Issue No: 80
27th May 2011
23rd Jamadi al Thaani 1432 A.H
Salamun alaykum,
In need of a kind word:
The other day I was walking along a main street in my neighborhood. Whilst the people were moving along swiftly in a race to reach their destinations my eyes fell on a young man seated on the pavement leaning against a wall. He was looking exhausted and staring blankly ahead at the human traffic moving by. He had placed a small sign on the floor in front of him. The sign read something like “ homeless and hungry. Even a kind word appreciated..”
Apart from a handful who stopped to place a few coins on the floor or to murmur a few words with a smile, the large number of pedestrians flowed speedily past him as if unaware of his presence.
The great deficit:
As man mechanically whirls on with his set schedule of the day, many a times the feeling of love and kindness is emptied from our hearts. The feelings of sympathy and empathy are in great deficit around us today. When we see a fellow human in a difficult situation, many are of those who will quickly pass by like the pedestrians in the above story.
The reason? For we have got our own path planned out.
Today many of us are too concerned about ourselves that all we see ahead of us is serving ourselves to become successful. We forget to think of others in need of support such that one does not know how to support one another.
When is the last time?
Support is a need of all human beings. This is not necessarily only by financial or material way. In our part of the world we live in, there is great search for support in physical and emotional manner. Support to give time by being there is in great need.
When is the last time one can recall that she/ he had supported a fellow human being? One who is not related or close to you.
In service to others:
The lives of our role models the Ahlul Bayt reveal to us that feelings of love, kindness, sympathy and empathy radiated highly from their personalities as they forged ahead with their mission to convey the Divine Message of Islam to mankind.
A hadith states that a smile (which is indeed a simple deed ) reaps reward like a deed of charity.
A kind word or a smile to fellow human being will go a great mile.
Will we spare time to live Islam in the footsteps of our role models the Ahlul Bayt?
Wa ma tawfiqi illa billah.
Fazle Abbas Datoo
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Resident Alim
Wessex Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat