The expiation of the sick person's sins and the reward he receives

Iyad bin Ghutayf narrates: We came to Sayyiduna Abu Ubaydah bin al-Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him) to visit him during an illness that had afflicted him. His wife, a frail woman, was sitting by his head. I asked her: "How is Sayyiduna Abu Ubaydah (may Allah be pleased with him)?" She replied: "By Allah, he has spent the night with reward (that is, he remained in pain all night)." Sayyiduna Abu Ubaydah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I have not spent the night with reward." At first he had been facing the wall; then he turned his face towards the people and said: "Will you not ask me about what I said?" The people said: "What you said did not please us, that we should ask you about it." Sayyiduna Abu Ubaydah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Whoever spends something surplus in the path of Allah, its reward is seven hundredfold. Whoever spends on himself or on his family, or visits a sick person, or removes something harmful, then a good deed is rewarded tenfold. Fasting is a shield as long as a person does not tear it. And whoever Allah Almighty tests in his body, that becomes a means of expiation for his sins."
Ahmad, Abu Ya'la and al-Bazzar recorded it. Its chain contains a narrator, Yasar bin Abi Sayf; I have not seen anyone declare him thiqah (trustworthy) or criticise him. The remaining narrators of this report are thiqat (trustworthy).

Abu Zur'ah al-Bustani narrates: I went with my father and some other people to visit Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda' (may Allah be pleased with him). He was at that time in a house whose walls had become old (or weak), and he was facing the wall. We found his wife by his head. The people asked the woman: "How did Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda' (may Allah be pleased with him) spend the night?" The woman replied: "He spent the night with reward." Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda' (may Allah be pleased with him) turned his face towards us and said: "The truth is not what this woman has said." The people were taken aback at this. Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda' (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Will you not ask me why I said this?" The people said: "Why did you say this?" He said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "When a believer falls ill, he is not rewarded because of the illness; rather, (sins) are removed from him."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir. Its chain contains a narrator, Hafs bin Umar bin Abi al-Qasim; I have not found anyone who mentions him. The remaining narrators of this report are thiqat (trustworthy).

Abu Ma'mar narrates: Whenever we heard something from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that we did not like, we would remain silent until he himself explained it to us. One day Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said to us that no reward is recorded for a sick person because of his illness. This displeased us greatly and weighed heavily on us. Then he said: "Allah Almighty wipes out sins because of the illness."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Whenever a believing man or a believing woman, or a Muslim man or a Muslim woman, falls ill, Allah Almighty wipes out his sins because of that illness." In one narration the wording is: "Allah Almighty wipes away his sins from him."
Ahmad, Abu Ya'la and al-Bazzar recorded it. The narrators of Ahmad are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna al-Sa'ib bin Khallad (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whatever hardship afflicts a believer, even a thorn that pricks him, Allah Almighty records a good deed for him because of it, and wipes out a sin of his because of it."
Ahmad recorded it. Its chain contains a narrator, Rishdin, about whom there is criticism.

Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Whatever afflicts a believer in his body and causes him pain, Allah Almighty (because of that pain) removes the sins of that believer from him."
Ahmad and al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat. The full incident is narrated in this report. The narrators of Ahmad are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Asad bin Kurz (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "The sins of a sick person fall away just as the leaves of a tree are shed."
Ahmad and al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to a tree and shook it, and its leaves began to fall, as many as Allah willed to fall. Then he said: "Calamities and pains bring down the sins of the children of Adam faster than I have brought down the leaves of this tree."
Abu Ya'la recorded it. Its chain contains a narrator, Jabir al-Ju'fi, and he is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda' (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Headache and fever keep afflicting the believer, and the believer's sins are like Mount Uhud; then when that illness leaves the believer, not even the weight of a mustard seed of sin remains on him."
Ahmad and al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat. Its chain contains a narrator, Ibn Lahi'ah, about whom there is criticism.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Fever and headache keep afflicting a male or female servant (of Allah), even though they both carry sins as great as Mount Uhud; but when these two illnesses leave him, not even the weight of a mustard seed of sin remains on them (that is, on the male or female servant)."
Abu Ya'la recorded it, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: A man said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "What is your view about these illnesses that afflict us; what reward do we get for them?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "They become an expiation." Sayyiduna Ubayy (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Even if they are slight?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Even if it is a thorn, or anything greater than it." The narrator says: Sayyiduna Ubayy (may Allah be pleased with him) then prayed for himself that fever would never leave him until he died, but that the fever would not keep him from performing Hajj and Umrah, or from taking part in jihad in the path of Allah, or from offering the obligatory prayer in congregation. The narrator says: His condition remained such until he died that whoever touched him would feel the fever. I say:
This report is narrated in the Sahih without this context.
Ahmad and Abu Ya'la recorded it, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy). The hadith narrated from Sayyiduna Ubayy bin Ka'b will come later in the chapter on fever.

Sayyiduna Jubayr bin Mut'im (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, Allah Almighty tests His believing servant with illness until He removes every sin from him."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat. Its chain contains a narrator, Abd al-Rahman bin Mu'awiyah bin al-Huwayrith, whom Yahya bin Ma'in declared da'if (weak) and Ibn Hibban called thiqah (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever suffers a headache in the path of Allah and hopes for reward, all his previous sins are forgiven."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Azhar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When a believer is afflicted with a severe fever or a fever, the example of (that sick believer) is like iron that goes into the fire: its impurity (that is, its rust) goes away and what is pure remains."
Al-Bazzar and al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir. Its chain contains a narrator who is not known.

Al-Hasan al-Basri narrates: We came to Sayyiduna Imran bin Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him); this was during the severe illness that had afflicted him. He said: "I express my sorrow to you over the condition I see." Sayyiduna Imran bin Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O my nephew! Do not do so. By Allah! The thing most beloved to me is what is most pleasing to Allah Almighty. Allah Almighty has said: 'Whatever calamity befalls you is because of what your own hands have earned, and He pardons much.' So this is what my own hands have earned, and then the pardon of my Lord will come to me for what remains."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Abu Umamah al-Bahili (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Any servant who humbly beseeches (Allah Almighty) during an illness, when Allah Almighty raises him from that illness, he has become pure."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyidah Aishah Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When a believer falls ill, (the illness) purifies him of sins just as the furnace cleans the impurity (that is, the rust) of iron."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy), except that I do not know al-Tabarani's teacher.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever has a headache in the path of Allah and hopes for reward, his sins before that are forgiven."
Al-Bazzar recorded it, and its chain is hasan (good).

It is reported from him that he said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whenever a believing man or a believing woman falls ill, Allah Almighty makes (that illness) an expiation for his past sins."
Al-Bazzar recorded it. Its chain contains a narrator, Yusuf bin Khalid al-Samti, and he is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When a sick person recovers and becomes well from his illness, his example is like hailstones that fall from the sky, (that is, he is like it) in its purity and its colour."
Al-Bazzar and al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat. Its chain contains a narrator, al-Walid bin Muhammad al-Muwaqqari, and he is da'if (weak).