Compassion is the Essence of Islam and Other Religions - Usher Kindness in Practice As Human Being Needs It the Most Now
By
Arman Neyazi, New Age Islam
12 June
2021
Kindness,
Sympathy And Compassion Are Embedded In The Soul Of Every Religion And Faith
The Main
Points:
1. Kindness,
sympathy and compassion are the souls of the preambles of all the organisations
of the world working for the crying humankind.
2. Innumerable
NGOs and government bodies of the world are engaged 24x7 in casting the
miseries of the poor and the destitute off.
3. The world
knows compassion and kindness are the only way that can bring peace and harmony
to the lives of humankind.
4. The people
in need do not need only our material support but our compassion and kindness.
5. The world
has been divided into developed, developing and underdeveloped to make sure the
distinction between the people of God remains as loud and clear as possible.
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Kindness,
sympathy and compassion are the souls of the preambles of all the organisations
of the world working for the crying humankind as these are embedded in the soul
of every religion and faith. The innumerable NGOs and government bodies of the
world are engaged 24x7 in casting the miseries of the poor and the destitute
off but it seems to be of no avail. The world has been knowingly divided into
developed, developing and underdeveloped to make sure the distinction between
the people of God remains as loud and clear as possible. No one of those who
are in power and in whose hands is the future of the dying populace of the
world can say that they do not know Allah, the All-Knower has created human
being like brothers and sisters from one parentage, as the Holy Quran mentions:
O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into
races and tribes,... (Surah Al-Hujurat - 13) — Mufti Taqi Usmani. The human
being is divided into races and tribes so that, as the Holy Quran says in the
same verse, ‘Surely the noblest of you, in Allah’s sight, is the one who is
most pious of you, to identify the noble among us and to reward for our good
deeds.
Knowing
that the noblest among the human being is the one who cares for the poor,
destitute, orphan and sick among others, the people that matter is busy
fighting and violating the basic rights of the people.
The whole
world knows compassion and kindness are the only way that can bring peace and
harmony needed to fight the obsession of ‘owning the world’ by hook or by
crook. I say the whole world knows because every religion or religious faith or
the spiritual teachers and even an honest mind understands the Holy Scriptures
of the religion they follow. All the men who matter understand the following
verses and sayings of the religious leaders and the Holy Scriptures and many of
us do also act like acting according to them. Consider the following:
And Indeed, Allah is with those who are of
service to others.
(Al Quran 29:70)
Naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you
visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ (Matthew 25:36)
"You shall love your neighbour as
yourself"
(Leviticus 19:18)
‘He who tends to the sick tends to me’ – The Buddha
Serving people is worshipping the Lord. (Hindu Dharma- Deivathin Kural)
The world
knows what the world religions preach and what are its duties even then it does
not go with the teachings of the religion he pretends to follow. It is not to
say that the human being does not practice charity for the sake of a divine life
hereafter but it is for sure that it lacks compassion and love in whatever he
does. World people have to create compassion and kindness for society to make
the world compassionate and kind.
The duty of
the learned among us is not to let people fight a war or supremacism but to
lead them to help them change the way they see others. Universal good lies in a
philosophical change of mind towards compassion. It does not require a
materialist approach to bring happiness and serenity to the faces of poverty-ridden
citizens of poor and war-torn nations.
The
religious approach to bring peace and prosperity among the people, nations,
civilisations and tribes should be followed and acted upon. Let us see what the
world religions say, in the following:
What Christianity
Teaches To Its Followers About Their Duty towards Humankind
(Photo courtesy/QuotesLyfe)
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The
significant verses from the Christian epics commanding mankind regarding their
behaviour towards the needy are as follows:
“For I was
hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes
and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you
came to visit me … Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of
these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:35-36, 40).
Naked, and
you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came
to Me.’ (Matthew 25:36)
Pure and
undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans
and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James
1:27)
So King
Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Arameans had
inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then
Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab
in Jezreel because he was sick. (2 Kings 8:29)
When Elisha
became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel
came down to him and wept over him and said, “My father, my father, the
chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” (2 Kings 13:14)
Now when
Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they
came each one from his place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and
Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to
sympathize with him and comfort him. (Job 2:1)
Is anyone
among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to
pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; (James 5:14)
(Source: Bible Knowing Jesus)
Essence of Islam, compassion and
empathy, in one short Hadith
(Photo Courtesy/ The Muslim Times/TWitter)
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What Do
the Holy Quran and Hadees Traditions Say About Kindness towards Humanity
Indeed, Allah enjoins justice, and the doing of
good to others; and giving like kindred; (Al Quran 16:91)
..Goodness does not consist in turning your
face towards East or West. The truly good are those who believe in God and the
Last Day, in the angels, the Scripture, and the prophets; who give away some of
their wealth, however much they cherish it, to their relatives, to orphans, the
needy, travellers and beggars and to liberate those in debt and bondage... (Al Quran 2:178)
And We
gave him Isaac and Jacob; each did We guide aright, and Noah did We guide
aright aforetime, and of his progeny, David and Solomon and Job and Joseph and
Moses and Aaron. Thus do We reward those who do good.
(Al Quran 6:85)
The
reward of goodness is nothing but goodness. (Al Quran 55:61)
“And We have sent you O Muhammad (SAW) not, but
as a mercy for all of humankind, jinn and all that exists.” and they give food,
out of their love for Him (Allah), to the needy, and the orphan, and the captive, (Surah Al-Insan - 8) — Mufti Taqi
Usmani
The Ahadees
mentioned in the following lines are a true reflection of the life of Prophet
Muhammad Pbuh. These are a living testimony of the practicality of all that is
said regarding the kind and compassionate approach towards the human being and
their rewards hereafter.
“…Did you
not know My servant was sick, and you did not visit him and had you visited him
you would have found Me with him?”
“…Did you
not know My servant asked you for food, but you did not feed him and had you
fed him you would have found that (reward) with Me.”
“…My
servant asked you for a drink, but you did not provide him drink, and had you
given it to him you would have found that (reward) with Me.”
(Hadith 18,
40 Hadith Qudsi)
Prophet
Muhammad said, “Kindness is a mark of faith, and whoever is not kind has no
faith.” (Narrated by Muslim)
“A prostitute had once been forgiven. She
passed by a dog panting near a well. Thirst had nearly killed him, so she took
off her sock, tied it to her veil, and drew up some water. Allah forgave her
for that.” (Narrated by Abu Huraira)
Teachings
of Judaism Regarding Being Kind to Human Being
“God will
support him on the bed of illness” (Psalms 41:4)
When one
who is a contemporary of an ill person visits him, he takes one-sixtieth of his
illness… (Bava Metzia 30b:12)
“Rejoice
not when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he
stumbles… (Nedarim 40a:3-6)
"You
shall love your neighbour as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18)
Hinduism
and Lessons on Kindness
(Photo courtesy/Quote Fancy)
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We keep
aloof from the outside world when we are ritually impure. We must regard any
day on which we fail to do any service to others as a day of impurity.
Paramesvara is the father of all creatures. By serving our fellow men we serve
the Lord. (Tirumular in Tirumantiram
Serving
people is worshipping the Lord. (Hindu Dharma"- English translation of
"Deivathin Kural)
Feed milk
to your neighbour's child, your child will be nourished." (A Saying in
Hindu Dharma)
One may
amass wealth with hundreds of hands but one should also distribute it with
thousands of hands. If someone keeps all that he accumulates for himself and
does not give it to others, the hoarded wealth will eventually prove to be the
cause of ruin. - Rig Veda (10-177-6)
If there is
but one tree of flowers and fruit within a village, that place is worthy of
your respect. (Mahabharata, Adiparra, 138:25)
Charity
given out of duty, without expectation of return, at the proper time and place,
and to a worthy person is considered to be in the quality of goodness. -
Bhagavad Gita (17.20)
Lessons
on Kindness from Buddhism
‘He who
tends to the sick tends to me’ – The Buddha
There is
the liberation of the heart by loving-kindness; frequently giving wise
attention to it — this is the denourishing of the arising of ill-will that has
not yet arisen, and the decrease and weakening of ill-will that has already
arisen. — SN 46:51
“Just as
the soft rains fill the streams,
Pour into
the rivers, and join together in the oceans,
So may the
power of every moment of your goodness
Flow forth
to awaken and heal all beings–
Those here
now, those gone before, those yet to come.” ----Lord Buddha
Let Us
Be Compassionate For The Grieving Humankind
We, human
being have ingrained compassion, kindness, love and brotherhood in our
personality traits, this, therefore, will not be difficult at all to bring it
to the fore and work for the bereaved fellow humankind. All the religions have
created universal characters as followers of all the religions are citizens of
all the nations in the world hence let the world be compassionate, sooner than
later.
The world
population is in the midst of one of the worst calamities ever happened - the
Covid-19 Pandemic. Other than this Floods In Indonesia, India, Japan and China,
Hurricane In United States, Volcano Eruption In The Philippines and the
Earthquakes In Turkey, The Caribbean, China, Iran, Russia, Philippines and
India and Cyclone in India and Bangladesh are some of the most recent
calamities that the world has faced. The havoc and devastation brought by these
have left innumerable people at the mercy of their fellow human being. Many
among us are working for the elimination of poverty but that is not enough, we
all will have to share the responsibility and come forward to bring smiles that
have lost somewhere.
The people
in need do not need only our material support but our compassion and kindness
to assure them of their being a member of the large world family. These
brothers and sisters should be assisted with all that they need, keeping the
following Hadees in mind:
“Be kind, for whenever kindness becomes a part
of something, it beautifies it. Whenever it is taken from something, it leaves
it tarnished.” (Sahih Muslim)
And
Allah Knows the Best.
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Arman
Neyazi is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/compassion-essence-kindness-/d/124968
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