In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
'Urwah ibn al-Zubayr was afflicted,
he who was the brother of the Caliph 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr,
with a disease in his leg.
Physicians were gathered for him from every place
to treat him for this ailment
that had struck his leg.
The physicians concluded,
having decided that his leg must be amputated.
History describes for us this procedure,
which took place 1300 years ago,
when they offered him wine to intoxicate him
so that he would not feel the pain of the amputation.
He refused and said,
"I will not seek help against the decree of Allah through an act of disobedience to Allah."
They then wanted him to drink an anesthetic,
meaning a sedative,
but he said, "No."
"I do not wish to lose a part of my body
while I am not feeling a pain that I can count as a reward with Allah."
They asked,
"How will you endure the amputation while you are awake and conscious?"
He replied to them,
"I will immerse myself in the remembrance of Allah.
When you see that I have become absorbed in that remembrance,
then do as you must."
He began to remember Allah with his tongue, his heart, and his limbs,
and he was drowned in the ecstasy of that remembrance.
When they saw that he was absorbed in the remembrance,
the procedure began.
They cut the flesh with a knife heated by fire,
and when they reached the bone, they sawed through it.
All the while, he was proclaiming the oneness and greatness of Allah,
and sweat poured from him.
Then they brought oil
and cauterized the wound with it, at which point he fainted.
When he regained consciousness,
he took his leg,
which had become a piece of flesh and bone,
and he began to kiss it, saying,
"By the One who carried me upon you,
He knows that I never walked with you toward any act of disobedience."
While he was in this state of profound trial,
a voice called out
that his son Muhammad had been kicked by a horse and had fallen,
and had died instantly.
Thus, calamities gather together;
only moments ago his leg was amputated,
and now he is being told of the death of his son, the apple of his eye.
What are these calamities?
Yet 'Urwah ibn al-Zubayr said, seeking reward from Allah,
"O Allah, if You have taken one limb,
You have left others;
and if You have taken one son,
You have left other children.
To You belongs all praise for what You have given and what You have taken."
Before this great lesson in patience,
there is a call for patience and contentment,
despite what befalls the Ummah
of trials, tribulations, aggression,
occupation, annihilation, and the violation of sacred things.
So have patience, O my Ummah,
for you are upon the truth.