Chapter 10: Ahâdîth about patience

Umm Salamah said: I heard the Prophet (SAAS) saying, “There is no Muslim afflicted with calamity who says ‘To Allâh we belong and to Him is our return; O Allâh reward me for this calamity and compensate me with what is better for me,’ but Allâh will compensate him with what is better for him.” She said: “When Abû Salamah died, I said: ‘Who among Muslims is better than Abû Salamah? His household was the first to migrate to the Messenger of Allâh!’ Anyhow, I said what what the Prophet (SAAS) taught us to say, and Allâh compensated me with the Messenger of Allâh. The Prophet (SAAS) sent Hâtib ibn Abî Balta‘ah to ask for my hand in marriage on his behalf, but I told him that I had a daughter, and that I was a very jealous woman. The Prophet (SAAS) responded: ‘As far as her daughter is concerned, I shall pray to Allâh to make her independent, and I shall pray to Allâh to take away her jealousy.’ So I married the Messenger (SAAS).” (Muslim)

Abû Mûsâ al-Ash‘arî said: The Prophet (SAAS) said: “When a child of a man dies, Allâh asks the angels, ‘Did you take the soul of My slave’s child?’ They reply, ‘Yes.’ He asks them, ‘Did you take away the apple of his eye?’, and they reply, ‘Yes.’ The He asks: ‘What did My slave say?’ They tell Him: ‘He praised You and said: “To Allâh we belong and to Him is our return.” ’ Allâh says: ‘Build a house for him in Paradise and call it Bait al-hamd (the house of praise)’.” (At-Tirmidhî, Ahmad and Ibn Hibbân)

Anas (RA) narrated that the Prophet (SAAS) said: “Allâh said: ‘If I test My slave by depriving him of his two precious ones (meaning the eyes or eyesight), and he faces that with patient perseverance, I shall compensate him with Paradise.’ ” (al-Bukhârî)

From Â’ishah (RA) via ‘Urwah and az-Zuhri: “The Prophet (SAAS) said: ‘No affliction befalls a Muslim but Allâh forgives his wrong actions because of it, even if it be no more than a thorn’.” (al-Bukhârî and Muslim)

Sa‘d ibn Abî Waqqâs (RA) said: “I asked the Prophet (SAAS) who among the people are most severely tried? He said, ‘The Prophets, then the right acting people, and so on down through various categories of people. Man will be tested according to the strength of his faith. The stronger his faith, the more severe his trial, and the weaker his faith, the lighter his trial. The believer will be continually tested until he walks on earth with all his wrong actions forgiven’.” (al-Bukhârî)

Anas (RA) narrated that a son of Abû Talhah (RA) fell ill and died one day when Abû Talhah was away from home. When Abû Talhah’s wife realized that her son had died, she covered him with a blanket, and left him lying by the wall. Abû Talhah came home and asked how the boy was, and his wife told him: “He has calmed down and I hope he is resting,” so Abû Talhah thought that the child was getting better. That night he slept with his wife, and in the morning he got up and performed ghusl. When he was about to go out, he wife told him that his son had died. So Abû Talhah went and prayed with the Prophet (SAAS), then told him what had happened. The Prophet (SAAS) responded by saying, “May Allâh bless this last night of yours.” A man from Ansâr said, “I have seen nine children of the man who was born as result of that night, and all of them have read the Qur’ân.” (al-Bukhârî)

Abû Sa’îd al-Khudrî (RA) reported that the Prophet (SAAS) said: “No-one can be given a better an more abundant gift than patience.” (al-Bukhârî and Muslim)

Patience at the time of sickness

Abû Sa‘îd al-Khudrî (RA) said: “I entered upon the Prophet (SAAS) when he was sick and had a high temperature. I put my hand on the cover with which he was covering himself and I could feel the heat of his fever. I said, ‘How strong is your fever, O Messenger of Allâh!’ He said, ‘We Prophets are like that: our pain is multiplied so our rewards will be multiplied’.” (Ahmad)

Jâbir ibn Abdullâh (RA) said that the Messenger of Allâh (SAAS) enterer upon a woman and asked her, “Why are you shivering like that?” She said, “It is because of fever,” and cursed the fever. The Prophet (SAAS) said, “Do not slander fever, because it takes away many wrong actions, just as the blacksmith’s bellows remove dross and impurities from iron.” (Muslim)

Ziyâd ibn Ziyâd, the mawlâ (freed slave) of Ibn ‘Abbâs (RA), narrated from one of the Sahâbah, who said: “We entered upon the Prophet (SAAS) when he was ill with fever. We expressed our sorrow for his pain, and said, ‘May our mothers and fathers be sacrificed for you, O Messenger of Allâh! How severe is your pain!’ He replied, ‘We Prophets are afflicted many times more strongly.’ We said, ‘Subhân’allâh!’ He asked, ‘Do you find this strange? There were some Prophets who were killed by ringworm.’ We said, ‘Subhân’allâh!’ He asked, ‘Do you find this strange? The most severely tried of people are the Prophets, then the right acting people, the those who are less right acting, and so on.’ We said, ‘Subhân’allâh!’ He said, ‘Do you find this strange? They used to enjoy their times of trials and afflictions as you enjoy your times of ease.’ ”

Masrûq narrated from ‘Â’ishah (RA) who said: “I have never seen anyone endure more severe pain than the Prophet (SAAS). When he fell ill, his pain became so severe, to the extent that he could not sleep for nineteen nights.”

‘Â’ishah (RA) narrated that the Messenger of Allâh (SAAS) said: “Truly fever makes wrong actions fall away from a man like leaves fall from a tree.” And it was narrated that the Prophet (SAAS) said: “The likeness of the believer when he suffers from illness is like iron when it enters the fire; the dross is removed, and the good elements stay.”

It was narrated that Abû Ayyûb al-Ansârî (RA) said: “The Prophet (SAAS) visited a sick man of the Ansâr, and when the Prophet (SAAS) asked how he was, he said, ‘O Messenger of Allâh, I have not closed my eyes for seven days.’ The Prophet (S) told him, ‘Have patience, my brother, for if you do, you will be rid of your wrong actions as easily as you acquired them.’ The Prophet (SAAS) also said: ‘The time of illness cancels out the time of wrong actions.’ ”

Anas (RA) narrated that the Prophet (SAAS) said: “When a slave of Allâh becomes ill for three days, he will come out having shed all his wrong actions, and will become as sinless as the day he was born.” And it was narrated that the Prophet (SAAS) said: “The prayer of the sick person will never be rejected, until he recovers.”

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