What is Ayadah ?
Visiting a sick person and consoling him is called Ayadah. However, a visit and a few words of consultation are not sufficient. It is also necessary to look after the sick and provide financial assistance, if need be.
Importance of Ayadah
A sick person is a helpless person, he is not in position to attend to his own needs and requires support and assistance. It is our responsibility to render help to him Allah has shown mercy to the sick and exempted them from many obligations.
At the same time. Allah has termed visiting the sick as visiting the Almighty Himself in this way, people are exhorted to attend to the sick. Prophet ﷺ has said: On the day of judgement, Allah will say: O son of Adam! I was indisposed and you did not visit me. The man will reply : O My Sustainer! How could I attend you? You are the Lord of the universe (and free from all sickness). Allah will reply: Did you not know that so and so slave of mine was not well and yet you did not visit him? Had you paid a visit to him, you would have found Me with him. Did you not know this ? (Muslim)
Rewards for Ayadah
Ayadah is a great virtue and it is full of rewards. Whenever, a Muslim visits his ailing brother, he remains in the midst of the fruits of Paradise until he returns.(Muslim)
Ali R narrates that he heard Prophet ﷺ say: When a Muslim visits a sick Muslim in the morning, seventy thousand angels pray for him till evening, and when he visits in the evening, seventy thousand angels pray for him until dawn, and in Paradise, such a person shall have choicest fruits. (Tirmizi, Abu Dawood)
Prophet ﷺ asked the Companions R one day: Who amongst you, are observing fast today? Who has participated in a funeral today? Who has fed a poor today? Who has visited the sick today? To each of these questions only Abu Bakr R replied in the affirmative. Upon this Prophet ﷺ said One who does all these things, shall surely enter the Paradise. (Muslim)
Noble example of Ayadah
It is said about Umar Farooq R that once he set out to find some helpless, handicapped person in the outskirts of Madinah, so that he could quietly visit and serve him every day. One day he found out an old and ailing lady living in a hut. She was blind and living without anybody around to take care of her Umar R decided to help this lady from the next day. So, he reached there the next morning after Fajr prayers. He saw that the used clothes of the last night were washed and spread over the roof, the floor had been swept clean, and pots were filled with water. He was surprised because he was informed that there was nobody to take care of her and yet who did all these things so early? The next day he visited again and visited a little earlier to find that all the work had been finished. He was very surprised and on the third day, when he went there at the time of the call for Fajr prayer, he saw Abu Bakr Siddiq R coming out of the old lady's hut Umar R embraced him and said: O Abu Bakr R Whenever I sought to accomplish highest form of virtue, I always found you ahead of me. It may be mentioned here that Abu Bakr was the Caliph at that point of time.
Etiquettes of Ayādah
One must observe certain etiquettes while visiting a sick:
1. One must visit a sick whether he is a relative or a stranger, rich or poor, Muslim or non-Muslim: Anas R says that a Jew boy used to serve Prophet ﷺ When he fell sick, Prophet visited him and sat close to his head. Then he said to him: Embrace Islām. The boy looked at his father who was sitting near him. His father said: Listen to what Prophet ﷺ says. The boy embraced Islam. Prophet ﷺ left the place saying: All praise be to Allah who rescued the boy from the Hell through Islām. (Bukhari)
2. One must console the sick and should use words that have soothing effect: Prophet ﷺ said: When you visit a sick, remove his despair about life. Your consolation cannot avoid the calamity but it does lift his spirits. (Ibn Maja, Tirmizi) One must also inquire of the family members about the condition of the sick so that they too get consolation; it also enables you to know the true condition.
As we are increasingly getting used to easy life, we feel that we have done our duty by admitting the sick to the hospital. The fact, however, remains that serving a sick and handicapped person by physically attending to him, is one thing and just visiting a sick out of pure human consideration and as a religious obligation is another thing. The degree of satisfaction and relief a sick man gets upon receiving a visitor cannot be provided by merely discharging the duty. Therefore, one must always adopt the natural way of visiting.
3. One must gently touch the patient and pray for his recovery: Ayesha R narrates that whenever any one of us fell sick, Prophet ﷺ used to pass over his right hand and pray (Bukhari, Muslim).
On one occasion, Prophet ﷺ said: Whenever a Muslim visits the other ailing Muslim and says seven times:أَسْأَلُ اللَّهَ الْعَظِيمَ رَبَّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظِيمِ أَنْ يَشْفِيَكَ "I pray to Allah, Most Exalted Most Revered who is the Master of the Highest Seat to bless you with recovery" Then Allah gives him health, unless his end has come. (Abu Dawood, Tirmizi)
One should not stay with the sick longer unless over-stay is needed and is beneficial. Because of long stay, the family members are inconvenienced; for it becomes difficult for them to decide whether to serve the sick or play host to the visitors. Abdullah Ibn Abbas R says: To sit for a shorter period of time and avoid making any noise near the sick is Prophet's ﷺ Sunnah. He further states that during the sickness of Prophet ﷺ before his death, when there was some commotion, Prophet ﷺ said: Go away from here. Prophet ﷺ said on another occasion: The best way of Ayadah is when the visiting person rises early to leave. (Baihaqi)
One must ask the sick to pray for the visitor. Prophet ﷺ has said: When you visit a sick person, ask him to pray for you because his prayer is like that of angels. (Ibn Maja)
If one remains sick for a longer period, he must be visited repeatedly. Jubair Ibn Mut'im R says that a blind Companion was staying in an area named Waqif, he was sick. Prophet ﷺ used to call the Companions to visit him. Prophet ﷺ himself used to visit him frequently.
Allah's Mercy
When a person visits a sick man, he enters Allah's mercy, when he sits close to the sick, he gets drowned in the ocean of mercy. Mu'atta, Ahmad) Who amongst us does not need Allah's mercy? Why then should we not get blessings of Allah, through Ayadah.
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Allah and his messenger knows best