The Healing Power of Isa

Ever since Adam and Hawa disobeyed Al-Qaabid (the Withholder) and had to leave Jannah (the Garden), sickness and illness have been part of the experience of every human being. Medical progress made it possible to cure and even exterminate some illnesses, but one does not have to look far to see that maladies are all around us.

At times, the mu’umin (believer) has to endure long periods of illness, often restricting and painful. This way, the patient can give glory to As-Saboor (the Patient One). Some have found a strange way of being blessed that way. Said Nursi (1877 – 1960), a scholar from Eastern Turkey, wrote: Whenever I encounter some afflicted youth, I find that he is more concerned with his religious duties and the Hereafter than are his peers. From this I deduce that illness does not constitute a misfortune for such people, but rather a bounty from God. It is true that illness causes him distress in this brief, transient and worldly life, but it is beneficial for his eternal life. (Said Nursi; Risale-i Nur, The Affliction of Ayyub, 5th point, 3rd matter)

We can find this same line of thought also in the Injil.

Injil, Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

At other times, though, an illness is not meant to last, and it is to reveal Allah as Ar-Ra’oof (the Most Kind) through healing.

Allah has appointed some nebiim (prophets) to heal. Musa (aws) was given the power to heal leprosy. Ishaya (Isaiah) (aws) pronounced the healing of king Hezekiah. Ilyas (Elijah) (aws) even brought back to life the son of a widow in Al-Sarafand (Sarepta), Lebanon.

No other prophet, though, can be compared to Isa al-Masih, the Healer (may His peace be with us). What follows are only some examples of Isa declaring His power, and cases of Him miraculously restoring ill people.

Ali Imran 3:49

and I heal him who was born blind, and the leper, and I bring the dead to life by Allah's Leave.

Al Maidah 5:110

[The Day] when Allah will say, "O Jesus, Son of Mary, remember My favor upon you and upon your mother when I supported you with the Pure Spirit and you spoke to the people in the cradle and in maturity; and [remember] when I taught you writing and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel; and when you designed from clay [what was] like the form of a bird with My permission, then you breathed into it, and it became a bird with My permission; and you healed the blind and the leper with My permission; and when you brought forth the dead with My permission.

Injil, Matthew 15:30

Large crowds brought him many people who were lame, blind, disfigured, dumb, or had other diseases. They put them at his feet and he healed them.

Injil, Matthew 8:2,3

A man with leprosy approached him and bowed down. He said, "My master, if you will it, you are able to make me tahir (clean)." Isa stretched his hand and touched him. He said, "I will it. Be tahir." Immediately, he became tahir from his leprosy.

Injil, Luke 17:12-19

He entered a village in front of him and ten people suffering from leprosy met him. They were standing far away. Then they cried out for help: "Isa, our master, have mercy on us!" Isa looked at them and told them: "Go and show yourselves to the ahbar of the house of Allah." So they went. As they were on the way, they were all healed and made tahir. One of them returned as soon as he saw that he had been healed. He loudly praised the glory of Allah. He threw himself on his face at the feet of Isa, giving thanks. He was a Samaritan. Isa answered him: "Did not ten people get healed and become tahir? Where are the other nine people? Did no one among them return and praise Allah for his grace except this foreigner?" Then he told him: "Get up and go on your way. Your trust has healed you."

Lepers were supposed to stay far away from other people so they would not make them unclean. When a leper became tahir, according to the Tawrat, this order, given by Isa in the story above, is what he was supposed to do. No Yahudi leper, though, had ever become tahir after contracting leprosy. Only Naaman, a Syrian, was healed from leprosy by obeying a command of Allah, delivered to him by nabi Al-Yasa (Elisha) (aws). The way contagious diseases transmit is that a healthy person becomes contaminated by touching a sick person, or even an object that was previously touched by such person. Isa (may His peace be with us), instead of being contaminated and becoming unclean, heals the lepers, and makes them tahir. Al-Yahud believed that only Al-Masih could heal a Yahudi leper. So, this amounted to an announcement that Al-Masih had come. How sad that the anointed servant in the temple of Allah, whom these healed lepers approached at the command of Isa (may His peace be with us), was ignorant enough to not see this sign of Al-Masih.

Injil, Mark 10:46-52

Then they came to Jericho. As Isa, his hawariyun, and a large crowd were leaving it, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road. And when he heard that it was Isa Al-Nasiri, he shouted, "Isa, Ibn Dawood, have mercy on me!" Many people rebuked him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more, "Ibn Dawood, have mercy on me!" Isa stopped and said, "Call him." So they called him and told him, "Be encouraged. Get up. He is calling you." He threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Isa. Isa asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said, "Honored teacher, I want to see again." Isa told him, "Go. Your trust has healed you." Immediately the man was able to see again, and he followed Isa on the way.

Isa (may His peace be with us) never refused anyone who came to Him with faith, asking to be healed. Not only did He heal people from physical illnesses. He also liberated people possessed by impure jinn, who tormented them.

Injil, Matthew 12:22,23

They brought him a man who had been touched by a dumb and blind jinni. He healed him and the man was able to see and speak. All the people were amazed. They asked each other, "Is he Ibn Dawood, the expected king?"

Casting out a dumb jinni was a miracle that Al-Yahud believed only Al-Masih could do. Al-Yahud cast out jinn by asking their names, but a dumb jinni could not answer them. Isa had authority even over the dumb jinni. The common people then made the obvious connection between Isa doing an ayah (sign) that only Al-Masih could do, and Isa (may His peace be with us) being Al-Masih.

Now we come to the best part, dear reader. Isa (may His peace be with us) still heals people today! Some of you, readers of this website, experienced His healing, when you, too, were touched by the Man in white. Isa is alive today, and He still heals those who approach Him with faith. Whenever we receive good things from Ash-Shafi (the Healer), let us not be like the nine lepers, but rather like the one who came back to the one who healed him, and gave thanks to Allah.

You can enjoy and be inspired by reading several amazing testimonies of healing here:

Farah, Maryam, Salwa, Nissrin, Jamal