“And indeed We have honored all the children of Adam”
-Surah Al Issra
These words of our Master proclaimed the honor and sanctity of every human existence. May you be a true believer, a Jew or a Christian, an atheist or a theist from any religion, the fact that you are a son or a daughter of Adam and Eve (peace be upon them both) is enough for you to merit respect and dignity as a child of Adam and Eve (peace be upon them both), His deputies on Earth. Sadly however, today most of us have apparently forgotten the ability which makes us the noblest of all his creation and make us worthy of our legacy. It was, or to be more hopeful, perhaps still is because of our ability to empathize with others for their pains and pleasures, to reduce their suffering by lending them our strength and support, to redouble their joys by being happy for their pleasures. In the name of maintaining national pride and religious sanctity atrocities are being committed in Palestine, Syria, Kashmir, and many other places. Each and every one of us is individually responsible to acknowledge all their suffering as our own and contribute by all means possible to put an end to it. But take a closer look at yourself. Do we even feel their pain, let alone doing something about it?
Arguably, considering how we are caught up in our own troubles, what can we do for those who have nothing to do with us? To begin with, break this icy disregard to all such sufferings. Try to hear the plea of a child who watches his father being butchered because he was trying to protect him, who is flung aside like a ragdoll when he tries to protect his mother from being ravaged and then slaughtered like some helpless animal, who suffers knowing that his sister is allowing her sanctity to be defiled by the oppressors as if to pay the price of being a daughter of eve so that he may survive another day. Try to see the crimson that we have on our hands. It is the blood of those who stretched out their hands to us, to the world, but received only a regretful silence in return before even their hands were chopped off for making such selfish demands. They should understand that we have our own troubles to deal with, right? They should know that we do not have time in our fast-paced lives to even spare a thought for them or their suffering. I own the fact that we have our individual trials to deal with and which merit our fullest attention. At the same time let us be ashamed of ourselves and face another fact that most of us are woefully ignorant of our obligations to people in such crisis. Thinking that they are beyond our reach, we end up belittling the doom they are trying to survive by our dismissive attitudes and passive inaction. Sometimes in the casino we obstinately fixate on our problems. But perhaps we can also notice the suffering of those who are not related to us. Perhaps it will remind us of the importance of helping those in need, even as we risk our games. Perhaps because of this, we will be able to take on more obligations to others and help them, and not just focus on our own problems.
If you are a believer like me, what do you think should our answer be to this: “do you think We created you uselessly? And to Us you would not be returned?” (Surah Mominoon) sooner or later it would be time for us to meet Him and explain how come we had time and resources to manage our games and hobbies but were bound by a lack of both when it came to lending others are helping hand. You see, through our deeds, every person who walks the Earth has an impact on the happenings of this world. As believers we need to return our ways to the ways of His beloved Prophet Muhammad SalAllahuwasalim. It is promised in Quran and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad SalAllahwasulim that the Noor of our faith and deeds reaches every other believer and strengthen him/her in their endurance. And even if you are a nonbeliever or an atheist don’t you think all of us have some kind of ability to contribute in condemning such animal like brutality practice on people like ourselves? We have speaking or writing abilities, the utilization of our social media forums, professional expertise, and many other formal and informal resources to express our selves. The only thing needed is our empathy for such pain to turn ourselves more than a mindless silent crowd into an angry mob against all such violence in this global society of ours. So, let us actively gather ourselves against all such oppressions and come up with ways to help our fellow Muslims and other brothers and sisters in humanity! At the very least, let our hearts bleed for their sufferings and our eyes weep for their anguish in our sincerest prayers for their relief!
May every unjust soon reap the reward of his injustice,
May every cruel be drawn and quartered by the misery of his own cruelty,
May every unjust, cruel person or a people be guided to a humble submission to Him,
If they are beyond such a submission, may his wrath overtake them in their sleep and cure the world of their insufferable poison,
Amin