Do you visit the sick? – The Forgotten SunnahThe Prophet

always made it a point to visit those who were sick and comfort them.

For instance, upon hearing that Sa`d b. `Ubādah رضي الله عنه was complaining of an illness, he went to visit him at home, accompanied by three of his Companions. When they arrived at Sa`d’s home, they found that he was unconscious and his family were gathered round him.

The Prophet

asked: “Is it over?” They said it was not. The Prophet began to cry, and upon seeing this, everyone was moved to tears as well. He then said: “Listen to me! Allah does not punish anyone for the tears that are shed, nor for the grief in their hearts. However, He punishes on account of this” – and he pointed to his tongue – “or on account of it gives mercy.” [Sahīh al-Bukhārī (1304) and Sahīh Muslim (924)]

    Nothing inspires love in the heart like showing you care when others are in distress. This is how our Prophet

    lived every day of his life with his Companions.

This is how easily he was moved by compassion and sympathy. He wept just because one of his Companions had fallen unconscious. How Sa`d must of felt when he came to, and learned that the Prophet was moved to tears by his unconscious state.

Consider how it made Sa`d’s family feel that the Prophet shared with them their grief and was truly affected by it as if their sorrows were his very own. Indeed, Allah declares about Muhammad in the Qur’ān: “He is full of kindness and mercy for the believers.” [Sūrah al-Tawbah: 128]

Jābir b. `Abd Allah رضي الله عنه recalls to us the time that the Prophet

visited him when he was ill:

“I fell sick, and Allah’s Messenger came to visit me, with Abū Bakr walking alongside him. I was at my family homestead – the clan of Banū Salamah – and by the time the two of them arrived, I had fallen unconscious, or was at least delirious and unable to comprehend anything.”

Allah’s Messenger

performed ablutions and then sprinkled water from his hand onto me. This made me come to, so Allah’s Messenger

was the first thing I saw. I said: “Messenger of Allah, what should I do with my estate, since I have only distant relatives, no parents or children to leave anything to?”

He did not reply to my question. Afterwards, the verse of inheritance was revealed in the Qur’an. [Sahīh al-Bukhārī (6723) and Sahīh Muslim (1616)]

We should know that Jābir رضي الله عنه asked that question fearing he was going to die on that occasion. However, he had a long life ahead of him. He was to outlive the Prophet by seventy years, but this incident from his early in his life lived stayed with him as a vivid memory, especially the moment when he opened his eyes and beheld the Prophet’s

face.

Nothing inspires love in the heart like showing you care when others are in distress. This is how our Prophet

lived every day of his life with his Companions. He did not neglect them for even an hour in their time of sorrow, nor did he forget to share in their every joy, and he was dearer to their hearts than anything else in the world.