Help one another to do good deeds

Assalamualaikum warahmathullahi wa barakatuh,

Here's an interesting article I came through, by Shaykh Muhammad S. Adly, on how we can help our Muslim brothers and sisters stay on the right path inturn helping and preparing for our Aakhirah.

“None of you will be a real believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” (Al-Bukhari, Muslim and others).

May Allah guide us all to the Sirat al Mustaqeem..Aameen.

Sarah Javed

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First, let’s establish a principle that, insha Allah, all Muslims agree on, as it is from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Prophet. This principle, as stated in the Qur’an, is the saying of Almighty Allah (which means):

“Help one another towards righteousness and good deeds.” (al-Maaidah 5:2)

Allah is commanding us to help one another. Something that we probably don’t pay too much attention to is the production of bread. Bread is commonly seen and utilised every day. How many humans combine their efforts to produce a loaf of bread? If a loaf of bread takes thousands of people to put it together, then what do you think about the development of the human being or that of a Muslim? To produce a loaf of bread, it starts with the farmer who puts the seed in the ground, then the workers who harvest the wheat, then the those who clean and grind the flour and then the baker who bakes the bread. Finally, you come to benefit from the combined efforts of hundreds of individuals for the consumption of one loaf of bread.

The Lone Path is an Easy Path to Sin

This example of helping one another in an affair is very important, especially in the case of righteousness and good deeds. It is very easy to commit a sin on your own, without any assistance. This is why we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our passions. Because inside each of us, we have this weakness of submitting to one’s lower desires, and as a result, we commit sins without outer influences. In addition to our own souls, the contention and encompassment of society can be another contributing factor in committing sins. Lastly, shaytaan, the worst of enemies, is constantly whispering and inciting one to do the unlawful things. Nonetheless, one doesn’t need shaytaan or society to fall into the unlawful, one will do it on their own.

The Good Path Requires Guidance and Encouragement

In contrast, in the cases of going to the masjid, learning about Islam, and helping other Muslims, one needs encouragement, a good word and admonishment from the Qur’an and Hadiths. To be encouraged to do good deeds, one needs to see the example of other Muslims. So, it is easy to commit sin alone, but to do something righteous, one will need some help.

Ponder about a building, like a masjid. How many Muslims, here and abroad, have to help? Therefore Islam is the religion of community. Even when you stand alone in salaat, you’re still concerned about others. For instance, most of the optional deeds from the Sunnah prayers are performed individually, with the exception of salaat ut-taraweeh, because it is Sunnah to make it in congregation. But you don’t see two Muslims standing in congregation to pray Sunnah prayers after maghrib, because that’s an innovation and you are to make it on your own. However, when you stand alone to make the Sunnah prayer, you still remember the community. You recite:
“Guide us to the straight path ...” (Al-Fatihah 1:6).

Who is “us”? You are only one person standing there to pray but you are still concerned about everybody else, him, her, all of us, those who are here or there. Therefore the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said:

“None of you will be a real believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” (Al-Bukhari, Muslim and others).

You are always concerned about the others. When Allah commands us to pray, He says

“Pray (all together)...” (Al-Baqarah 2:43)

The command was revealed in plural form. Why? Because Islam is the religion of community. The religion of putting one’s hand with the other to help and assist one another. This is the way of the Muslim community.

The Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said:

“The example of the way the believers’ care for each other is like one body. When one member suffers the whole body suffers.” (Muslim and Ahmad)

This is the way of Islam, the religion of community, unity, being together and helping one another towards righteousness and good deeds. Allah said, which means:

“Verily all of mankind is in a state of loss except those who believe, do good deeds, and encourage one another.” (Al-’Asr 103:2-3)

Sharing, the Noble Islamic Character

You can’t be selfish and profess to be Muslim. You can’t think only about yourself and your family. What’s the zakat instituted for? It is instituted for the caring, sharing and assisting of one another. It’s not a matter of “I have and you don’t.” You have to care about the other one. Help one another. If you don’t help, you can’t establish. If you don’t put your hands together, you can’t make it.

So you live, sleep, and die with others, like a candle. A candle burns itself and produces light for others. We have to do something not only for our individual selves or families, but for the benefit of other Muslim families, the animals, the birds and even for non-Muslims.
The Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said:

“If the Hour were to occur and you had a seed or a small plant in your hand, (you would plant it) and if you are able to plant it before that, then plant it (now).”

Subhaanallaah! Islam is a religion of work and sacrifice. This demonstrates that we are living to help others even if dying. You see the Judgment, the Hour is in front of you, so why not put the seed in the ground? Let someone else benefit if this is the last moment of your life, because you not only live for yourself, but to help others as well.

Therefore my respected brothers/sisters in Islam, this is one of the main principles of Islam, that we help one another. Sometimes we forget this principle. This is why when one, two or five people undertake a project or something similar, it may last for a short time, then die. Why? Because the assistance and involvement of others isn’t present. This deen of community became like the brick building, each brick becomes the assistant of the other, so as to help carry the weight of all the bricks and make a solid wall. This is the Muslim community, as Allah said, which means:

“Verily your nation is one ummah, and I am your Lord, so worship Me alone.” (Al-Anbiyaa’ 21:92)

The Challenge of Success and Schooling

After establishing the necessity of assisting one another, I would like to direct your attention to the Islamic school being established in our community, by the permission of Allah. We understand to aid others is one of the main principles of Islam, as ordained by Allah. We also understand that success is in four things:

1 Belief in Allah
2 Good deeds;
3 Advice and encouragement to our brethren;
4 And in sabr (patience).

These four elements are essential, or we will be in a state of loss. The Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) told us that the means of perfecting faith is to love for your brother what you love for yourself. Sometimes in Islam, it is easier to look afar rather than under your own feet.

Alhamdulillaah, by the will of Allah, various people come to us from different places to inform us about the crises befalling Muslims everywhere. May Allah bless you and all the generous Muslims trying to offer assistance through different means. But sometimes we forget about our own home. As you may already know, Islam is established on knowledge, and Muslim scholars were the leaders in science, chemistry and algebra everywhere.

Mother Nature?

The problem that we face in the developed world, is not maths, science nor chemistry. The problem I am addressing is the environment where the science is being taught, and the way that chemistry is presented. Our problem is not with the knowledge itself. Because (1+1) and (3-1) is going to equal 2. Just the same, hydrogen and oxygen make up water. Nevertheless, the one presenting this knowledge did not attribute this nature to Allah. Rather, the average person would attribute this nature to “Mother Nature.” We don’t know “Mother Nature”. We know Allah, Al-Khaliq, the Creator of all things. So, one is not being honest to attribute such things to other than the Creator, Allah.

Now, as a result, our children are being taught by certified teachers who don’t have this knowledge of Allah, and even if they did, they can’t talk about it, as they would be fired for doing so. So now everything that occurs in the Universe is supposed to be happening on its own and it is not being attributed to Allah. Allah says in the Qur’an that, which means:

“He holds the heavens so as not to fall on the Earth.” (Al-Hajj 22:65)

And Allah says, which means:

“If Allah made the night everlasting, what other god can bring you light so you can dwell in it.” (Al-Qasas 28:71)

Who? So, it isn’t fair that we talk about chemistry and science and not attribute this to the Creator. This is something which I and every other Muslim should have a problem with, because it isn’t fair. We talk about aggression, but this is the worst aggression – to attribute something to “Mother Nature,” which has nothing to do with it, and then forget about the Creator, Allah!

Learning for the Sake of Desire

The second problem, particularly in the Western world, is the environment. The environment that we permit our children to sit in is an unlawful environment. They’re exposed to all types of unlawful things from mingling and mixing, smoking, cursing, boyfriends/girlfriends – all right in front of our eyes in the public schools. We don’t have to beat around the bush. We can see it and read about it in their newspapers, through the number of unwed teenage girls impregnated each year.

Be with the Truthful

Allah said, which means : “Fear Allah and be with the truthful ones.” (Al-Tawbah 9:119)
We have to be with the truthful ones. We don’t have a problem with the environment and the way the knowledge is presented. We have to save our children. We have to cry for our children today, as we are living in a world where the evil can be good, the good evil, the halaal haraam and the haraam halaal. When it comes to the moral system, we have a different moral system. We want our children to be Muslims. Yet, they live in an environment where smoking cigarettes is OK, boyfriends and girlfriends are OK and even openly exposing yourself is OK.

A man from Bani Israel killed a hundred people. How did the wise scholar advise him to repent to Allah? The wise scholar said, “Allah will forgive you but you have to move from this place and go to such a place, because there are good Muslims there who worship Allah, so go be with them and don’t come back to your city because of the evil.”

Allah narrates in the Qur’an the story of Prophet Lut and how He saved him and his family. But from what?! So the environment is very important. You may know about science and chemistry more than I and we all know the surroundings of an object will have some impact upon it. Just as a candle’s flame will extinguish from a lack of oxygen and likewise, a plant unexposed to sunlight will wither. The Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) has explained:

“The similitude of good and bad company is like the one who sells perfume and the blacksmith. When you sit with the perfume seller you smell a good scent and in contrast bad company is like one who blows into a furnace.” (Al-Bukhari)

Belief in Allah (SWT)

Verily, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, in the alternation of night and day, in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the profit of people, in the water which Allah sends down from the skies reviving with it the dead earth and dispersing over it all kinds of beasts, in the change of the winds, and in the clouds that run their appointed courses between heaven and earth; in all of this, indeed, there are signs for rational people. (Al-Baqarah - 2:164).

All praise is due to Allah and may peace and blessing be upon his servant and Messenger Muhammad and on his household and all of his Companions.

The requisite belief of individuals in the Creator originated before the appearance of any evidence of this existence. The existence of this Supreme, Powerful and Wise Being Who is behind the creation of the universe has been the main concern of philosophers of all times. They have tried to establish or refute this idea with elaborate arguments that have sometimes been totally unconvincing, even to themselves. Instead of the philosophical approach, we shall rather go through the simple arguments of the Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah.

1. THE PURE NATURE IN PEOPLE (THE FITRAH)

The intuition of perceiving the existence of the Creator is inborn in human nature. It is the intuitive ability to distinguish between right and wrong, true and false. It is the human being’s instinctive realization of Allah’s existence and oneness, and his self surrender to Allah (subhaanahu wa ta’alaa). The Qur’an refers to this innate tendency as follows:

Therefore set your face (O Muhammad) steadfastly towards the true faith, turning away from all that is false, in accordance with the [pure Islamic] nature with which Allah has created people. No altering let there be in the laws of Allah’s creation. This is surely the True Religion, but most people do not know it. (Ar-Rum - 30:30).

This aayah indicates that people start with equal abilities to recognise their Lord. But their abilities may subsequently be blurred by self indulgence or unfavorable environmental influences. This is also depicted in the following hadith:

Every child is born with the pure fitrah [to recognise his Lord]; it is only his parents that later turn him into a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian. (Muslim).

2. THE GREATNESS AND PERFECTION OF THE CREATION

Every single creation in the universe is so well made, and so skillfully designed, that any sensible person cannot but submit to the existence of the All-Wise, Almighty, All-Knowing Being behind it all. Allah says:

Verily, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, in the alternation of night and day, in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the profit of people, in the water which Allah sends down from the skies reviving with it the dead earth and dispersing over it all kinds of beasts, in the change of the winds, and in the clouds that run their appointed courses between heaven and earth; in all of this, indeed, there are signs for rational people. (Al-Baqarah - 2:164).

This passage is one of many in which the Qur’an appeals to those who use their reason to observe the daily wonders of nature, including the evidence of people’s own ingenuity (the ships), as indications of a conscious Power pervading the universe.
The creation is so intricate and yet so perfect that no defect can be detected anywhere, no matter how hard one tries.

3. THE WEAKNESS OF PEOPLE

The perfection of the creation should be in itself a sufficient proof of Allah’s existence. But when we add to that the limited power of people and their obvious inability to imitate any of Allah’s creation, certitude should engulf our spirits and we should bow low to the One who made all this wonderful world. The Qur’an repeatedly reminds us of our inability to parallel Allah’s creation. For example:

You (people) have been granted very little knowledge. (Al-Isra - 17:85)

He knows all that lies open before people and all that is hidden from them, whereas they cannot attain to ought of His knowledge save that which He wills them to attain. (Al-Baqarah - 2:255).

4. CASUALITY

The notion that every effect must have a cause is well established in the minds of people. On this notion they base all of their actions and responses. All scientific experiments have this implicitly built into them. Yet, when it comes to the creation of the universe that, by their standards, must have a cause and a Creator, they become hesitant to submit to the truth! Allah (subhaanahu wa ta’alaa) ridicules this attitude by some people. He asks them: Did you come into existence by yourself? Was it a mere chance and spontaneous generation that you came into being? Are you not the handicraft of a Wise and Wonderful Creator? You obviously did not create the wonders of the starry heavens and the fruitful globe of earth. But you can assign no definite cause to explain it, and you yourselves have no firm belief!

The absurdity of the unwillingness to admit the existence of a Creator initiating all of creation is exhibited in this argument to which they can give no reasonable answer since they have no firm belief about that.

Were they created of nothing? Or were they, perchance, their own creator? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Surely they have no firm belief. (At-Tur 52:35)