The Believers: One Body, United in Mercy and Compassion

The Believer's Body: Mercy, Compassion, and Community

كَمَثَلِ الْجَسَدِ — Rasulullah ﷺ said that you will notice true believers to have the following qualities. You will notice that true believers, when it comes to their mercy and compassion that they have for one another, when it comes to the love that they have for one another, and when it comes to the empathy that they have for one another, they are like one single unit, like one body. And he discusses further in the hadith:

That when any portion of the body begins to suffer or begins to undergo any sort of pain, then you'll find that the rest of the body also begins to feel the pain. That when a person is sick, perhaps a person is feverish, or a person has a certain ailment, then you'll note that that sickness or that pain, it doesn't restrict itself to that one place on the body, but rather the entire body is affected.

In another hadith, Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2586)

That true Muslims, they are all like one body, like one unit. That when a person's eye begins to hurt, if an eye of an individual is suffering, then you'll find that the rest of the body also begins to suffer, it begins to feel the pain. Similarly, if a person has a headache, then the rest of the body also follows suit. You find that the rest of the body becomes sluggish. A person doesn't feel like doing anything, rather his whole entire body begins to ache. When a person has a fever, then his whole body becomes sore.

Similarly, when the believers hear of the suffering of other believers, then it should affect them, it should affect them.

A Scholar Moved to Illness by the Ummah's Pain

Our teacher, Mawlana Muhammad Abbas Umar hafizahullah, he used to mention about his teacher who is still alive, Shaykh Muhammad Awwama hafizahullah wa ra'ahu. And when a person looks at those individuals who have sacrificed their entire lives for the sake of Allah, and they have engaged in the research of ahadith and ayat of Qur'an, you'll find that the level of implementation of deen, of Islam in their lives, is — sometimes it's so miraculous, and it's so real, that a person actually begins to awe. A person begins to really get taken aback.

He mentions with regards to his teacher that sometimes we have to actually prevent other people from sharing news that happens throughout the Islamic world. We have to stop people, we have to prevent him from reading the news. Because when he sees the story, when he reads the suffering of other Muslims, he gets so affected that he physically begins to get sick. He physically gets a cold. To that level, his worry and concern is so much that we have to actually hold him back and prevent him and stop others from sharing such pieces of information.

And this is actually a quality of a true believer. This is a quality of a Muslim. And these are all things that, if we look at our deen, this is how a community is supposed to be. That unfortunately, we are so caught in the rat race of life, that we tend to worry more so about ourselves than anyone else. We've stopped worrying about other communities. In fact, forget about the rest of the community — we've even stopped worrying about our own immediate family members at times. That if a person catches a cold, or if a person gets sick, or a person isn't feeling well, yeah, you get over it. No compassion, no empathy. But this is a quality of a believer.

Communal Rights in Islam

And if you look at the ahadith of Rasulullah ﷺ, there are so many more of these qualities. There are so many more instructions. Rasulullah ﷺ used to instruct others:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1239; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2162)

When a person gets sick, that it is a communal right that that person who is ill, he is looked after. That it is our job as a community to ensure that someone is caring for him.

Rasulullah ﷺ instructed that we also take part in janaza. When a person passes away, how many of us feel that it is my responsibility as a Muslim, my responsibility as a community member to come and take part of his Salatul Janaza? And then afterwards to go and help and assist in the burial.

Rasulullah ﷺ also mentions:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1240; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2162)

When a person sneezes, it is actually a communal obligation. In fact, in other ahadith it's mentioned that this is an obligation upon every Muslim who hears another saying الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ — that it is actually his responsibility to make du'a for them and say:

And so many of these qualities and characteristics we see in the lives of non-Muslims who don't even have an objective criteria of etiquette and morals which are taught to them by their messengers. But you'll find a person sneezes — "God bless you." Anywhere you go, a person sneezes, "God bless you." A Muslim sneezes — الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ — and sometimes you don't even hear يَرْحَمُكَ اللَّهُ. But this is a communal obligation.

Rasulullah ﷺ also mentioned:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1240; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2162)

If you hear someone take on an oath, a task, then it's actually your duty to help and assist him to the best of your ability. And Rasulullah ﷺ also mentions:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1240; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2162)

So many more communal obligations, so many more rights that people have on us. It's our duty to help and assist those who are being oppressed. It is our duty to help and assist anyone that we see in any difficulty. That if we are invited to any gathering, any party, it is our responsibility to go and actually partake of that invitation — whether we feel that we're gonna fit in that environment, with that particular crowd — so long as there's nothing haram happening. Maybe a brother from another clique in the masjid, or maybe another brother from a different community invited me because he has some personal connection with me, and I know that I'm not gonna know anyone else. So I feel, you know what, I'm not gonna really know anyone, so why should I even go in the first place? This mindset is completely wrong.

But rather, this is our responsibility — if a brother or a sister invites a brother to partake in a particular meal, or to come for a particular invitation, or a particular gathering, then it is actually our duty to go and partake and bring happiness to that brother. And Rasulullah ﷺ also mentioned another right, another obligation about spreading the greetings of salams, and so on and so forth.

Building the Greatest Community

This is how Rasulullah ﷺ managed to create one of the greatest communities that this world has ever seen. You'll find even non-Muslims testifying to this. Michael H. Hart, in his book — I've mentioned here before — The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, he lists Rasulullah ﷺ as the most influential person to have ever walked the face of this earth. Despite the fact that he himself was Jewish, and he had his own prophet — Musa ﷺ is also mentioned in the book — he gave preference to Rasulullah ﷺ over everyone else. And what was his reasoning? One of the main reasons he mentions is because Rasulullah ﷺ took a community that was completely war-torn and destroyed, who hated one another's guts, and he changed them into one of the greatest of empires this world has ever seen.

And it all started from these etiquettes. It all started from these communal rights. He created a community. And this is something that we have to ask ourselves — how many of these things do we consider as important? Amongst our own fellow community members, when I hear someone who is sick and ill, do I send him a message thinking about him? Do I go and help him perhaps prepare some food? Or if I'm invited, do I take it as serious or not?

Our Global Responsibility: The Earthquake

And then after we have started that within our communities — or perhaps even at the same time — it's not only restricted locally. This concern should not be a local concern, but rather it should be global. Now let us ask ourselves: when we heard about this devastating earthquake that took place, how many of us truly, from the bottom of our hearts, felt pain? How many of us — myself included — felt that my fellow brother is getting hurt? Thousands of people are losing their lives, they're losing their family members, they're losing their homes, they're losing everything. And most of them are already in such a case where they already lost their homes and they already lost their families and they're already suffering — and now even more suffering. Did that even strike a chord in our hearts that we actually turned to Allah and made sincere du'a or not? That's something that we all have to ask ourselves.

This is a quality of a true believer — that he worries about his fellow Muslim brothers and sisters. So this is something that we have to worry about. And this is something that we have to take action regarding.

Sadaqah Beyond Zakat

It's so sad that when it comes to many of these occasions, the first question on our mind — whether we are going to donate or not — has to do with, "Oh, is this eligible for zakat?" I mean, definitely if it is eligible and it is possible, okay. But how many people stop there? Let us ask ourselves. If it's not eligible for zakat, how many of us still decide, okay, that's fine, let me give my own charity — sadaqah — which is not an obligation upon me but rather it's for my own benefit that I'm giving sadaqah. How many of us have asked ourselves that?

Many people are like, okay, I want to give zakat. But if zakat is not a viable option, hypothetically — then how many of us decide, okay, that's fine, Allah has blessed me with more, I don't have to give this zakat because that's an obligation, there's no extra praise in that, that's something I have to do. But let me take some of my own money over and above the obligation and give extra voluntary charity for this cause. And this is just one of the examples. And then you have so many other examples, whether it comes to different times throughout the year, different institutions when they ask for money — how many of us unfortunately are stuck in, "Okay, zakat — if not zakat, that's fine."

May Allah grant us all tawfiq. Once we bring all these characteristics and these qualities into our lives, then we will be true believers, true Muslims. Then the Muslims at large will see a change. But if we continue ignoring them, or if we continue getting lost in the rat race of life, then unfortunately our entire lives are going to pass, and we will not have prepared anything for ourselves in the hereafter, and the Muslims at large would also be suffering.

Taking Lesson from the Calamities of Others

Lastly, I would like to mention that these types of events — natural disasters and terrible things that happen — of course, our heart cries out for such individuals, and we make sincere du'a, and we do our best to aid in any way possible. But at the same time, many famous wise individuals have mentioned:

That a truly fortunate person is the one who takes lesson from others. Many of these individuals, they thought that they're going to live till the next Ramadan. None of them knew that their lives are going to end in like a single snap. So none of us know. Allah protect us — we could have an earthquake here, and then we could all pass away. How many of us are ready for that meeting with Allah? And what have we prepared? And where are we going? Let us all reflect on all of these things.

May Allah grant us the tawfiq to put all of these things into implementation.

Announcements

Let us all perform our sunnahs, and before starting, please fill in all the gaps as possible, and come forward as there are many brothers who are continuously coming in and they may not have a place. Again, this goes directly into our lecture — our concern for other fellow Muslim brothers. So let us please fill up as many places and gaps that we see before we start our sunnah. Jazakumullahu khairan.

Please pass the donation boxes from left to right and donate generously. Sadaqah wards off calamities and also draws the mercy of Allah. Please also do not park on the curb parking behind the seminary building or the Swift Highway. Do not park on the curb behind the seminary building or on either side of Swift Highway. There are no parking signs posted, and we also placed cones to prevent individuals from parking at these locations. Alhamdulillah, we have ample parking with the acquisition of the new lot, so kindly use that.

Our Darussalam programs are continuing. We have monthly seminars. There is one today — in fact, Keys to a Fulfilling Marriage with Brother Farhan Ahmed, founder of Ihsan Coaching. We invite everyone to join us tonight after Isha Salah to learn the keys to feeling more fulfilled within our marriages. Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned that marriage is half of your deen. Insha'Allah, Brother Farhan Ahmed will be discussing effective communication skills, conflict resolution, the importance of friendship, and various other challenges that married couples face.

We also have our Girls Youth Halaqah, Soulful Chats, which will take place on Friday, February 10th, at 5:45 to 7:45 p.m. It will take place in the Sisters Seminary Prayer Hall. Sisters only, between the ages of 13 to 21.

Our weekly program, Saturday Team Fajr, will be held tomorrow. Fajr Iqamah is at 6:15. Bukhari Dars will resume, insha'Allah, from Monday. Tuesday's tafsir programs are also continuing with Surah Mu'min. And we have our weekly salawat gatherings on Thursday after Isha Salah. There is also a student program for high school and college students on Friday, February 17th, after Isha Salah.

There is also an organization, HHRD, with people outside with flyers to help for Turkey and for Syria as well. So kindly assist and let us all take part in that.

There is a du'a request specifically for Brother Zaheer Siddiqi, who has an open heart surgery today. Let us all make du'a earnestly for him, as well as all of those who are going through difficulty throughout the world.