Today i was writing an e-mail to a friend of mine in USA whose husband has a terrible illness and suffering from it for a few months, even docs said he has mostly a year more to live.
In Islam we always try to find some goodness in everything and in my opinion even illnesses can be described as gifts as well.
One of my favorite writers in Islamic teachings -Said Nursi- says "the acquisition of evil is evil, but the creation of 'evil' is not evil." Nursi recalls that crimes and evil acts have also two aspects: "One looks to man, the other to the Creator. Man is the cause of the 'evil' act. He requests and acquires it, so he is responsible. But the one who creates the 'evil' act is God. However, the creation 'evil' is not evil, for it has other good results. In the same event, man does wrong, but, as the order and balance in the universe testify, the Creator is All-Just and All-Wise, He acts in justice."
Nothing is evil in itself but it can be seen as evil.Also some evil things can be seen as good to us as well. All evil is ultimately moral; it is the outcome of a failure to see the mercy and wisdom in creation. So illness, for instance, is the lack, in greater or lesser degree, of the good that is health. But the physical suffering that comes with it is real. It is given to the ill person to urge her to seek health. Suffering is a sign that makes one realize that illness is unwanted. But if one appropriates one's need for health and dislike of suffering to oneself, one will not see them as signs of mercy from one's Creator. Instead, one will use them to accuse Him. But had one not been created with those senses, how could one know that suffering is bad?
Furthermore, illness makes one realize that health is not permanent in life. It is just for lent... It makes us to turn towards our Creator, Who is the giver of health, and we invoke Him for help.
Illness also causes one to experience the different sorts of pleasures and perfections contained in health. And more importantly, it makes one realize that the reality and beauty of health belongs to the Greatest Healer.
If one spends his whole life in a state of good health without ever understanding its reality, that person will remain heedless of his Merciful Sustainer. Health will afford one no pleasure because it is transient and fleeting. On the contrary, the thought of separation will cause distress to one's spirit, which yearns for immortality.
Thanks to illness, we can find the Eternal Healer, and that is for the human spirit a source of great and enduring pleasure. Thus, the inner aspect of illness is good. It deserves thanks, not complaint.
