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Prescription 5: Understanding The Patient’s Agony

اه اسم من أسماء الله تعالى

Ah’ is a name from the names of Allah, the Exalted.
- Imam al-Sadiq (ʿa)

There are different kinds of patients a doctor normally encounters during his practice as a medical practitioner. Whereas some are very tolerant and forbearing, some, due to their great sensitivity, have the habit of complaining and reacting to discomfort very easily. Such encounters can at times be very disturbing and agonizing for the physician. However, he must always try to maintain a fatherly spirit of understanding, forgiveness and concern. His endeavor should be to understand the depth of the cause of the malady of the patient in order to remedy the ailment successfully.

The patient’s expression of pain actually must be understood from the sublime perspective of religion. The following is an incident worthy of reflection:

عنْ أَبِي إِسْحَاقَ الْحَزَاعِي، قَالَ: دَخَلْتُ مَعَ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ( عَلَى بَعْضٍ مَوَالِيْهِ نَعُودُهُ، فَرَأَيْتُ الرَّجُلَ يُكْثِرُ مِنْ قَوْل آهُ، فَقُلْتُ لَهُ: يَا أَخِي أَذْكُرْ رَبَّكَ وَاسْتَغِتْ بِهِ، فَقَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللهِ )عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ): آهُ اِسْمٌ مِنْ أَسْمَاءِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى، فَمَنْ قَالَ: آهُ، اسْتَغَاثَ بِاللهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ

Abu Ishaq al-Khuzaʿi is reported to have said: I and Abu ʿAbdillah (ʿa) [Imam al-Sadiq] came to one of his followers to visit him, and I saw him frequently saying ‘Ah’. So I said to him: O brother, remember your Lord and seek help from Him. Thereupon Abu ʿAbdillah (ʿa) said: ‘Ah’ is a name from the names of Allah, the Exalted. So whosoever says ‘Ah’ seeks help from Allah, the Invincible and Majestic.1

This incident teaches us that our superficial comprehension of the expression of pain informs us that the patient is complaining about his malady while he is in a state of restlessness. However, those who do not behold things and events in the superficial sense, and contemplate on whatever they observe, comprehend the kernel of the patient’s expression as actually the seeking of divine help which we normally term in Arabic as al-istghathah.

In actual fact, as is established by theologians, philosophers, and mystics, all the created entities in all their moments need Allah. The Holy Qur’an says:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ أَنْتُمُ الْفُقَرَاءُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ هُوَ الْغَنِيُّ الْحَمِيدُ

O mankind! You are the ones who stand in need of Allah, and Allah He is the All-Sufficient, the All- Laudable. (Surah Faatir, 35:15).

Although this perception of need is not expressed through the physical tongue, all the entities from the depths of their beings in all their moments seek help from God. However, when the human being is entangled with a problem and a predicament, the physical tongue harmonises with the tongue of existential need, and in saying ‘Ah’ which reveals the state of desperation (idtirar), one actually calls Allah, the Responder of the desperate ones, and seeks His help for removing the deficiency and need.2

Other traditions also inform us that such an expression is glorification.
The Holy Prophet (S) is reported to have said:

يَا عَلِيُّ أَنِينُ الْمُؤْمِنِ تَسْبِيحَ، وَصِيَاحُهُ تَهْلِيلٌ ونومهُ عَلَى الْفِرَاشِ عِبَادَةٌ، وَتَقَلَّبُهُ مِنْ جَنْبِ إِلَى جَنْبِ جهَادٌ فِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ، فَإِنْ عُوفِي مَشَى فِي النَّاسِ وَمَا عَلَيْهِ مِنْ ذَنْب

O ʿAli, the moaning of a believer is glorification, his wailing is expressing the oneness of God, his sleep on the bed is worship, his tossing from one side to another is a struggle in the way of Allah, and if he gets well, he would walk among the people while having no sin on him. 3

Perhaps the reason why the moaning of a believer is reckoned as tasbih is that it reveals his need for Allah, who is free from every kind of imperfection.

Another way of looking at it is that the moaning of a believer reveals his neediness and imperfection, which in turn reveals the existence of the Needless and Perfect. This is because the existence of the needy and imperfect finally leads us to the existence of the Absolute Perfect and Needless Being who is Allah.

In other traditions we are informed that an ailing believer is rewarded when he moans. The Holy Prophet (S) is reported to have said:

يكتب أنين المَرِيضِ حَسَنَاتِ مَا صبر

The moaning of a sick person is written as good deeds as long as he preserves patience.4

Therefore, instead of reprimanding the patient, we should try to calm him down and make him optimistic of a swift recovery. Every expression of ‘Ah’ that comes from the patient must transport the doctor to Allah and His remembrance, for He alone is the Reliever of pain and discomfort.

  • 1. Shaykh al-Saduq, al-Tawhid, p. 219.
  • 2. For a detailed exposition, refer to: Fayd Kashani, Anwar al-Hikmah, p. 86, and Qadi Sa’id Qummi, Sharh Tawhid al-Saduq, v.3, pp. 208-209.
  • 3. Shaykh al-Saduq, Man la yahduruhu al-faqih, v.4, p. 364.
  • 4. Nu’man ibn Muhammad, Da’aʾim al-Islam, v.1, p. 217.