إنَّ اللهَ عزَّ وجلَّ يقولُ يومَ القِيامةِ : يا ابنَ آدمَ ، مَرِضْتُ فلم تَعُدْني، قال : يا رَبِّ ، كيف أعودُك وأنت ربُّ العالمينَ؟! قال : أمَا عَلِمْتَ أنَّ عبدي فُلانًا مَرِض فلم تَعُدْه ، أمَا عَلِمْتَ أنَّك لو عُدْتَه لوَجَدْتَني عِندَه؟
ِAllāh, the exalted and majestic, will say on the Day of Resurrection, “O child of Ādam, I was ill and you did not visit me.” He will reply, “O Lord, how could I visit you, and you are the Lord of the worlds?!” Allāh will reply, “Did you not know that a so-and-so person of mine was ill, yet you did not visit him? Did you not know, that had you visited him, you would have found me with him?”
Narrator(s): Abu Hurayrah.
Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim.
Commentary:
- The meaning of “I was ill” i.e. a righteous worshipper of mine was ill.
- The meaning of “you did not visit me” i.e. you did not visit the ill person, who was a worshipper of mine.
- The meaning of “had you visited him, you would have found me with him?” i.e. my mercy and reward. This shows the closeness of Allāh to an ill person, and why the du’ā of an ill person is readily accepted.
- The above meanings are clearly understood due to the context of the ḥadith as well as other Islamic texts.
- It is mustaḥabb (encouraged) to visit ill Muslims; more emphasised if they are relatives; and permitted to visit non-Muslims. This is due to the generality of the āyah mentioned below, as well as the story of the Prophet visiting a Jewish boy.
Related Āyāt:
- {…and do good, for Allāh certainly loves those who do good} [02:195]
Related narrations:
- The complete narration is: “Allāh, the exalted and majestic, will say on the Day of Resurrection, “O child of Ādam, I was ill and you did not visit me.” He will reply, “O Lord, how could I visit you, and you are the Lord of the worlds?!” Allāh will reply, “Did you know that so-and-so person of mine was ill yet you did not visit him? Did you know know, that had you visited him, you would have found me with him?” O child of Ādam, I asked you for food, but you did not feed me.” He will respond: “O Lord, how could I feed you and you are the Lord of the worlds?” He will reply: “Did you not know that so-and-so person of mine asked you for food, but you did not feed him? Do you not know that if you had fed him, you would have found [its reward] with Me?” “O child of Ādam, I asked you for water, but you did not give me any.” He will say, “O Lord, how could I give you [water] to drink and you are the Lord of the worlds?’ Allāh will respond, “so-and-so person of mine asked you for a drink, but you did not give him one. Do you not know that if you had given him a drink, you would have found [its reward] with me?” [Muslim]
- The Prophet ﷺ said, “The rights of a Muslim upon another Muslim are five… when he is ill, he visits him…” [Al-Bukhārī & Muslim]
