The Comprehensive Answer
The Imam gave him Al-Jawāb al-Kāfī (الجواب الكافي)—a sufficing answer spanning approximately 400 pages that covers every aspect of the question in complete detail. It addresses everything connected to the question, whether directly or indirectly. Ibn al-Qayyim (رحمه الله) provided him with a full explanation, as we shall see inshāALlāh, regarding this question. He gave him the complete answer we now refer to as Al-Jawāb al-Kāfī li-Man Sa’ala ‘an ad-Dawā’ ash-Shāfī (الجواب الكافي لمن سأل عن الدواء الشافي). May ALlāh make it beneficial to each and every one of us.
The Titles and Names of Ibn al-Qayyim
The Shaykh, the Imam, Shaykh-ul-Islām—this man grew up and aged upon the religion of Islam, and he was a Shaykh of the people of Islam, so they usually refer to him as Shaykh-ul-Islām. Among the first persons to be called by this title was Abu Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه). In our history, that Tābi’ī Sa’īd ibn ul-Musayyib was also given this title, and so on up to the time of Ibn Taymiyyah. Among those also referred to as Shaykh-ul-Islām was al-Imam an-Nawawī, al-Hāfidh Ibn ‘Abd-il-Barr, and many others.
It is not strange—if you are a learned person and ALlāh makes you and your knowledge beneficial to a large number of Muslims around the world, you can receive that title of Shaykh-ul-Islām. In our own times, among those referred to as Shaykh-ul-Islām was Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn ‘AbdiLlāh ibn Bāz, and this was because his knowledge, his students, and his books reached across the world.
Ibn al-Qayyim is also referred to as Muftī al-Firaq (مفتي الفرق)—the one who gives religious verdicts regarding issues about sects. He is very knowledgeable when he discusses sects. Shams ad-Dīn (شمس الدين) was also his nickname. The sun provides energy, and when you read the books of Ibn al-Qayyim, ALlāh will grant you some sort of energy from within. You feel like acting and becoming righteous immediately. You feel like abandoning sins and acting upon righteousness. Perhaps because of this, he was given that name.
The Foundation: Every Ailment Has Its Cure
The Imam (رحمه الله) said: “AlhamduliLlāh”—he praised ALlāh, and then said that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “ALlāh has not created any illness—He has not brought into creation (because ALlāh creates all things)—ALlāh has not created any illness, fungi, bacteria, or any other ailments except that He has created for that illness a means of cure.”
For every illness, for every trouble, for every disease, for every trial that a person falls into—perhaps as a result of sin or being engrossed in disobedience of ALlāh—for every disease, there is what? Dawā’ (دواء)—a cure. There is a means of removing that illness.
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “When the cure for the ailment is achieved, that illness goes away bi-idhnillāh (بإذن الله—by ALlāh’s permission).”
Brothers, let us understand this—you can see the approach of Ibn al-Qayyim to the man’s problem. When the man saw clearly that his life was threatened, the first thing the Imam assured him of was that it has a cure. This goes a long way; it opens the door of hope and optimism for this individual. He begins to be very optimistic and throws away pessimism.
O brother, let us all know: for whatever circumstance you are in, there is a cure for it. There is a cure for that trouble, there is a cure for that disease, there is a cure for that ailment. Once the cure is achieved, what remains is to search for the cure; what remains for us is to make efforts to obtain the cure.
O brother, O sister—“I am depressed,” “I am depressed”—don’t sit down, stand up! There is a cure for it, so start working toward the cure. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “When the cure for the ailment is achieved, ALlāh, by His permission, will remove that disease by His permission.”
When a person is held down by illness, one of the wicked plots of Shaytān is to make the person feel that they can never get out of this, that this pain will continue forever. You have to remove that first understanding. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “For every illness, there is a cure.”
The Role of ALlāh’s Permission
Sometimes, you might find the illness—you have two persons with a particular disease. In fact, take them to be twins. You may employ that cure for one of them and he becomes healed immediately. You may employ the same cure for the second person and he may not be cured, or his healing may be delayed. Why? Because the cure itself is connected to the permission of ALlāhu Subhānahu wa Ta’ālā.
That is why the Prophet (صلى الله عيه وسلم) said: “When you find the medicine for that disease, it will be cured by the permission of ALlāh.”
In another narration, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “ALlāh has not sent down any ailment except that ALlāh has also sent down a cure for it. Those who know the cure know it, and those who don’t know the cure, they also don’t know it.” Hospitals may not know the cure, or they may know the cure—it varies. It may be known or not be known, but the fact is that ALlāh has not sent down any disease except that He has also sent down the cure for that disease.
All those who get involved in treating people—whether diseases of the body or diseases of the mind (we are coming back to all of these in full detail)—the matter of their cure is connected to knowledge. You may know it, you may not know it. Sometimes, the doctor will examine the individual and say, “We have found nothing,” yet the man is feeling trouble, he is feeling pain. This has happened in the Western world—a young girl was walking when a bird flew into her. Since that time, she has remained unwell, till this day as I speak.
The One Exception
In another narration, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “ALlāh has not created any illness except that He has also created along with it a cure or a means of treatment, except one ailment.” What is that ailment for which there is no cure? He said: “The disease, the weakness that comes with old age.”
I have seen situations where medical doctors treat someone and they say, “It is old age, it is old age.” The scholars say it is not that old age itself is a disease—no—but it predisposes you to ailments because the body’s ability to fight disease becomes weak.
The limbs and organs become weak, so any external disease or something that comes may find its way. It is not as if being elderly itself is a disease, but it predisposes the individual to disease, and there is nothing you can do about it because that is what ALlāh has created for that period for us as individuals. So you see elders today: “I have a headache,” tomorrow “my leg,” the next day “my waist,” the following day “my mind,” the next “I can’t sleep well.” All of these happen to the elderly.
Types of Ailments That Have Cures
All ailments have their own cure. This includes:
Diseases of the heart: like hasad (حسد—jealousy), getting annoyed unnecessarily, getting afraid unnecessarily, ignorance—like when an individual is regularly in doubt about himself and what he does.
Diseases of the soul: like when someone is afflicted by a jinn, it affects his rūh (روح—soul).
Diseases of the body: headaches, migraines, eye problems, diabetes, cancer—all of them have cures.
We will continue from here in subsequent lessons, inshāALlāh. I hope that we understand his question and the angle from which al-Imam Ibn ul-Qayyim has started to provide an answer. He wants the questioner to be able to listen to the cure. If the man is so heartbroken, no matter what you say, he will not listen. So the Imam started with mental care; he started providing psychological support for the man.
Q&A Session
Question: May I ask, was the answer given as a speech, or was it written as a book?
Answer: Well, I have gone through some of the manuscripts too. I have about five printed copies of this work, so I have tried to go through the manuscripts. I saw that it was a written response. Perhaps the question was also written and sent to him.
So he wrote the response as a written response. Ibn al-Qayyim gave it as a written response—or perhaps he read the response in class to his students. He wrote it down, read it to his students, and then sent it to the person who sent in the question.
The question itself, if you read it properly, you’ll see that it’s something that someone sent. It doesn’t sound like something he was asking him face to face. So it was like a question sent as a letter, and a response also sent as a letter. But the Imam read the response to his students. I hope that is clear.
Additional Context About the Book
Imam Ibn Rajab al-Hanbalī, one of the students of Ibn al-Qayyim, was the first to refer to this book as Ad-Dā’ wa ad-Dawā’ (الداء والدواء). The book was first published as Al-Jawāb al-Kāfī li-Man Sa’ala ‘an ad-Dawā’ ash-Shāfī (meaning “The Sufficient Response Regarding the One Who Asked for the Cure That Leaves No Trace of Disease”).
So this book can be called by either of the two names. The author of the book was Imam Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah.
One of his names that I have found common with him is the title “Imam Madrasat al-Jawziyyah.” When his father, who was the qayyim (principal) of the madrasah, passed away, he became the Imam. One of those who referred to him by that title was al-Hāfidh Ibn Kathīr in his book Al-Bidāyah wa an-Nihāyah, who was also a student of Ibn al-Qayyim.
Ibn al-Qayyim’s name is Muhammad, Abu ‘AbdiLlāh, ibn Abī Bakr, ibn Ayyūb. I emphasize this because many times people read books and they know little or nothing about the author of the book. Some don’t even remember the name of the book.
The Nature of the Original Question
The book was a response to a question. The one who asked the question was upon a sin that had darkened his mind, and he was sure that if that sin—if that trial he had gotten himself into—continued with him, it would destroy his dunyā wa ākhirah (دنيا وآخرة—worldly life and hereafter). His relationship with ALlāh would be destroyed, and his relationship with people would also be destroyed because of a grievous sin that had engrossed him. He had fallen into a well of sin.
These kinds of things may regard people who join secret cults in our own time—it has become hard for them to leave, and they will tell you that they know the trial they have gotten into. If it continues with them, it will destroy their life and hereafter. Or someone who falls into emotional attachment to a man or woman that is not lawful for him or her—they usually know the evil.
Also those who consume ribā (ربا—usury/interest)—if they hear a sermon condemning ribā, they will know for certain that ribā will destroy them in this world and the ākhirah because of the warnings and threats in the Qur’ān and books of hadīth, and the curses of ALlāh on those who consume these evil earnings. They know that if they continue, it will destroy them.
And many other things people fall into—they will try to come out, but it won’t be easy. Sometimes, it will be that of ghībah (غيبة—backbiting). A man or woman who can’t keep away from backbiting. There was a woman during the time of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) who used to make a lot of ‘ibādah (عبادة—worship). She would observe salāh (صلاة), siyām (صيام), sadaqah (صدقة), and stand in the night for prayer. When the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was informed about her and the issues of sin she was engrossed in, he said it would not profit her.
Some people’s fitnah (فتنة—trial) is their tongue—they can’t restrain it from abusing people. Some people’s trial is telling lies; they deliberately and easily fabricate lies. But sometimes when they hear sermons or come to their senses alone, they know for certain that if they continue, it will destroy their dunyā and ākhirah.
The Questioner’s Desperate Appeal
This man who asked this question had tried his best, but the more he strived to come out, it only became worse—the heat of the fire got worse. So the man was asking: “O Imam, what are the actions I need to put in place to take this thing away from myself? What do I do? How do I handle it? What is the path?”
“May ALlāh shower mercy upon a person who shows mercy to one who helps a person in trial.”
To further encourage the Imam, he said: “ALlāh will regularly provide you help… If you help me, ALlāh will help you.” The man was appealing to the Imam, citing hadīth. This is a lesson, brothers—when you ask people of knowledge, you tell them something that encourages them to give you an answer.
This man was in a trial where the entirety of his life was at stake. His case is worse than someone drowning who has a last straw, because if a person drowns, he will only die in this dunyā. But in his own case, it would destroy his dunyā and ākhirah. His case was very serious.
May ALlāh preserve Shaykh Abu Nāsir upon goodness.
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