Photo: Collected
Almighty Allah says, ‘You are the best nation; you have been brought forth for the welfare of mankind’ (Surah Al-Imran, verse 110). The Prophet (PBUH) said, ‘Allah keeps helping a servant as long as he is engaged in helping his brother.’ (Tirmidhi) He further said, ‘All of creation is the family of Allah. The creation dear to Allah is the one who behaves kindly towards His creation.’ (Baihaqi)
The Prophet (PBUH) also said, ‘Allah does not show mercy to the person who does not show mercy to people.’ (Bukhari) On the other hand, about the consequence of not serving distressed humanity, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, ‘Surely on the Day of Judgement Allah will ask one of His servants: I was hungry, you did not give Me food; I was thirsty, you did not give Me water; I was sick, you did not tend to Me. The servant will then say in astonishment: O my Lord! You are free of want; You do not eat, You do not drink, how can You be hungry, thirsty and sick? Allah will say: Such-and-such a servant of Mine came to your door hungry, you did not give him food; had you given it to him, it would have been given to Me. You did not give water to the thirsty; had you given him water, it would have been given to Me. A patient writhed in pain in illness; had you tended to him, you would have tended to Me. Did you not know this?’ (Muslim). One of the rights of a Muslim over another Muslim is that when a Muslim falls ill, he should be visited. (Bukhari)
In this context, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) also said, ‘Visit the sick, feed the hungry and free the captive.’ (Bukhari) He further said, ‘When a Muslim goes to enquire after the illness of his Muslim brother, he remains in the khurfah of Paradise until he returns.’
It was asked, O Messenger of Allah! What is khurfah? He said, the picking of the fruits of Paradise! (Muslim) Islam enjoins good conduct towards all people. In particular, it places greater importance on giving assistance to orphans, the destitute, the helpless and the oppressed. Rebuking the failure to fulfil the rights of orphans and to feed the needy, the Holy Quran says, ‘Have you seen the one who denies the religion? He is the one who harshly drives away the orphan. And does not encourage people to feed the needy’ (Surah Maun, verses 1-3).
The writer is an Islamic researcher
