When You’re Hurting and Nothing Seems to Help | Allah’s Names | Dr. Omar Suleiman | Ep. 23

When You're Hurting and Nothing Seems to Help

Muhammad ibn Hatib says that I was just a child when a pot of boiling liquid tipped and burnt my hand. And then my mother, may Allah be pleased with her, frantically ran with me to the house of the Prophet ﷺ. What would you do if you lived in Medina at the time and needed to see a doctor? But the man whose du'a is always answered ﷺ lives right next door.

So he said that the Prophet ﷺ saw me and then he recited over that burn:

Take away the harm, Lord of the people. Heal, for You are the healer. And there is no healing except for Your healing. A healing that leaves behind no trace of illness or affliction.

Al-Shafi: The Absolute Healer

And because shifa isn't truly found through a medicine or even a capable doctor, you turn to His name, al-Shafi, the absolute healer. He heals entirely and He heals everything. And before the pill and before the band-aids and before the pharmacy, you call upon al-Shafi because the doctor can only treat, but only Allah can heal.

خُذْ بِالْأَسْبَابِ وَلَا تَعْبُدَ الْأَسْبَابِ - Take the means, but don't turn the means into an object of worship.

Now if you have the means, as in the money, you often think about who the best doctor is to treat this particular disease. Or where can I get this procedure done from the most prestigious place because I have the ability to pay for it.

But look at what the Prophet ﷺ said: No Muslim visits a sick brother or sister and says seven times:

I ask Allah the Almighty, the Lord of the mighty throne to cure you. That brother or sister will be cured unless his time has come.

So who is the doctor? It's not some human in a VIP hospital that you can't afford or get an appointment with. It's رَبُّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظِيمِ, the Lord of the mighty throne.

But notice that the Prophet ﷺ said that unless his time has come. But what happened to the healing of the du'a? It simply healed you from something else. It healed you from sin or it healed you from punishment. Or it healed you from arrogance. In fact, Ash-Shafi even heals with the sickness itself.

As the Prophet ﷺ said: Do not curse the fever for it burns off your sins the way that fire burns off filth from iron.

When Uthman went to visit Abdullah ibn Mas'ud as he was in his final moments of illness. He said to him, مَا تَشْتَكِي - What is ailing you? قَالَ ذُنُوبِي - He said, My sins.

And Uthman said, وَمَا تَشْتَهِي - And what would you like to make you feel better? قَالَ رَحْمَةُ رَبِّي - He said, The mercy of my Lord.

Uthman said, آتِي لَكَ بِطَبِيب - Do you want me to call a doctor for you? Ibn Mas'ud said, الطَّبِيبُ أَمْرَضَنِي - The doctor is the one who prescribed me this illness. Meaning Allah.

Just like Ar-Razzaq sometimes provides by restricting. Ash-Shafi sometimes heals by illness. But in a different way.

You see, you trust the healer so much that every treatment is a success as long as you accept it. And on top of that, you actively ask during your illness for more than just the physical treatment to work. But for the disease to take your sins and your concerns away with it. So that your rank would be elevated in the sight of Allah. A great doctor treats you so that you're even better than before, right? Ash-Shafi raises your rank and removes your sins while also healing your pain and illness.

The Healing of Jibril

Think of this other scenario. When the Prophet ﷺ was sick and it wasn't a nurse that visited him in a hospital. Jibril comes to visit the Prophet ﷺ. And he says, يَا مُحَمَّدُ - Are you feeling sick? He said, نَعَمْ يَا جِبْرِيلُ - Yes, oh Jibril.

So Jibril puts his hand on him and says:

In the name of Allah, I recite over you. From everything that ails you, from every harm, from every evil eye. In the name of Allah, I recite over you.

Look how comprehensive this healing is. And Allah knows that you've probably been through a lot and that you need to be put back together holistically. But remember that the one who can put you back together isn't in a clinic or a capsule. He's the Lord of the throne and at the same time closer to you than your jugular vein. And if you turn your face upward with a single sigh, it reaches him as a cry from the heart. And Al-Qawi doesn't just give you strength. Ash-Shafi mends you from within.

And he is with you when you are sick. The Prophet ﷺ said that on the Day of Judgment Allah will say: O son of Adam, I was sick but you did not visit me. And he will say, My Lord, how could I visit you when you are the Lord of the worlds? And Allah will say: Did you not know that my servant so and so was sick and you did not visit him? And had you visited him, you would have found me with him.

So Ash-Shafi is with the ill, healing in real time even with his presence. And the one who is ill only attributes healing to Allah. And that's why Ibrahim said:

And when I fall ill, it is he who cures me. He attributed the illness to himself but then reserved the cure exclusively for Allah. And even the Prophets knew that they couldn't heal themselves. They knew that only Ash-Shafi owns the cure and schedules the descent in the same way he does his revelation.

The Quran as Healing

And Allah didn't just name himself the healer. He turned his revelation into healing as well:

And we send down of the Quran that which is healing and mercy for the believers. And it covers so much more than a flu.

And Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim said that I once stayed in Mecca and I fell ill with no access to a doctor or medicine. And he says, فَكُنتُ أَتَعَالَجُ بِالْفَاتِحَةِ - So I began to treat myself with Surat Al-Fatiha and I saw an astonishing effect on me. So I started to prescribe it to people in pain and they too started to recover quickly.

SubhanAllah, the same surah that you recite 17 times a day that heals you from spiritual darkness is also medicine to the body. And as you take the physical means of healing the body, remember that He too is the giver of means. When medicine works, He created its elements and their properties. When it doesn't, He decreed a different door for shifa for you to enter.

And wallahi, none of this is a dismissal of doctors or medication. There are certainly diagnoses that require treatment and therapy and support and medicine and all of those things. And it was Muslim scholars who were the pioneers of medicine and who wrote encyclopedias on different forms of treatment. While at the same time Muslim leaders built the world's first hospitals. Yet still, the Quran is shifa and rahmah walking next to your medication. Not replacing it, but blessing it.

At-Tayyib: The Pure

But how do you make sure that your dua shine even while you're in the midst of your illness? This brings us to the next door. Allah is at-Tayyib, the pure. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1015)

Indeed, Allah is pure and He accepts only what is pure.

And Imam Ibn al-Qayyim said: He is at-Tayyib, meaning nothing emanates from Him except what is good. And nothing ascends to Him except what is good. And nothing draws near to Him except what is good.

The word لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ is al-kalimatu at-tayyiba, the pure word. Because it cures the most fatal spiritual disease of shirk. And the city of the Prophet ﷺ is tayyiba, is pure. Because it expels the greatest evils of hypocrisy and is blessed even in its grain. And Allah calls those who are of His noble servants and hence suitable spouses, الطَّيِّبُونَ وَالطَّيِّبَاتُ, the pure men and pure women.

And in one narration, when you go to visit someone who is sick, so that you can call upon Ash-Shafi to cure them, a caller from the heavens cries out:

May you be pure, may your walk be blessed, and may you arrive to your abode in paradise.

And when they are welcomed into paradise, it will be said:

Peace be on to you, you've been purified, so now enter my paradise forever. The beautiful people for the beautiful one, the pure ones near the pure.

Purifying Your Du'as

Allah is pure, He only accepts that which is pure. And on that basis you have to ask yourself, if you've been making du'a for Allah to heal you, or insisting upon Allah to answer you, on what basis do you expect that answer when you've contaminated your provisions with that which is impure.

The Prophet ﷺ said that a disheveled traveler raises his hands, and he says, يَا رَبِّ يَا رَبِّ and he has all the signs of desperation on him. But his food is unlawful, his drink is unlawful, his clothing is unlawful, and he is completely nourished by that which is unlawful. So on what basis does he expect to be answered?

So if you want the door of healing to open, purify the key. Pure earnings, pure food, pure intentions, pure company, pure speech. Don't block the pathways of the heavens for yourself with that which is impure.

And this is where people confuse two names. When we chase health and wealth, two of the greatest blessings after Iman, and this is when we need to remember that we can't pit the names of Allah against each other. So you can't call upon Allah Ar-Razzaq for wealth, and Allah Ash-Shafi for healing, but then ignore Him as At-Tayyib.

Allah has demands of you in order to bless your du'as, and if you want that blessing to remain, then keep the means pure. So if you want shifa, you don't poison your medicine. You approach Allah with pure nourishments in every element of your life, and then you depend upon Him to unlock the cure.

Al-Mu'ti: The Giver

And that takes us to His final name in this family. You will always find Allah when you meet His demands to be Al-Mu'ti, the giver. Al-Mu'ti is the giver whose giving never runs dry.

We say every day after our prayer as the Prophet ﷺ taught:

Oh Allah, there is no one who can withhold what you give, and there is no one who can give what you withhold.

And in another narration he said ﷺ:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 71)

When Allah wants good for someone, He gives him understanding of the religion. And Allah is the one who gives, and I am the distributor.

So the Prophet ﷺ himself points away from himself to the source. Just like a doctor points beyond his prescription. Al-Mu'ti owns the treasures of revelation and knowledge, and the Prophets were just delivering the package. In the same way that Ash-Shafi owns the healing, but the doctors are just treating with his cure.

And he gives us not only things, but states of being. So you know how sometimes the doctor says you're cured, but you still don't feel healthy? Or you can't name the pain or explain what exactly feels off? Al-Mu'ti gives you states of being that are good. He gives you Sakina, tranquility when you're anxious. He gives you clarity when you're confused. He gives you contentment when you receive bad news.

The Rhythm of Healing

So feel the rhythm of healing when you call upon him with these names. Ash-Shafi removes the disease. At-Tayyib purifies so that the wound doesn't get reinfected. Al-Mu'ti gives you what rebuilds you, so that you don't get sick again. That's the rhythm of healing with Allah's names.

And as for the game plan of healing with your actions, consider your environment and consumption. Physically, when we trade clean food and water and air for junk that hurts us, disease naturally follows. Mentally, when we plague our minds with unnecessary noise and toxic comparisons, restlessness follows. And spiritually, we're no different. When our ears and eyes and tongues live in foulness, we're just not going to be spiritually healthy and are asking for the same disease to return again and again while fooling ourselves by pretending that we want the cure.

You can't keep demanding a cure while clinging to what poisoned you in the first place. But here's the good news. When the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2204)

Every disease has a cure, that means spiritual diseases too. But you have to be willing to take the medicine. And medicine is usually bitter. But the one who can finally cure you can also prescribe a patience for you that can sustain you in the process.

And true healing isn't the absence of pain. It's the presence of His peace filling the space that that pain once occupied.

Final Du'a

Heal me in ways that medicine can't fix. Remove whatever sickness has touched my body and expel along with it any sin that poisoned my soul. Let every ache remind me of Your mercy and every cure draw me closer to You. Heal this ummah from its wounds and make us whole again through faith and patience.

Make my life pure enough to be accepted by You. Purify my wealth from the unlawful and my worship from showing off. Purify my clothes and my food in every way that I seek You.

Giver of all that heals and all that sustains. Let me never forget that every gift from You is a blessed call back to You. And let it find me only as a grateful recipient and servant.