Why We Should Care?
Type One of the unique traits of being a human being is our ability to "care" about things, whether they concern us personally or the welfare of others. Without this sense of care, it's unlikely that the human family can survive beyond one generation. Without care, civilization would have been impossible. We would have no educational systems, no family structure, no charity, no good works, and so on. Without care, all of these vital parts of human existence would be considered unimportant.
My message today is about "care" and how we must encourage it more amongst ourselves, particularly our youth. It is an Islamic teaching that "whoever is unconcerned about the state of Muslims is not from them."
It is precisely the attribute of "care" that drives each of us to do something for the benefit of others. It is because we care that we support our community and serve it well. Of course, proper care is upheld by pure intentions. We do not "show" our care so that others can see what we do and become impressed by our deeds. That is not care at all. It's no wonder why the first hadith (or statement) of the Prophet Muhammad, as recorded in numerous collections of hadith, is his statement about sincerity, which is the heart of faith, the soul of true belief. Allah's acceptance of any of our deeds first depends on the quality of our intentions. Any good deed done for the sake of ostentation (that is, to show off) is rejected and is not counted as good. In fact, it is a discredit to its doer.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, "The most beloved of people to Allah is the one who brings most benefit to people; and the most beloved of deeds to Allah is making a Muslim happy or relieving him of hardship, or paying off his debt, or warding off hunger from him. For me to go to my brother to meet his need is dearer to me than observing i'tikaaf in this mosque [meaning a vigil in the mosque of Madina] for a month.... Whoever goes to his Muslim brother to meet his need, Allah will make him stand firm on the Day [of Judgment] when all feet will slip."
What we understand from this is that caring is best translated into being actively engaged with the welfare of others. You want to offer solutions to their problems, relief to their burdens, good counsel when they seek it, and emotional support when they grieve, feel sad, or face a trial; all of this for the sake of Allah.
There are different levels of caring and the best among us are those who reach the highest level. The lowest level is sympathy, which is the ability to recognize or understand somebody else's state of mind or emotion: put yourself in somebody else's shoes, for a while, then you go back to your shoes.
Recently, I read an article about Somali immigrants who are working in different meat factories in the US. These immigrants were given asylum because of the civil war in Somalia. The article mentioned the struggle they have in asking to take a break for their noon and afternoon prayers; and during Ramadan, they asked for time to break their fasts. Their employers, however, did not give them their requests, and some of the Somali employees were actually fired. I felt badly for them, but thenI folded the newspaper and became busy again with my duties.
The second level of caring is empathy, which is standing with another person, closely understanding his or her feelings, supporting him or her, and providing help.
So, when we give charity to help Muslims in Palestine, Iraq or Somalia, when we participate in a rally to support the Latino immigrants, when we organize the food pantry to help the poor in our community, that is empathy. In order to empathize you need to know more about the issue or the person; you need to pay attention to the news, to know your community, to be open minded, to participate in discussion, to attend community meeting, to ask questions, to respect and love others, to read the biographies of other leaders and social activists, and to mix with people of different backgrounds. You need to be an active citizen.
The highest level of caring is Compassion. God is the Most Compassionate; He is more compassionate than the mother is to her child. Compassion is a deep human emotion triggered by the suffering of others. It is more vigorous than empathy. Compassion should lead you to work in order to reduce the suffering of others. The highest level of compassion is altruism or "aithar" in Arabic. That's when we prefer others over ourselves, even when we ourselves are in need.
The Qur'an commends "those who show their affection to those who have come to them for refuge," and they do so without hoping to receive anything from those to whom they offer help. Rather, they give preference to those in need over themselves.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." He also said that God "the Most Merciful has mercy on those who are merciful. Be merciful to those who are on earth, so that the One who is in heaven [meaning, Allah] will have mercy on you."
Even small gestures and acts matter. Anas b. Mâlik relates that an elderly man approached, wanting an audience with the Prophet (peace be upon him), but the people were slow to make room for him, so the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Whoever fails to show mercy to our children and honor to our elders is not one of us."
The Prophet said, "Whoever relieves a Muslim of one of the hardships of this world, Allah will relieve him of one of the hardships of the Day of Resurrection, and whoever helps one who is in financial difficulty, Allah will help him in this world and in the Hereafter, and whoever conceals a Muslim's (fault), Allah will conceal his (fault) in this world and in the Hereafter. Allah will help a person so long as he helps his brother."
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is referred to by the Quran as "Mercy to the World." We often cite this verse, but seldom do we remember that to truly emulate the Prophet, we must also emulate his qualities of mercy. To have compassion for others, to love for them what we love for ourselves, is an expression of mercy and the center of this beautiful quality of "care" that we each have.
We live in times in which care, compassion, and mercy seem out of fashion or attributes of the naïve, those who are too idealistic. But this is a lie. God would never praise something that would go out of fashion or that would lose its value and benefit. Our challenge is to be steadfast with these timeless qualities and virtues and to make them an everyday part of our lives. These virtues are guaranteed to be of enormous benefit to ourselves and to all around us ... in this life and in the next.
So I remind you and myself: let us nurture our sense of "care," and let us never allow our compassion to become dim in our hearts. Let these magnificent qualities be a badge of honor for us.