A Lonely Man & His Pain

A Lonely Man
& His Pain

by Sister Zabrina

LIFE & PEOPLE ~ is a section on ISLAM NEWSROOM for Sister Zabrina from Malaysia. She started with Islam Newsroom a decade ago, and now she is a published author.
Her book, "Life is An Open Secret" became a best seller. She writes from her heart to tell the world how to find solutions to everyday problems - with movtivational stories.

Here's one about A Lonely Man & His Pain

Bismillah - As Salamu 'alaykum and Peace to all,

The Story of a Lonely Man and His Pain

I logged into my email today and found an offline message from one of my closest friend. As I read her email, my heart sank. She informed me that she just came back from her usual medical checkup and her doctor picked up some kind of abnormalities in her blood. The doctor said that the worse case scenario would be the C-word [cancer] you know the number one killer in this world.

Needless to say, she was devastated and so was I. It was so sudden.

I remembered this Chinese proverb I read only recently that says, The appearance of a disease is swift as an arrow; its disappearance slow, like a thread.
This is so true. I was as shocked as her family members were. Her day started normally with just a routine appointment for medical checkup. It was just something that she had been doing for years. Whenever she went to the hospital, they would take her blood sample for some tests. It has always been normal. She never expected that today, it would be different.

Having seen her going thru various stages of health challenges, my dearest friend made me realized how true the quote below is…

The greatest wealth is health ~Virgil

Indeed that is a bull’s eye! Even if we have resources to own everything and anything in this world, but, if we don’t have the health to enjoy them, what good would it be, right?

For an example, say we have $1million in our bank account, but, at the same time, we have a throbbing toothache that neither the dentist nor doctor could help- would we be thinking of that $1million in our bank or our poor little tooth that is aching and throbbing causing us feel like banging our head unto the wall?

Yup, I know most of us are familiar with that feeling.

And we are only talking about toothache here. Imagine that! What more if the pain comes from other parts of the body? Sharp stabbing back pain, asthmatic attacks or migraine maybe? Na’uzubillah.

What about if we fall sick while we are on vacation? Would we able to enjoy it?

Have you ever experienced food poisoning right after a good hefty meal? I just did. Believe me, the enjoyment of eating was immediately erased from my memory and all that I could remember was only the tiredness of my physical body.

And believe me, if there were a frequent-visitor points to the ladies, I sure would have won a free trip around the world! And of course, not to forget, the twister-cum-tornado kinda havoc in my tummy! Yup, compliments from the germs I ate! Oh Goody!

Without a doubt, health is indeed a blessing from Allaah we often forget to thank Him for. In fact, our beloved Prophet SAW has reminded us of how we, human, have the tendency to waste two of the blessings that were given to us…

Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas: The Prophet said, “There are two blessings which many people lose: (They are) Health and free time for doing good (BukhariVolume 8, Book 76, Number 421)

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This hadeeth made me reflect on how I have ‘treated’ the good health that Allaah has blessed me with all these years. I felt so embarrassed that I have not been giving ‘it’ its deserved attention. I took my health for granted. I go through the days without the slightest thought given to ‘it’. Ya Allah, how right is my prophet SAW…

What did I do during my healthy time? Did I study or I waste my healthy time by playing endlessly, by sleeping late, by hanging around with bad companies, by playing video games, by chatting for hours, by watching movies, by ignoring the helpless and weak, by wasting my youth? Or did I fully optimize the blessings of my health?

Here is the deal. If we are healthy, we would be able to perform our duties and responsibilities towards our Lord, our family and ourselves in a better manner, right?

We would be able to pray standing instead of lying down and gain better rewards, we would be able to work thus giving us opportunity to do charitable acts such as donating to the poor, we are able to study better and inshaAllaah pass exams with flying colors allowing us to get good jobs and then take care of our parents better in their older days, we are able to help other Muslims who are less fortunate and inshaAllaah, earn rewards accordingly and so many more things.

All these could be achieved more easily if we have good health, right?

As I replied her email I reminded her of the words of our dearest Prophet SAW which could bring peace and serenity to our distressed hearts…

“Whenever a Muslim is afflicted by harm from sickness or other matters, Allah will drop his sins because of that, like a tree drops its leaves” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim).

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As I pondered this hadeeth, the image of leaves falling during pre-winter time runs through my mind. SubhanAllaah, imagine if our sins drops just like the leaves! Isn’t that just wonderful? Reflecting on my own weaknesses, this hadeeth made me feel like saying to the thorns on roses to prick me or the invisible germs infect me!

Ok, that would be too much, I know. But, the silly girl in me would think its a rather cute proposition!

There is another hadeeth of our Prophet SAW that says

“A Muslim is not afflicted by hardship, sickness, sadness, worry, harm, or depression—even if pricked by a thorn—but Allah expiates his sins because of that” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim).

SubhanAllaah.

I felt like crying when reading this hadeeth. Our beloved prophet SAW has time and again shown us how Merciful our Lord is, how forgiving He is. Allaah the AlMighty forgave us simply because a thorn pricked us? Can you imagine that? If we get a flu, just a flu, He would expiate our sin because of that?

SubhanAllaah… So much Love. So much Love. So much Love! And what did I do? Was I thankful to Him? Ya Allaah…. Aseef, ya Rabb, aseef….

I told my friend to always remember Allaah in her heart because that is the only way that her distressed heart could find peace as told by Allaah in His verse below…

Those who believe and whose hearts are set at rest by the remembrance of Allah; now surely by Allah's remembrance are the hearts set at rest. ( 13:28)

I also found this perfect hadeeth that could be use by my friend, myself and any Muslims on how to reduce any pain we felt, inshaAllaah.

It was narrated from ‘Uthman ibn Abi’l-‘Aas that he complained to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) about a pain in his body that he had suffered from the time he became Muslim. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to him: “Put your hand on the part of the body that hurts and say 'Bismillah' (in the name of Allah) three times. And say seven times: A’oodhu Billahi wa qudratihi min sharri ma ajid wa uhaadhir. (I seek refuge in Allaah and His power from the evil of what I feel and worry about).” Narrated by Muslim, 2202.

I am so determined to memorize this short prayer that my beloved prophet (peace be upon him) has left me with. InshAllah, I am able to use it the next time I might possibly ‘earn’ more points on my frequent-visitor reward!

I once read this beautiful poem about a man who was in pain, about his feelings, his fears and his hopes written by Dimitri Shostakovich. Let me share it with you…

When life becomes a sea of pain
And every moment agony
I must endure again, again,
It is a curse to have to be.

And every moment agony,
And every longing fixed on death;
It is a curse to have to be
And fight by instinct for each breath.

And every longing fixed on death,
Even as I must go on,
And fight by instinct for each breath,
Sailing thus, though loved, alone.

Even as I must go on,
You watch me helpless from the shore;
Sailing thus, though loved, alone,
I need you with me all the more.

You watch me helpless from the shore,
As I endure again, again;
I need you with me all the more,
When life becomes a sea of pain.

Such a deep poem, don’t you think so?
I read it again and again. And the more I read, the more profound I felt of the meaning of the poem.

We always say that life is like the wheel. It gives all surface equal shares to ‘taste’ the air and the road! To feel how it is like to be at one of the four sections of the wheel.

So, before my side of the wheel comes down to the surface of the road and gets rolled, I am determined to take full advantage of the air around me, inshAllah.

From this point onwards, I know that I must take the best care of my health possible, inshAllah. I also aim to take the most advantage of my current good health.

What about you my friends? What do you do during your good health period? Which part of the wheel are you at this moment?

If you are up in the air, then hurry! Take advantage of it. But if you are at the bottom, then be patient because you are earning brownie points that way, inshAllah.

So, no matter which part we are, we all know that its all good. Ameen…

Sis Zabrina

Books by Sister Zabrina - "Life is an Open Secret"
Sister Zabrina ~ Now blogging at www.wisdomthruwords.blogspot.com

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