Believers Are Like One Body | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Believers Are Like One Body

We know from a scientific point of view that there's a concept and a construct in which we live in that is called an ecosystem. And the ecosystem is of such a nature that we understand that everything affects everything. The presence of one creates an absence of another.

And the absence of one can create the presence of another. Something faltering here can affect something far away from it. The entirety of the planet is built upon the foundation of what we've been taught as an ecosystem.

That life on this planet, life for the animals, life for these plants and trees, revolve around an infrastructure that is completely interlocked and interlinked. One which is harmed, the other is also harmed.

The Infrastructure of Believers

My dear friends, thus is the infrastructure of believers. Thus is the system of our ummah. That we are also like an ecosystem. We are also like one body.

(Reported in Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Hadith 84)

That believers are like one body. Believers are not like one body because they share the color of their skin. Because their ethnicities match and their DNA is similar.

They're like one body, not because of what they look like externally, but because the DNA of their heart matches. Because their level of ethics and values and ideals are absolutely synonymous.

Inclusive in Faith, Not in Ethnicity

We're inclusive, not based upon ideals and values. We're inclusive based upon ethnicities, backgrounds, color of a person's skin. But we're very exclusive when it comes to ideals and values.

The believers are like one body. We're an ecosystem. That when one is harmed, the pain of that, the hurt of that, the empathy of that, is felt all across the world. It's felt all across the waves where believers are living. The sound waves carry this pain. Not because we know the person, but simply because we know of them. We know that they went through something of a calamity, something of trauma.

An Ecosystem That Matters

This is an ecosystem that matters. This is an ecosystem that should be spoken of — that we affect one another. Our presence and absence has an impact upon one another.

A family — the father leaves, the mother leaves, the son leaves — it affects everyone. Everyone is impacted. Similarly, maybe Muslims suffering in Morocco, Muslims suffering in Libya, and Muslims suffering all across the world. The reality of the matter is that the pain of that should be felt here.

And if the heartbeat isn't being impacted, the question becomes — are we even a part of that ecosystem?