ما من شيء يصيب المؤمن من نصب ولا حزن ولا وصب، حتى الهم يهمه، إلا يكفر الله به عنه سيئاته
No fatigue, sorrow, chronic pain, or even the anxiety that befalls a believer, except that Allah expiates his sins through it.
Understanding the Terms
نَصَب: Naṣab
Fatigue or exhaustion in work or striving for livelihood. It also includes every form of bodily weakness or weariness.
حُزْن: Ḥuzn
Sorrow or grief due to loss of something beloved or due to a calamity.
وَصَب: Waṣab
Lasting and continuous pain; chronic pain or illness.
هَمّ: Hamm
Anxiety or worry that troubles the mind, especially about the future.
There are a great many narrations that convey the same meaning. So, glory be to the One who initiates His blessings and graciously bestows His favours without anything being owed to Him. His mercy encompasses all things. There is no partner worthy of worship besides Him.[1]
The Sharīʿah does not regard anxiety, grief, pain, and illness as states to be sought or boasted about. Rather, the Qurʾān repeatedly encourages believers not to succumb to grief, and Rasūlullah ﷺ sought refuge in Allah from anxiety and illness, indicating that these are states from which a believer should seek relief, not permanence.
At the same time, the Sharīʿah recognises that anxiety, illness, and pain are an inevitable part of human life. When they arise without one’s choice, they are treated as among the trials through which Allah purifies His servants. Rasūlullah ﷺ said:
ما من شيء يصيب المؤمن من نصب ولا حزن ولا وصب، حتى الهم يهمه، إلا يكفر الله به عنه سيئاته
No fatigue, sorrow, chronic pain, or even the anxiety that befalls a believer, except that Allah expiates his sins through it.[2]
Thus, while anxiety and the rest are not by themselves acts of worship, Allah, out of His mercy, does not allow it to go to waste. Instead, He transforms an unavoidable human hardship into a means of forgiveness and spiritual purification for the believer who responds with patience and turns to Him.
Ustādh Abū ʿAlī al-Daqqāq said:
A person who experiences sorrow traverses in a single month on the path to Allah what one who is free from sorrow may not traverse in many years.[3]