From the lessons of "Encouragement and Warning": Encouragement to be patient, especially for those afflicted in their person or wealth, and the virtue of affliction, illness, and fever

The Shaykh : ... We have been given this fruit for every person afflicted with a trial who is patient with it. This is the aforementioned hadith; how the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) purifies the afflicted person of his sins as fire purifies iron of its dross. It is self-evident that if the sinful Muslim is purified by Allah (Mighty and Majestic) of his sins and transgressions due to this, he will enter the Paradise of his Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) without any punishment. If the hadith of the black woman is explicit in the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) promise that she would go to Paradise, then the hadith before it includes a similar promise for every person afflicted who is patient with his trial. Indeed, there are other hadiths explicit regarding some trials, such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) about Allah (Mighty and Majestic)—that is, a Holy Hadith: ; therefore, just as our brothers who attend our lessons feel with us, the hadiths reported regarding explaining patience with affliction are numerous and very numerous, varying in wording and meaning, but they all converge on one result: namely, that the patient person’s end is that Allah will forgive his sins according to his patience and according to his affliction, and that the outcome of that will be that he enters Paradise.
Therefore, it should be that the meanings of these hadiths are concentrated in our hearts so that they help us to live in this worldly life a happy life, even if the disbelievers and hypocrites, who do not believe in our faith and do not share in our religion, think that we live a difficult, straitened life. The truth is the opposite, as witnessed first by our reality, we Muslims, and then from the faith perspective, which is the original, the divine news comes to say: , as for whoever believes in Allah (Mighty and Majestic) ; so it does not mean by that it is not permissible for him to be rich, it is not permissible for him to be comfortable, it is not permissible for him to enjoy all the adornments of this world; no, rather it may be so, and yet these disbelievers live as He (the Exalted) said: , and reality bears witness, especially regarding the educated class of people who follow the news of the disbelieving European and American world, how the world has opened up for them, and the more they increase from it, the more straitened their living becomes, and true is the Great Allah. As for the believer, you find him, even if he lives in straitened material living, to be content in eye and tranquil in soul, not weary and not complaining; that is because the matter is as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in a hadith in Muslim: . This is from the material aspect; the world is the prison of the believer, he lives in it as a prisoner lives. But what does the prisoner usually seek to escape from this home in which he was thrown, which is a narrow home, to a spacious home?!
So when the believer believes in what came in the Shari'ah regarding the resurrection and rising, and Paradise whose width is the heavens and the earth, he hardly believes that he will come out of this prison to that good, spacious land; unlike the disbeliever; he lives in Paradise from the material aspect, but from the psychological aspect, as you heard the previous verse. I return to say: it should be that we remember the meanings of these hadiths so that we live this happy, good life.
And I want to draw attention to something else on the occasion of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) presenting to this woman and giving her the choice between that she be patient and, between that she be patient and have Paradise, and that he supplicate for her; so she chose Paradise, and chose the patience that leads to Paradise; I want to remind that people differ in their natures and their patience differs, so this woman was, from this aspect, from the fact that she chose patience with the affliction of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), better than that man, and this is contrary to the rule, the rule is that men are better than women, but for every rule there are exceptions, and this is of that type. That man whose story is known and which those who seek nearness to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) through the servants, the awliya (close friends of Allah), and the righteous repeat, that blind man who came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also complaining to him of his blindness, and asking him (peace and blessings be upon him) to supplicate for him exactly as the black woman did, and the Messenger (peace be upon him) his position is consistent and does not differ in terms of his advice to the Ummah, there is no difference for him between men and women, so just as he said here to the woman: ; likewise he said to the man exactly: . He said: No, so supplicate.
The man did not have patience, he wanted to enjoy looking and seeing as people look and see, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him that instruction which people have transmitted and inherited in the books of the Sunnah; where he (peace be upon him) said: , so the man went and performed wudu' (the ablution for prayer) and supplicated with what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) taught him, and he sought nearness through the seeking nearness included in this Prophetic instruction, and its return is that he sought nearness through the supplication of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); and it is his saying: . As if he is saying to him: O Messenger of Allah, you are the best of those who promised and fulfilled; you promised me that you would supplicate for me, and you ordered me to pray and supplicate, so here I have prayed the two rak'ahs (units of prayer) and turned to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) with this supplication, so now help me, assist me in fulfilling my need.
The entire hadith, as is explained in our treatise "Tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means): Its Types and Rulings," revolves around tawassul through the supplication of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and not through his person, and I do not want to delve into this issue now; especially since it is explained in that treatise, but I intended by reminding of this hadith the difference between one person and another, the difference between an old black woman who has patience and another person who does not have patience, so he asks the Messenger (peace be upon him) to supplicate for him, so he actually supplicates for him; because he promised him, so the blind man returns seeing.
This is a karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person) from Allah (Mighty and Majestic) for His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and a mu'jizah (a prophetic miracle) for him that will not be repeated no matter how much the seekers of nearness seek nearness, and no matter how much the wrongdoers supplicate with such a supplication, for they are only deceiving themselves; that is because in the supplication the supplicant says: addressing the Messenger (peace be upon him), saying: , now this mutual intercession is impossible; and therefore I say: however much these wrongdoers who interpret the hadith contrary to its correct interpretation supplicate, this history is fourteen centuries, and those afflicted with blindness are in the millions, not thousands, this incident will not be repeated; why? Because there is no one there who supplicates and with this specific supplication; no, because there is no Prophet after him (peace be upon him).
So we take a lesson from this story, it is obligatory that we emulate this black woman in what we are afflicted with; where she acquired Paradise by her patience with her affliction, as for that one, Allah knows best about him, and he only did not engage in the cause by which the reward is acquired, which is patience, so we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to make us among the patient, .
What does Professor Ali remind us of with this shameful and regrettable distinction? This woman was exposed against her will, and yet she resorted to the possible means to rid herself of this exposure, in which she had no share and no will. Her last resort was to come to her Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and ask him to call upon Allah to cure her of this epilepsy that resulted in the aforementioned exposure. Then, when she preferred to remain in this affliction for the sake of Paradise, she asked the Messenger (peace be upon him) lastly: “Call upon Allah for me that I not be exposed.” This is a woman who was exposed against her will, and yet she asked her Prophet to call upon Allah for her. Where is this compared to our women today who expose themselves intentionally? And not only that, but they do so out of love, display, tabarruj (a woman's display of her adornment), and boasting over their female counterparts. Where are these women in comparison to that black woman? Thus, people differ in faith and in distancing themselves from responding to true faith.
Now we return to answering some of the questions to the extent that we are able to answer them.