The Shaykh’s advice to one of the patients to fast for medical purposes.

The Shaykh : ... In addition to the fact that he was treated at Ibn al-Nafis Hospital here in Damascus at that time, and he did not benefit from it either. So when he informed me of this, I said to him, "O Abu Sulayman, what do you think? Try my experience?" He said, "What do you mean?" I said to him, "We fast a medical fast; you restrict yourself from everything called food or drink except pure water." He said, "By Allah, we have tried everything, so let us try this." He fasted for days, roughly the number of days I fasted, a little more or a little less; I no longer remember exactly. He felt the difference. What used to happen to him? He would be sitting in the house, and a fit would come over him; whatever was in front of him, he would break. A glass bottle, a glass, a plate—everything would go to waste, and he would not be aware of it. Then, when he fasted this short fast, he felt the difference, so he held himself back for months. Then the fits returned, so he fasted for more days than before, and so on, until in the third time, I think he fasted thirty-four or thirty-six days; I no longer remember, by Allah. The point is, he could not complete the whole journey of forty days, but that was one day and this was another day, and Allah healed him.

The questioner : Does it have to be forty days?

The Shaykh : Yes, it must be, of course.

The questioner : Is there a basis for this in the Sunnah?

The Shaykh : Medically, medically, experimentally. And this leads to the following joke. He said, before I tell this joke, the man had become enthusiastic about describing this treatment to every patient. So no one would come to him complaining of an illness without him telling them, "Fast." And he would make it clear that this is a medical fast, not a religious one, because what is the difference? The difference is that, for example, during the forty days, it would cross my mind to drink in broad daylight, to drink, because I am not fasting a religious fast. The point is, no one would come to him complaining of a chronic illness without him telling them, "Fast, fast," until a man came complaining about his mother’s illness, saying that the mother had become bedridden, unable to serve herself, even when she went to relieve herself. She had two daughters who were nurses, yet they were fed up with serving their mother, even though they were nurses! When he heard his complaint, he said to him, "I will point you to the treatment; let her fast." He said to him, "O Shaykh, she has become like a burden; if we tell her to fast, she will not fast because she fears for her life and death." He said to him, "Make her fast against her will. How?" He said, "Put a pitcher of water in front of the table and a glass, and leave her. Let her scream." So the young man showed his compassion for his mother and said to him, "Look, the truth between us is that you do not believe. When will she die from how much she has tormented you with her illness? Are you afraid now that she will die?" ... The truth is that the young man was convinced, and they placed the table next to her, with the pitcher and the glass. She would call out that she was hungry, but no one would respond to her. She was thirsty, and the water was next to her. The young man said, as he was telling our friend Abu Sulayman, "It was not more than six days before she felt the difference. She started getting up from the bed and serving herself." And the point is, she continued drinking only water, and Allah the Exalted and Majestic healed her. This increased our friend’s enthusiasm; every time a patient came to him, he told him, "Fast, the medical fast." And indeed, this is tried and tested. I am one of the individuals who completed the whole journey, meaning forty days, and then stopped...