Lesson 6 of 6 · When this is something else
Looking for a remedy sits inside the tradition
This gets said as though seeking treatment were a concession made by weak people. It is not, and the text is not ambiguous about it.
Ordinary people asked whether they should treat their ill, and the answer came back as an imperative. Servants of Allah, use remedies, for Allah has not made a disease without making a cure for it. The sahihayn wording carries the same principle with no condition attached to it at all.
Islamqa, in fatwa 69766, holds that the word for disease in these reports is general and covers all kinds of sickness, so mental illness needs no separate licence. They also report a genuine range across the schools on how strong the instruction is, and on their own account most Hanbalis prefer avoiding treatment.
The Qur'an also puts the ease alongside the hardship rather than after it. Said once, and it is not a timetable.
Qur’an and Sunnah
The ease is put alongside the hardship rather than after it, and it is not a timetable for when this lifts.
فَإِنَّ مَعَ ٱلۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرًا
So truly where there is hardship there is also ease
Qur’an 94:5
Said again in the very next verse. The ease is put alongside the hardship rather than after it, and it is still not a timetable.
إِنَّ مَعَ ٱلۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرࣰ ا
truly where there is hardship there is also ease
Qur’an 94:6
There is no disease Allah created without also creating its treatment. The sahihayn wording carries the same principle with no condition attached to it at all, which is why seeking treatment here is not a concession made by weak people.
Narrated Abu Huraira:The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "There is no disease that Allah has created, except that He also has created its treatment
Sahih al-Bukhari 5678graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading
The text is not ambiguous about this. Ordinary people asked whether they should treat their ill, and the answer came back as an imperative.
Usamah bin Sharik said:"Some Bedouins asked: 'O Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) shall we treat (our ill)?' He said: 'Yes, O worshipers of Allah! Use remedies. For indeed Allah did not make a disease but He made a cure for it' - or - 'a remedy. Except for one disease.' They said: 'O Messenger of Allah (s.a.w)! What is it?' He said: 'Old age
Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2038graded sound, albanithe Arabic and its grading
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.