Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) is the Curer

As Muslims, it is very important to have the correct belief in Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala). He is the One who cures us when we are sick. It is also from the Sunnah to seek and take the remedy. So we do not fall into two common errors.

The first is not to take the remedy when we know it can help cure us by the will of Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala). The second is that we believe that only the remedy or medicine will cure us. Here, we would fall into a major sin because it is Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) who is the Curer and if He wills we are cured and if He wills we are not. We should believe that only Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) is the Curer otherwise we may fall into shirk (associating partners with Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala)).

Therefore, we seek and take the remedy and put out trust in Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) by asking Him to cure us and believing that only He (Subhana wa Ta'ala) is the Curer.


The Messenger (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) would say,


"وَاشْفِ أَنْتَ الشّافِي لا شِفَاءَ إلا شِفَاؤُك".


".And cure us for You are the Curer, there is no cure but Your cure"
[Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree and Saheeh Muslim].


‘Abdulrahman as-Sa’di (may Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) have mercy on him) likewise shows that we should not rely too much on medicine as though it is the only remedy that can cure us. Rather Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) has made a cure in other aspects that we may not even realise. For example, the story of Yusuf’s (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) father who was given a piece of clothing from Yusuf (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam). When Yusuf’s (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) father smelt his son’s fragrance, he regained his eyesight and he was cured. The fragrance of Yusuf (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) was a cure for his father’s eyesight.

Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) was able to cure Yusuf’s (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) father without a reason but Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) is All-Wise. Similar to this is the story of Ayub (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) whereby no medication or doctors were able to cure his skin condition. Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) ordered him to hit the ground hard with his foot such that pure water would gush out. Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) then ordered him to drink from it and have a bath from that water. So Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) removed the harm internally and externally from him and Ayub (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) was cured. Therefore, Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) cures His servants by either clear apparent reasons such as medication or by other not so apparent reasons that even the human intellect cannot comprehend.

Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) said:

{ وإن يمسسك الله بضر فلا كاشف له إلا هو }

And When Allah wills that you are inflicted with harm there is no one to remove it but him
[Soorah al-An’aam:17]

[Taken from Bahjatu Quloob al-Abraar by Sheikh ‘Abdulrahman as-Sa’di (may Allah (Subhana wa Ta'ala) have mercy on him) p.24 summarised].