Monday, June 24, 2019

Islamic Teachings of Mercy, Kindness and Compassion towards All Creations of Allah




By Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi, New Age Islam
13 June 2019
There are certainly war-related rulings in the Quran and Ahadith, but they are contextual and relevant only for preventing oppression, curbing religious persecutions and gaining religious rights. It will be injustice for any “Islamist or Jihadist groups” to apply them to a pluralistic country, especially India, where people of different religions coexist with all their respective religious freedom and civil rights. Moreover, Indian Constitution also guarantees security from religious persecutions; it will be unfair for anyone to take the law in their own hands to punish the persecutors or go to join the “Islamist” groups such as ‘ISIS’ which itself is a group of transgressors, oppressors and religious persecutors.(Related Articles can be found on this page ( http://newageislam.com/AuthorPage.aspx?ID=5)
We have been saying it repeatedly that the concept of Islamic war, which is fought by the State of Islam, is fully confined to repelling religious persecutions, whether committed by believers or non-believers, and not against all Kuffar. Therefore, we find in the Quran the allowance to coexist with non-violent Kuffar, disbelievers or non-Muslims in peace, as God Almighty says in the Quran, “And if any one of the polytheists seeks your protection, then grant him protection so that he may hear the words of Allah. Then deliver him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know.” (9:6)
In a pluralistic society where non-violent people of different faiths coexist enjoying their respective rights under the constitutional laws, it will be sheer injustice, from Islamic perspective, to encourage war or unfair retaliation. In such a society of pluralism, the primary goal of Muslims and non-Muslims should be to raise echoes of peace, tranquility, tolerance, kindness and compassion.   
The faithful Muslims who want to devote their life to the cause of God Almighty must develop it with the sense of general command of mercy, kindness and compassion towards all creations of Allah Almighty, regardless of religion, caste, race, culture and colour.
A number of Ahadith (sayings of the Prophet peace be upon him) teach Muslims to adopt approach of general mercy, kindness and compassion towards all creations. Some of them are as follows;
The Prophet (peace be upon him) is reported to have said, “Almighty Allah does bestow His Mercy upon a person who is not merciful upon the people” (narrated by Jareer bin Abdullah, Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim)
Hazrat Abu Hurairah said that he heard Abul Qasim, the Truthful and the Deliverer of the Truth (peace be upon him) saying, “Mercy is not removed but from a wretched person” (Musnad Ahmad, Tirmidhi)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Rahmaan (Allah) has Mercy on those who have mercy. Be compassionate to those on the earth and He Whose Divine Authority is over the skies, will be Merciful towards you”. (Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi reported from Abdullah Ibn ‘Amr)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “He who shows no mercy upon our children and shows no respect to our elders, and he who does not command righteous deeds and he who does not forbid evil, is not from amongst us”. (Tirmidhi reported it from Ibn ‘Abbas)
It is reported from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that if a young person respects an elderly person due to his old-age, then Allah will appoint for him, one who respect in his old-age.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “It is from the signs of Respect for Allah, to be respectful to an elderly Muslim, and to respect one who bears the Qur’an (i.e. a Hafiz), who is neither Ghaali nor Jaafi, and to be respectful to a Just Ruler”. (Abu Dawud reported this Hadith from Abu Musa)
The words ‘Ghaali’ and ‘Jaafi’ refer to those who exaggerate and do not focus on the accuracy of the words or those who recite merely for showiness. So this hadith asks us to be respectful towards those Huffaz of the Quran who are neither Ghaali nor Jaafi.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “A believer (Mumin) is a sanctuary of affection, and there is no good in that person who neither shows any affection nor receives any affection” (Imam Ahmad and Baihaqi reported it on the authority of Abu Hurairah)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Whosoever fulfils the need of someone in my Ummah with the aim of making him happy, he has pleased me and whosoever pleases me has pleased Allah, and whosoever pleases Allah, Allah will enter him into Heaven (Jannat)” (Baihaqi reported it on the authority of Hazrat Anas)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Whosoever redresses the grievances of an aggrieved person, Allah will have seventy three blessings and absolutions recorded for him. Through one of them, all of his issues will be set aright and with the remaining seventy two, his status will be elevated on the Day of Judgment” (Baihaqi reported it on the authority of Hazrat Anas)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “All believers (Muminin) are like one person (i.e. one body). If his eye is inflicted (by illness), then his entire body is ill and if there is an illness in his head, then his entire body is ill” (Sahih Muslim on the authority of Nu’man bin Basheer)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “A believer unto another believer is the example of a solid structure, that part of it gives strength to other parts of it. He (peace be upon him) then intertwined the fingers of his one hand to the fingers of the other hand. In other words, Muslims too, should be united in the same manner as the fingers are entwined”. (Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim reported it on the authority of Abu Musa)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Assist your brother, be he the oppressor or the oppressed!’ Someone asked, “O Messenger of Allah! If he is oppressed then I will (surely) assist him, but if he is the oppressor, how should I assist him?’ He  said, “Stop him from committing oppression. In this way you will be helping him”. (Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Mulsim on the authority of Hazrat Anas)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “A Muslim is a brother unto another Muslim. Neither should he oppress him, nor should he quit assisting him and one who is there for his brother in a time of need, Allah is there in his time of need. Whosoever removes a single difficulty of a Muslim, Allah will eliminate for him one difficulty from the difficulties of Judgment (Qiyaamat), and that person who veils the secrets of another Muslim; Allah Almighty will veil his secrets on the day of Judgment” (Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim on the authority of Ibn Umar)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “I swear an oath by Him in Whose Divine Control is my life, a servant is not a true believer unless he loves for his Muslim brother that which he loves for himself” (Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim reported it from Hazrat Anas)
Hazrat Tameem Daari reported narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Deen (Religion) is to wish-well (i.e. to be supportive and loyal)’. He said it thrice. We asked “Who should be loyal to?”. He (peace be upon him) said, “Allah and His Messenger and His Divine Book and the Learned leaders of the believers and to the Muslims in general” (Sahih Muslim)
Hazrat Jareer bin Abdullah says, “We pledged the oath of allegiance at the hands of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to establish Namaz, give Zakaat and to be supportive (i.e. caring) to every Muslim” (Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Treat each person according to his status’. In other words, approach each person as it is befitting his status. Do not deal with everyone in the same manner, but in doing so, one must take heed not to belittle or embarrass anyone else”. (Abu Dawud reported this Hadith from Hazrat Ayesha – May Allah be pleased with her)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “A good person amongst you is one from whom there is expectation of good and from whose mischief others are spared. A bad person amongst you is one from whom there is no expectation of any good and from whose mischief others are not spared”. (Tirmidhi and Baihaqi reported this hadith on the authority of Abu Hurairah)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “The entire creation is dependent on Allah and the dearest to Allah is the one who is kind towards all those who are dependent upon Him” (Baihaqi reported it from Hazrat Anas)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Always remain in the fear of Allah wherever you may be, and if you commit any wrong, then thereafter do that which is right. This righteous deed will cleanse it and approach people with good manners” (Tirmidhi reported it on the authority of Hazrat Abu Zirr) – May Allah be pleased with all companions!
A regular Columnist with NewAgeIslam.com, Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi Dehlvi is an Alim and Fazil (Classical Islamic scholar), with a Sufi-Sunni background and English-Arabic-Urdu Translator. He has also done B.A (Hons.) in Arabic, M.A. in Arabic and M.A in English from JMI, New Delhi. He is Interested in Islamic Sciences; Theology, Jurisprudence, Tafsir, Hadith and Islamic mysticism (Tasawwuf).

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