بسم الله الرحمن
الرحيم
الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيّدنا محمّد الأمين
وبعد
Imam
Muslim
narrated from the route of
Abu
Hurayrah
that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
said:
<<The one who relieves the distress caused by
a worldly grief of a believer, Allah will relieve him of
one of the distresses of the Day of Judgement. The one who makes
it easy for an indebted person, Allah will make it easy
for him in this world and in the Hereafter. And the one who
doesn’t expose a defect of a Muslim; Allah will not
expose him in this world and in the Hereafter. Allah aids
His slave as long as this slave aids his brother. Allah
facilitates the route to Paradise for the one who follows a
route seeking the knowledge of the religion. No people gather
together in one of the mosques, reciting the Book of Allah
and studying it among themselves, without tranquility descending
upon them, mercy spreading over them, the angels surrounding
them, and Allah making their ranks higher. The one is
slowed down by his deeds will not be hastened forward by his
ancestry>>.
The Prophet peace be upon him started this
hadith
by saying: <<The
one who relieves the distress caused by a worldly grief of a
believer, Allah will relieve him of one of the distresses
of the Day of Judgement>>.
Relieving a hardship involves removing it or lessening its
impact. The
kurbah
(meaning the hardship or the disaster) is the severe difficulty
that causes sadness and depression for those whom the
kurbah
Ybefalls.
The Prophet then said: <<The
one who makes it easy for an indebted person, Allah will
make it easy for him in this world and in the Hereafter>>.
The indebted person is a person who has incurred large debts
which he is incapable of repaying. Making it easy for such a
person entails rescheduling his payments until a time when he is
capable and can afford to repay them, or reducing his debts, or
granting him some money so that his need ends.
Al-Bukhariyy
and
Muslim
narrated that
Abu Hurayrah
related that the Messenger of
Allah
said: <<There
was a merchant who used to loan people. So when he knows of a
debtor who is in need, he would say to his boys (servants or
workers who collect his debts), erase or reduce his debts, that
Allah may erase our sins for us, and Allah forgave
him>>.
The Prophet then said, <<The
one who doesn’t expose a defect of a Muslim; Allah will
not expose him in this world and the in Hereafter>>.
Muslims love for their believing brothers what they love for
themselves of goodness. Therefore, when a Muslim witnesses a
shortcoming or a mistake by his Muslim brother, he asks
Allah
to grant his brother firmness on the Right Path, and advises him
in secret.
Muslims neither rejoice when they see or hear
their Muslim brothers committing mistakes nor do they make such
mistakes the subject of their conversations. They avoid exposing
their brethren, thus obeying
Allah's
and His Messenger's commands in this regard.
The Prophet then said, <<Allah
aids His slave as long as this slave aids his brother>>.
Helping one another in goodness and righteousness enhances the
unity of the Muslim community.
This
Hadith
further delineates the spirit of brotherhood that should
dominate the Muslim community and gives specific examples of how
members of that community should treat each other. It states
that a Muslim who helps his brother in any way will have God’s
help in this life as well as in the Hereafter. The
Hadith,
moreover, stresses the importance of seeking religious knowledge
and shows the great reward of those who seek it. Lastly, the
Hadith
decides in clear terms that man’s real value lies more in his
deeds than in his kinship or ancestry.
In the end, I ask
Allah
to enable us to be among those who follow the directions of our
Prophet, grant us Paradise and make our gathering in the
obedience of
Allah
and to what is beneficial to us in this life and in the
Hereafter. Ameen