the eight things must happen to him: joy and sorrow, unity and separation, ease and hardship, then sickness and recovery.
Illnesses and ailments — even though they are bitter and heavy, and very painful — the Creator has given them wisdom and many benefits, known to those who know them and unknown to those who are ignorant of them.
“I counted the benefits and wisdom of diseases, and they exceeded one hundred benefits. The benefit of the heart and soul from pains and diseases is something that only those who have life can sense. The health of the hearts and souls depends on the pains and hardships of the bodies.”
Being afflicted with diseases and illnesses may be a gift and mercy from Allah — to expiate sins and raise a person’s rank before Him.
The Hadiths on Illness as Expiation
Fever asked permission to see the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and he said: “Who is this?” She said: “Umm Mildam” — which is the nickname of fever. He ordered that it be taken to the people of Quba’, and they experienced from it what Allah knows best. They came to him and complained about it, and he said: “What do you want? If you want me to supplicate to Allah for you to remove it from you, or if you want it to be a purification for you?” They said: “O Messenger of Allah, will you do that?” He said: “Yes.” They said: “Then leave it.” (Narrated by Ahmad and Al-Hakim with a good chain of narration.)
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “There is no Muslim who is afflicted with harm from illness or anything else, except that Allah expiates his sins because of it, just as a tree sheds its leaves.”
A man said to the Messenger of Allah: “What do we have to do with these diseases that afflict us?” He said: “They are expiations.” Ubayy ibn Ka’b said: “And if they are few in number?” He said: “Even if they are a thorn or something greater.”
The Messenger of Allah visited a sick person who was suffering from an illness and said: “Be of good cheer, for Allah the Almighty says: ‘It is My Fire which I unleash upon My believing servant in this world, so that his portion of the Fire in the Hereafter will be his portion.’”
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, entered upon Umm al-Sa’ib and said: “What is the matter with you, Umm al-Sa’ib? Why are you shaking?” She said: “It is fever, may Allah not bless it.” He said: “Do not curse fever, for it removes the sins of the children of Adam just as the bellows remove the impurities of iron.”
Illness Is Not an End in Itself — Seeking Wellbeing Is Praiseworthy
From the above, one should not think that illness is a desired goal. The believer should not wish for affliction or ask Allah to send illness upon him.
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Ask Allah for forgiveness and well-being, for after certainty no one has been given anything better than well-being.”
Mutraf said: “For me to be well and thankful is dearer to me than for me to be afflicted and be patient.”
Illness is not an end in itself, but rather for what it leads to in terms of patience, seeking reward, good reward, and praising the Benefactor in every situation.
“Calamities that happen without the servant’s choice — such as illness, the death of a loved one, or thieves taking his money — are only rewarded for being patient with them, not for the calamity itself. Rather, the calamity expiates sins, for reward is only for voluntary actions and what results from them.”
The Believer and the Disbeliever Are Not Equal in Affliction
From this standpoint, the disbeliever and the Muslim, the righteous and the wicked, are united in the calamity of illness on the same level — but they differ completely in fruit and outcome.
“You see the disbeliever as the healthiest of people in body, but the sickest of them in heart. And you find the believer as the healthiest of people in heart, but the sickest of them in body. By Allah, if your hearts were sick and your bodies were healthy, you would be less important to Allah than a dung beetle.”
“Be of good cheer, for the illness of the believer is made by Allah as an expiation and a place of repentance for him. And the illness of the wicked is like the camel — its people tie it up and then release it, and it does not know why it was tied up and why it was released.”
The Example of Urwah ibn al-Zubayr
Urwah ibn al-Zubayr complained of a disease in his leg, so they cut it off from his knee, and he was silent and did not groan. That same night, one of his sons fell from the roof and died. Urwah said: O Allah, to You be praise. They were seven sons, so You took one and left six. I had four limbs, so You took one and left three. If You took, then You gave, and if You afflicted, then You cured.
This is the believer — he looks with the eye of his insight and praises Allah for two things: first, preventing what could have happened of greater calamity, knowing that there are hidden things in the corners and calamities in the wilderness; and second, preserving what could have disappeared, of overwhelming health and abundant grace. So he looks at the existing blessing before he looks at the lost blessing.
“What would Allah do with your punishment if you are grateful and believe? And Allah is ever Appreciative and Knowing.”
Illness in Islam is neither a punishment to be cursed nor an end to be sought. It is a divine mercy embedded within the fabric of this world’s trials — a mechanism by which Allah expiates the sins of His believing servant, raises his rank, and purifies his heart from attachment to the pleasures of this world. The Prophet’s own words confirm this across multiple authenticated narrations: no fatigue, worry, grief, harm, or even a thorn that pricks a Muslim, except that Allah expiates some of his sins because of it. The scholars — Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Taymiyyah, and Ibn Hajar — all affirm this principle. The believer’s response to illness is patience and contentment, not complaint and cursing, and his reward for that patience is guaranteed with Allah.
Does Islam Teach That Fever Expiates All Sins Including Major Ones? — A Clarification of the Hadith