Undesirability of Reviling Fever

باب كراهة سب الحمى

When pain arrives, the tongue often reaches for complaint. This chapter gently redirects that instinct. Illness, here a burning fever, is presented not as a curse to be cursed back, but as something that can purify a believer, burning away sins the way a furnace burns the impurity out of iron.

The point is not to deny that sickness hurts, but to reframe how we meet it. Buruja's invitation is to trade reviling for patience and trust, seeing hardship as a quiet mercy that can leave the heart cleaner than it found it.

Hadith 1726

Jabir (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:

عن جابر رضي الله عنه أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم دخل على أم السائب، أو أم المسيب فقال‏:‏ ‏"‏مالك يا أم السائب -أو يا أم المسيب- تزفزفين‏؟‏ ‏"‏ قالت‏:‏ الحمى لا بارك الله فيها، فقال‏:‏ ‏"‏لا تسبي الحمى، فإنها تذهب خطايا بني آدم، كما يذهب الكير خبث الحديد‏"‏ ‏(‏‏(‏رواه مسلم‏)‏‏)‏‏.‏ «تُزَفْزِفِينَ» أيْ تَتَحَرَّكِينَ حَرَكَةً سَريعَةً، وَمَعْنَاهُ: تَرْتَعِدِين. وَهُوَ بِضَمِّ التاء وبالزاي المكررة والفاء المكررة، وَرُوِيَ أيضًا بالراء المكررة والقافينِ.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) visited Umm Sa'ib (or Umm Musaiyyab) and asked her, "What ails you O Umm Sa'ib (or Umm Musaiyyab)? You are shivering." She replied: "It is a fever, may Allah not bless it!" He said to her, "Do not revile fever, for it cleanses out the sins of the sons of Adam in the same way that a furnace removes the dirt of iron." [Muslim].

In plain words

When a sick woman cursed her fever, the Prophet told her not to revile it, explaining that fever cleanses a believer's sins as a furnace burns impurity from iron. Meet hardship with patience, not complaint.

Reference : Riyad as-Salihin 1726 In-book reference : Book 17, Hadith 216