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Tuesday, 24 November 2015

COMPASSION & CARING: Small Gestures, Big Rewards!

Compassion And Caring
Small Gestures, Big Rewards!
A Muslim’s Conduct Is The Best
Source of Islamic Daawah

(M. Javed Naseem)


Imagine for a second the beautiful feeling when you help a needy, a handicapped, an orphan or a homeless person, and that little gesture brings not only a touching smile on his/her face but his/her wet eyes convey to you the sincere and profound gratitude from the heart too! There’s no parallel to that in the entire universe!
                 
آمِنُواْ بِٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَأَنفِقُواْ مِمَّا جَعَلَكُم مُّسْتَخْلَفِينَ
فِيهِ فَٱلَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ مِنكُمْ وَأَنفَقُواْ لَهُمْ أَجْرٌ كَبِيرٌ
“Believe in Allah and His messenger, and
spend (in charity) out of the (substance)
whereof He has made you heirs. For, those
of you who believe and spend (in charity),
for them is a great Reward.”
(al-Quran 57:7)

Charity not only brings us unlimited rewards, it also gives us the guarantee for those rewards at least twice – here in this world and then in the Hereafter. Here’s the promise of Allah, the Almighty, the Most Merciful:

أُوْلَـٰئِكَ يُؤْتُونَ أَجْرَهُم مَّرَّتَيْنِ بِمَا صَبَرُواْ وَيَدْرَءُونَ
بِٱلْحَسَنَةِ ٱلسَّيِّئَةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ
“Twice will they be given their reward, for
that they have persevered, that they avert Evil
with Good, and that they spend (in charity)
out of what We have given them.”
(al-Quran 28:54)

Charity is an essential pillar of the Faith called Islam. It is a part of righteousness and piety. Allah has commanded us to spend from what He has granted us, on the poor and the needy. In Surah al-Baqarah alone there are a dozen verses that refer to spending in the cause of Allah (charity). It’s a virtue that can bring us unlimited rewards in the Hereafter. At the same time, it brings prosperity and eliminates poverty from the society. It is a quality of the ‘people of truth’.

لَّيْسَ ٱلْبِرَّ أَن تُوَلُّواْ وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ ٱلْمَشْرِقِ وَٱلْمَغْرِبِ
وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱلْبِرَّ مَنْ آمَنَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلآخِرِ وَٱلْمَلاۤئِكَةِ
وَٱلْكِتَابِ وَٱلنَّبِيِّينَ وَآتَى ٱلْمَالَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ ذَوِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ
وَٱلْيَتَامَىٰ وَٱلْمَسَاكِينَ وَٱبْنَ ٱلسَّبِيلِ وَٱلسَّآئِلِينَ
وَفِى ٱلرِّقَابِ وَأَقَامَ ٱلصَّلاةَ وَآتَى ٱلزَّكَاةَ وَٱلْمُوفُونَ بِعَهْدِهِمْ
إِذَا عَاهَدُواْ وَٱلصَّابِرِينَ فِى ٱلْبَأْسَآءِ وٱلضَّرَّاءِ وَحِينَ ٱلْبَأْسِ
أُولَـٰئِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ صَدَقُوآ وَأُولَـٰئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُتَّقُونَ
“It is not righteousness that you turn your
faces towards east or west; but righteousness
is to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the
Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to
spend of your substance, out of love for Him,
for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the
wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom
of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice
regular charity; to fulfill the contracts which you
have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain
(or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all
periods of panic. Such are the people of truth,
the Allah-fearing.”
(al-Quran 2:177)

Mercy, compassion and tolerance are the good virtues of good human beings but they are essentials (or basics) for the Muslims. Some Zionists and racist groups in the West are working tirelessly to deprive Muslims of these virtues by intimidation and by forcing them to react irrationally, bringing, at the same time, bad name to Islam with false flags or disguised terrorist attacks.

Recent terrorist attacks in Paris have shaken the world, and those behind them are reaping the rewards. Islamophobia is touching the new heights and anti-Muslim apartheid soared up in many countries last week. Many mosques and Islamic centers were attacked and vandalized; many Muslims were also assaulted and targeted. Even the French air force bombed Syria killing thousands of innocent people including children and women. The irony is that all (or most) attackers were French or EU citizens. A Syrian passport was planted on the site. No president, prime minister or ‘humanitarian’ body condemned it nor sympathized with the Syrian victims because they were Muslims. That’s the height of hypocrisy!

As a result of Paris attacks, mosques in Europe and America were attacked and vandalized. In Texas, the town of Pflugerville saw a similar attack on its Islamic Center and the mosque. But not all Christians or Jews get carried away by the media rhetoric. Here’s a beautiful example of compassion:

7-Year-Old Who Donated Piggy Bank To Mosque Receives Amazing Surprise In The Post
Huffington Post, UK, posted: 20/11/2015
By: Amy Packham


A 7-year-old boy who donated the contents of his piggy bank to a mosque in Texas in the wake of the Paris attacks, has received a big surprise in the post.
Jack Swanson, whose kind act was captured on camera, received a sweet ‘thank you’ note and a brand new iPad he had been saving up for.
"You had saved $20 in your piggy bank for an iPad but you donated this to the local Texas mosque," the note from the American Muslim Community read. 
"Because of your amazing generosity and kind heart, please enjoy this iPad with kind thanks."


Swanson's story gained publicity after a video showed him walking up to the Islamic Center of Pflugerville in Texas (America), which was hit by a vandal who left torn pages of the Koran smeared with faeces outside the entrance.
Swanson then presented his savings, according to Faisal Naeem, one of the mosque's board members.
Naeem told ABC-News: “Jack’s $20 are worth $20 million to us because it's the thought that counts.”
"Jack is just a little older than my son, Ibrahim. If we have more kind-hearted kids like them in the world, I have hope for our future."
The seven-year-old boy's mother, Laura Swanson, told KVUE that both she and her son wanted to support the mosque and show that "what happened in Paris is not what's happening in Pflugerville (America)".

Canadian Muslim’s “Walk in his shoes”
charity act goes viral
By Staff-writer Al Arabiya News, 25 April 2014

Acts of kindness come in different shapes and sizes and a Muslim man in Canada has had photos of his act go viral after he gave his shoes to a needy man before walking home barefoot.
The images were taken by off-duty bus driver Surjit Singh Virk who noticed a passenger wearing plastic hairnets on his feet in lieu of shoes on a rainy day last week.
A man in Muslim dress then took off his shoes and socks, according to Virk, and gave them to the man, saying “you can take these, don’t worry about me – I live close by and can walk.”
The charitable man got off the bus before the recipient could thank him, according to Virk.
Speaking to ‘Vancouver-24’, Virk added: “People usually don’t care or even look at other people on the bus, they didn’t even want to sit beside this guy because of how he was dressed.”


Canada’s QMI Agency tracked down the 27-year-old Muslim man, but he declined to be identified, saying that according to his Islamic faith, charitable acts should be anonymous.
“I felt bad for the guy,” he told QMI Agency, “he was wearing plastic hairnets on his feet. I was only a two minute walk from home so I thought I could give him my shoes.”
According to media reports, the donor was returning from the nearby Muslim Association mosque.
Spokesman Mufti Aasim told the ‘Toronto Sun’: 
“Whenever we do a good deed, even if it’s to help someone out, the Islamic teachings maintain this should remain only for the pleasure of God.” 

Saudi Arabia: Man installs street fridge for the needy
From: BBC, By News from Elsewhere...

A man in the Saudi city of Hail has put a fridge outside his house and called on neighbors to fill it with food for the needy, it seems.
The man, who prefers to remain anonymous, told neighbors this would spare poor people the 'shame' of asking for food, the Gulf News newspaper reported.

The story took off after leading Saudi Muslim cleric Sheikh Mohammad al-Arefee tweeted his approval: "I've always said the people of Hail are generous. A man puts a fridge outside his house for leftover food; an indirect act of charity for the needy. Oh how I love you, Hail!"
Sheikh al-Arefee has 8.6 million followers on Twitter and his remark was re-tweeted more than 5,000 times, according to Saudi news site Akhbar-24.


Social media users are calling on mosques and households to put out more fridges, and one person says people should go beyond leftovers and leave freshly-cooked food, adding it was a matter of feeding not only the body but also the soul through a "great act of charity".

Australian Muslim Woman Saves A Child:

Here’s another example of compassion from Australia! A Muslim woman saves the life of a young white girl from an oncoming train.
The little girl (about 8 years) was playing with her toy on the other side of the platform. When she saw from far the train was coming, she rushed to the platform but dropped her toy. Then she returned to pick up her toy and rushed back to the platform by crossing the train track on foot. She panicked in front of the approaching train and could not get up to the platform. A Muslim lady at the platform rushed to help her and pulled her up to the platform just seconds before the train roared in. Allah-o-Akbar. What a save!
See the short video!

Moral:
There are hundreds of examples of compassion passing in front of our eyes every day in life. It’s up to us what we promote and what we conceal. We should not forget that those who promote hate and racism, they would be ruined by their own hatred and racism. Only the Truth stands solid like a rock and protects its promoters. Positive thinking is healthy and constructive while negative thinking is destructive. There is no such thing as ‘clash of civilizations’. The only clash we inherited from the time of Adam, is the clash of man and the Devil – the clash of Truth and Falsehood, the clash of Good and Evil. This world is for everybody – once again, for everybody. You cannot kill a billion-plus Muslims of this world! So, show some tolerance and compassion! Live and let live!


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