Why has this happened to me?

Often we think or say these words when a strong difficulty comes to us.  We might see that someone around us has fallen ill with a terrible illness.  We wonder, “How could this happen.”

Craig Oster is a friend of mine who is suffering from a horrible illness- ALS.  This is a neuromuscular condition that weakens the muscles.  It is usually fatal in 3-5 years.  Craig has had ALS for 19 years.  He is a psychologist.  Before he contracted ALS he was a robust, highly muscled man.  He ran marathons. Now his body is withered.  He weights less than 130 pounds. http://healingwithdrcraig.com/

When he was well, Craig didn’t believe in God.  In his own words, he was “arrogant, with a great deal of pride.”   Becoming sick changed all that.  The illness drove him to God.

After getting ALS, he became a Christian.  Now five years ago he has embraced Islam and become a Muslim.  My wife and I go to do Sufi Healing session with Dr. Craig 2-3 times a month.    Each time I see him I am amazed at the majesty, grace, and power of Allah.

Sidi Muhammad writes in Fruits from the Tree of Life, p 226

When Allah makes a person sick, this is a rank or a station.

Through the sickness, if there is a chance for him, he knows, and he feels himself through what Allah gives him. Look at the Prophet Ayoub ( Job), may peace and blessings be upon him. Allah sent him sickness and through his sickness put him in a deep and very holy station. But he surrounded always and he trusted in his Beloved God. This is a teaching for all the Beloveds and this the complete  Jalal.

He took the complete chance through this station and he always thanked Allah. From the love, if your Beloved puts you in the fire, surrender completely. Then He changes this fire to be a Garden, as He did with the Prophet Ibrahim, may peace and blessings be upon him. After that He gave him a new creation and He gives this to all who follow him and who see him- the same creation.

Because of that it is very important for the Beloved, who walks in the way of the love and the knowing to always say, “ My Beloved God, use me as You like, but don’t cast me out from Your Face.” And this is the safe way for everyone who walks in our way.

Give what you can and pray for everybody who is crying in the polite way. Everything that Allah does, my Beloved son, is completely perfect.

Our hearts are between the hands of the Divine. We may twist, rise or even plummet, but still we lie on His loving touch. Feel that?

Whenever we are sick, it’s important to look deep.

Look with your heart, with the deep Divine Eye of your Lord.  Pray, “Oh Allah, what is the lesson in this illness.  What am I supposed to learn?  How am are you moving me?”

Sidi Muhammad writes in Music of the Soul, that everything is in the way of the love.  By this he means that everything that happens to us, all troubles and difficulties are Allah’s way of getting us to return to Him, to remember Him.  He wants us to see past the external and find the meaning in everything.

The more we look with the deep eye, the more we realize that Allah loves us more than we love ourselves, the easier it will be to continue walking and open the heart.

Dr. Craig couldn’t know Allah without his illness. His illness was a doorway that Allah opened to Him.

Oh beloveds, may we all look with the eye of the heart and see Allah’s hand moving, moving like the gentle caress of our mother.

salams,

Habib