check which helps us to regain focus on our own lives, be grateful for
our own health and it helps us put life into perspective as the ill
and ailing are often in betweenlife and death; between this world and
Hereafter.
"He who visits the sick continues to remain in the fruit garden of
Paradise until he returns." [Sahih Muslim]
"A Muslim walking to visit a sick person will be wading in the mercy
of Allah. When the visitor sits with the sick one, they will be
immersed in mercy until his return." [Ahmed and Ibn Hibban]
But the other virtues of visiting the sick is that often times, your
presence uplifts their mood, brings asmile to their face and helps
them forget their suffering. And sometimes, as this past week showed
me, visiting someone at the right time of their sickness, may be a
Divine Way of Allah bringing help and assistance to the family in
their time of need.
Below is an account of something that happened to me and my friend
just a couple of days ago. The scenes, images and flashbacks still
replay in mymind, and I find the wisdom and lessons that I learnt to
be so numerous…:
Ring, ring!
Me: Hello?
Friend: As-salamu `alaykum.
Me: Hey, wa `alaykumusalam sis! Good to hear from you, how's it going?
It was my friend calling from abroad. Her mother had been taken ill
and diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, so her and her eldest
daughter had travelled from their homeland to Egypt in search of good
medical care and treatment. Although we never met them before, the
very least we could do was visit and see how we could help. Wedidn't
realise they were all alone, with no assistance, unable to speak
Arabic or get around easily.
Tuesday, 11am.
The aunty had received her1st dose of chemotherapy the day before and
had gone home to rest.
My friend and I decided to visit her and see how she was doing. We met
up after class, grabbed some food and fruits to take to the aunty and
made our way from there. As we got in, the daughter said she was
sleeping. But we popped into the room to see her anyway.
"Here, let me wake her up for you" said the daughter.
"No, no, please, let her sleep" I objected.
"No, it's ok, she's been sleeping long enough."
"How long?" I asked.
"Since yesterday, but she woke twice in the night and was sick."
"Is she usually up by this time?"
"Yes, she doesn't sleep for this long. She seems to be in a deep sleep."
"When was the last time she ate?"
"Yesterday evening."
I don't know why I was asking these questions since the daughter
herself is a doctor, but the situation didn't seem right to me.
"Aunty?" I shook her myself.
No response. She was breathing deeply but normally. "Aunty?!" I
shookher again, this time raising my voice. She was heavily sedated
and unresponsive. I pinched her fingers, shookher, no response. This
didn't look right, we decided to get her to hospital.
Pulling out a wheelchair, we rushed to get her in, struggling under
her weight. I went downstairs to get help from the doorman but he was
nowhere to be seen. Ah man, I started pressing on a button. "Hello,
10th floor here." No, wrong button! These Egyptian buildings are so
random in their intercom system!
I frantically pushed anotherbutton… finally got through to him. He
came out and after trying to explain, we rushed back upto the flat.
Alhamdulillah we managed to get her downstairs and out on to the
street.
Now, this wasn't the UK where one can dial 999 and have a team of
medics arrive within minutes to take the burden of you. This was a
place where we didn't even know the emergency number! Incredibly, a
few days priorto this, someone was asking me about the emergency no. &
services in Egypt. I had no clue, so I just said, "If anything
happens, grab the nearest taxi; it's probably faster and better than
waiting foran ambulance."
Subhan'Allah, was I completely living my own advice right now or what
We flagged down a taxi and struggled again to get the aunty inside,
she was still unconscious.
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