Importance of Helping Others in Islam

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, as recorded in Sahih Muslim:

Whoever relieves a believer of a hardship from the hardships of this world,

God will relieve him of a hardship from the hardships of the Day of Resurrection,

and whoever eases matters for one in hardship, God will ease matters for him in

this world and the Hereafter. Whoever conceals a Muslim's faults, God will conceal his faults in

this world and the Hereafter. Then he said, "God is

helping the servant as long as the servant helps his brother."

Can you imagine God helping you, Abdullah? You will not

find that through any righteous deeds, neither

through the Quran nor through night prayers. It is only through this kind of

righteous deed that the Chosen One, peace and blessings be upon him,

told us about. The other hadith in the two Sahih collections reads:

Whoever fulfills his brother's need, God will fulfill his need.

By God, how tremendous that is. Do you know what it means for God to attend to your need?

To take care of it for you, fulfill it on your behalf, and make it easy

for you. Those guided to goodness have indeed realized this,

those who strive to fulfill people's needs, whether one of them gives

from his wealth or his status, or gives his time

and strives, making people's concerns his own concern, making

their need his own need, so he strives for it as though he were striving for a matter

Those are the ones meant, by God, for God Almighty

makes the means available to them and prepares

relief from distress they could never imagine. Rather,

God may spare them from evils and calamities,

and ward off misfortunes they never imagined could happen.

One of them may go through life guided by God's grace,

surrounded by the help of God Almighty, walking on

while God Almighty has taken him under His care, moving among people, and God has

sufficed him. By God, this is among the greatest things servants strive for,

and it is a path granted only to a few. The reason

is that it is concern upon a person's own concerns, because you will bear

the concerns of others and strive for them while you can barely

meet your own needs and attend to your affairs, your worldly life,

your worries, your household, and your children. To add to that

concern for someone else and strive for it indicates a

great soul illuminated by the light of Sharia and following

the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him.