Do not look at the outward aspect of illness and sigh, look at its meaning and be pleased. If the meaning of illness had not been good, the All-Compassionate Creator would not have given illness to the servants He loves most. Whereas, there is a Hadith the meaning of which is, "Those afflicted with the severest trials are the prophets, then the saints and those like them." {[*]: al-Munawi, Fayzu'l-Qadir i, 519 no:1056; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak iii, 343; Bukhari, Marda 3; Tirmidhi, Zuhd 57; Ibn Maja, Fitan 23; Darimi, Rikak 67; Musnad i, 172, 174, 180, 185; vi, 369.} That is, "Those most afflicted with tribulations and difficulties are the best of men, the most perfect." Foremost the Prophet Job (Upon whom be peace) and the other prophets, then the saints, then the righteous, have regarded the illnesses they have suffered as sincere worship, as gifts of the Most Merciful; they have offered thanks in patience. They have seen them as surgical operations performed by the All-Compassionate Creator's mercy.
O you who cries out and laments! If you want to join this luminous caravan, offer thanks in patience. For if you complain, they will not accept you. You will fall into the pits of the people of misguidance, and travel a dark road.
Yes, there are some illnesses which if they lead to death, are like a sort of martyrdom; they result in a degree of sainthood like martyrdom. For example, those who die from the illnesses accompanying childbirth {(*): The period this martyrdom may be gained through illness is around the forty days of 'lying-in.'} and pains of the abdomen, and by drowning, burning, and plague, become martyrs. So also there are many blessed illnesses which gain the degree of sainthood for those who die from them. Moreover, since illness lessens love of the world and attachment to it, it lightens parting from the world through death, which for the worldly is extremely grievous and painful, and it sometimes even makes it desirable.
Bediüzzaman Said Nursî / The Flashes / The Twenty-Fifth Flash
Editing: Erhan Akkaya