The boy used to heal the blind and the lepers and the people. (He wasn’t a prophet: see the next post for more details.) The king’s blind companion (jalees bin malik, or the one who sits next to the king) went to the boy with gifts, and said “these are all for you if you heal me”. The boy said “Truly Allah heals. If you believe in Him, I will pray to Him, and He will heal you.” The man believed, so the boy prayed, and Allah healed the man.
Notice the boy didn’t say “I will heal you.” He directed it to Allah (سبحانه وتعالى). Partly because if he attributed it to himself, they’d worship him.
Beware the power of words. People enter Islam through words (the shadaha — testimony of faith) and leave Islam through words of disbelief. Marriage becomes binding through words. Divorce occurs from use of certain words. It’s all through words.
The boy’s attribution of events to Allah occurs in several places in the Qur’an:
- Prophet Ibrahim said: If I fall sick, He (Allah) heals me.
- Khidr said: I defected the boat, Allah wanted the wall to remain standing.
And this is the aim of da’wah: to make certain the existence of Allah on Earth.
Ibrahim Hindy. “People of the Ditch.” UTM MSA. University of Toronto At Mississauga, Mississauga.