FIFTH REMEDY

O you  who  is  afflicted  with  illness! Through  experience,  I  have  formed  the opinion  at this time that for some people sickness is a divine bounty, a gift of the Most Merciful.  Although I was not worthy of it, over the past eight or nine years a number of  young people  have  come  to  me  in  connection with  their illnesses,  to request  my prayers.  I  have  noticed  that  all  of  them  have  begun  to  think  of  the hereafter more than other young  people. They lack the drunkenness of youth, and have renounced to an extent animal desires and heedlessness. So I consider them and then remind them that their illnesses are a divine bounty within bearable limits. I tell them: “Brother! I am not opposed to this illness of yours. I don’t feel sorry for you because of it that I should pray for you. Try to be patient until the illness awakens you completely,  and  once  it  has  performed  its  duty,  the  Compassionate  Creator  will restore you to health, God willing.”

I also tell them: “Owing to the calamity of good health, some of your fellows become neglectful, give up the five daily prayers, do not think of the grave, and forget God Almighty. The superficial pleasure of a brief hour’s worldly life causes them to shake and  damage  eternal  life,  and  even to  destroy it.  Whereas because of your illness, you see the grave, which you will in any event enter, and the dwellings of the hereafter beyond it, and you act accordingly. So for you, illness is good health, while for some of your peers good health is a sickness.”

SIXTH REMEDY

O sick person who complains about his suffering! I say to you: think of your past life and remember the pleasurable, happy days and the distressing, troublesome times, and you will surely exclaim either “Oh!” or “Ah!” That is, your heart and tongue will either say “All praise and thanks be to God!”, or “Alas and alack!”  Note carefully, what makes you exclaim “Praise and thanks be to God!” is thinking of the pains and calamities that have befallen you;  they induce a sort of pleasure so that your heart offers thanks, for the passing of pain is a  pleasure. With the passing of pains and calamities,  a  legacy of  pleasure  is  left  in  the  spirit,  which  on  being  aroused  by thinking, pours forth from the spirit in thanks.