This story was recounted by Prof. Khalid Al-Jubeir,
consulting cardiovascular surgeon, in one of his lecture,
Once I operated on a two and a half year old child. It was
Tuesday, and on Wednesday the child was in good health. On Thursday at 11:15 am
– and I’ll never forget the time because of the shock I experienced – one of
the nurses informed me that the heart and breathing of the child had stopped. I
hurried to the child and
performed cardiac massage for 45 minutes and during that
entire time the heart would not work.
Then, ALLAH decreed for the heart to resume function and we
thanked HIM. I went to inform the child’s family about his condition. As you
know, it is very difficult to inform the patient’s family about his condition
when it’s bad. This is one of the most difficult situations a doctor is
subjected to but it is necessary. So I looked for the child’s father whom I
couldn’t find. Then I found his mother. I told her that the child’s cardiac
arrest was due to bleeding in his throat; we don’t know the cause of this
bleeding and fear that his brain is dead. So how do you think she responded?
Did she cry? Did she blame me? No, nothing of the sort. Instead, she said “شكرا الْحَمْدُ الله Alhamdulillah” (All
Praise is due to ALLAH) and left me.
After 10 days, the child started moving. We thanked ALLAH
and were happy that his brain condition was reasonable. After 12 days, the
heart stopped again because of the same bleeding. We performed another cardiac
massage for 45 minutes but this time his heart didn’t respond. I told his
mother that there was no hope. So she said: “ شكرا الْحَمْدُ الله Alhamdulillah. O ALLAH, if there is good
in his recovery, then cure him, O my Lord.”
With the grace of ALLAH, his heart started functioning
again. He suffered six similar cardiac arrests till a trachea specialist was
able to stop the bleeding and the heart started working properly. Now, three
and a half months had passed and the child was recovering but did not move.
Then just as he started moving, he was afflicted with a very large and strange
pus-filled abscess in his head, the likes of which I had never seen. I informed
his mother of the serious development. She said “ شكرا الْحَمْدُ الله Alhamdulillah” and left me.
We immediately turned him over to the surgical unit that
deals with the brain and nervous system and they took over his treatment. Three
weeks later, the boy recovered from this abscess but was still not moving. Two
weeks pass and he suffers from a strange blood poisoning and his temperature
reaches 41.2°C (106°F). I again informed his mother of the serious development
and she said with patience and certainty: “ شكرا الْحَمْدُ اللهAlhamdulillah. O ALLAH, if there is good
in his recovery, then cure him.”
After seeing his mother who was with her child at Bed#5, I
went to see another child at Bed#6. I found that child’s mother crying and
screaming, “Doctor! Doctor! Do something! The boy’s temperature reached 37.6°C
(99.68°F)! He’s going to die! He’s going to die!” I said with surprise, “Look
at the mother of that child in Bed#5. Her child’s fever is over 41°C (106°F),
yet she is patient and praises ALLAH.” So she replied: “That woman isn’t
conscious and has no senses”. At that point, I remembered the great Hadith of
the Prophet
(ﺻﻠﯽ الله ﺗﻌﺎﻟﯽٰ ﻋﻠﯿﮧ ﻭﺍٓﻟﮧ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ
): “Blessed are the strangers.” Just two words… but indeed two words that shake
a nation! In 23 years of hospital service, I have never seen the likes of this
patient sister.
We continued to care for him. Now, six and a half months
have passed and the boy finally came out of the recovery unit – not talking,
not seeing, not hearing, not moving, not smiling, and with an open chest in
which you can see his beating heart. The mother changed the dressing regularly
and remained patient and hopeful. Do you know what happened after that? Before
I inform you, what do you think are the prospects of a child who has passed through
all these dangers, agonies, and diseases? And what do you expect this patient
mother to do whose child is at the brink of the grave and who is unable to do
anything except supplicate and beseech ALLAH? Do you know what happened two and
a half months later? The boy was completely cured by the mercy of ALLAH and as
a reward for this pious mother. He now races his mother with his feet as if
nothing happened and he became sound and healthy as he was before.
The story doesn’t end here. This is not what moved me and
brought tears to my eyes. What filled my eyes with tears is what follows:
One and a half years after the child left the hospital, one
of the brothers from the Operations Unit informed me that a man, his wife and
two children wanted to see me. I asked who they were and he replied that he
didn’t know them. So I went to see them, and I found the parents of the same
child whom I operated upon. He was now five years old and like a flower in good
health – as if nothing happened to him. With them also was a four-month old
newborn. I welcomed them kindly and then jokingly asked the father whether the
newborn was the 13th or 14th child. He looked at me with an astonishing smile
as if he pitied me. He then said, “This is the second child, and the child upon
whom you operated is our first born, bestowed upon us after 17 years of
infertility. And after being granted that child, he was afflicted with the
conditions that you’ve seen.”
At hearing this, I couldn’t control myself and my eyes
filled with tears. I then involuntarily grabbed the man by the arm, and pulling
him to my room, asked him about his wife: “Who is this wife of yours who after
17 years of infertility has this much patience with all the fatal conditions
that afflict her first born?! Her heart cannot be barren! It must be fertile
with Imaan!”Do you know what he said? Listen carefully my dear brothers and
sisters. He said, “I was married to this woman for 19 years and for all these
years she has never missed the [late] night prayers except due to an authorized
excuse. I have never witnessed her backbiting, gossiping, or lying. Whenever I
leave home or return, she opens the door, supplicates for me, and receives me
hospitably. And in everything she does, she demonstrates the utmost love, care,
courtesy, and compassion.” The man completed by saying, “Indeed, doctor,
because of all the noble manners and affection with which she treats me, I’m
shy to lift up my eyes and look at her. So I said to him: “And the likes of her
truly deserve that from you.”
The End…
