Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that a man asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): What do you say about the illnesses that befall us? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: They become an expiation for sins. My father said: Even if the illness is minor? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Even if it is a thorn or something greater than that. Upon hearing this, my father supplicated against himself that fever should not leave him until his death, but that the fever should not prevent him from Hajj, Umrah, striving in the way of Allah, or performing obligatory prayers in congregation. After that, whoever touched my father would feel the heat of the fever, until he passed away.