The purpose and the goal of visiting the sick person differ at times and coincide at times. As for the coincidence, it is that the purpose of visiting the sick person, or attending to the sick person, is always and forever to remind oneself of the state of the human being, and that he fluctuates from health to illness and from illness to death.

The Shaykh : The purpose and the goal of visiting the sick person differ at times and coincide at times. As for the coincidence, it is that the purpose of visiting the sick person, or attending to the sick person, is always and forever to remind oneself of the state of the human being, and that he fluctuates from health to illness and from illness to death. Therefore, you will hear tonight, or later—I do not know—some of the hadiths that came with the command to visit the sick and follow the funeral processions. The reasoning given in them is that they remind one of the Hereafter. So, visiting the sick person, in general, has this benefit and this legal goal, which is reminding one of the Hereafter. I say this about every visit, because there is a detail regarding the visit: Is it always and forever obligatory as a collective obligation, or is it sometimes obligatory as an individual obligation? This varies depending on the state of the sick person or the state of his illness, and depending on whether he has someone to attend to his affairs or not at all. So, in the first case, that is when the sick person has someone to help him and attend to his service in everything he needs, in that case, the visitation of others to him is from the category of recommendation and virtue. But if there is no one to help him, like some of the poor people who are described in the Arabic language as *sa'aliq*—and there is no blame in that—those who are not attended to, then for such people, it is obligatory for some individuals, as an individual obligation, to stay with him, even if it is by taking turns, so that they can attend to his service.
So, visiting the sick person is sometimes obligatory and sometimes recommended. It is obligatory when there is no one to help him in his illness, and there is an individual obligation upon certain people who must attend to his service, as we mentioned. But if someone has been found to fulfill this obligation, then anything beyond that is from the category of noble morals and the virtues of recommended matters, and it is not obligatory as an individual obligation. This is among the wisdoms of the Shari'ah, because you know that the sick person, or at least some of the sick, complain of the many visitors and those who frequent him. Therefore, it is inherited from the Salaf that the visit is the time of milking a camel, meaning a very short time, the length of milking a camel, so that the sick person does not complain of the visitor staying with him in his place. So, this is the detailed statement regarding visiting the sick person: it is generally prescribed to remind one of the Hereafter, and in some cases, it is commanded to help the sick person in his illness. This, of course, may necessitate material assistance if he is poor. In this case, it is obligatory as an individual obligation upon some people. This is what can be detailed regarding the ruling on visiting the sick person.