Selflessness The Forgotten Art of Love

Let me start by requesting all my lovely readers to ask themselves a very simple question- How selfless am I?.

As we approach Ramadan, the month of giving where Allah (SWT) promises to give us abundant blessings , isn’t it also our duty to give in abundance selflessly.

How many of us actually give selflessly? not many ,we always think what are we going to get in return? am sure there are many hundred such questions that come up in our mind before we actually give something to the person.

Giving is usually equated with monetary help, yes it is a very import aspect of giving but that’s not the only one. Helping a stranger to load his car ; helping an elderly to carry stuff; Giving your time to your spouse, kids, parents, extended family ; reciting Quran to someone who is not able to ; Praying for humanity etc without thinking about the returns should be the goal towards which we all must work in this blessed month.

A broader religious prospective of Al-‘eethar (selflessness; giving preference to others over yourself and considering their happiness and welfare before your own) is looking at the following example from life of our beloved Prophet Muhammed (SallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam).

The Prophet (SAW) said “None of you will have faith till he wishes for his brother what he likes for himself.” This is the motto of al-’eethar. That is to say your faith will be complete only when you wish for your brother what you wish for yourself.

Looking at this incident that occurred when Prophet (saw) and his companions immigrated to Al – Medinah: The Prophet (saw) went to the Ansar and told them “Your brothers (Al-Muhajireen) have come to you and they know nothing about agriculture. What do you think of sharing your property with them?” They replied, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah. We will divide our money equally between us and them”. The Messenger wanted the Ansar only to help the Muhajireen when he asked, “Can you help them more?” The Ansar replied, “How, O Messenger of Allah?” He said to them, “Share your fruits with them” – because they can neither make use of money nor get out of Al-Madinah as it is besieged. They replied,“Yes, O Messenger of Allah, but for what (in return), O Messenger of Allah?” He said to them, “For Al-Jannah”.

Such is the reward of Al-‘eethar. For a year Ansari would take the best produce from their farms and give to Muhajir, Ansari used to take the entire produce to Muhajir and tell them to chose what they want, Subhan Allah what a quality , seriously how many of us give the best to others, its something really to think about.

To conclude I will say this Ramadan spread love, happiness & peace selflessly, give your time to family and friends & be the reason for someones smile . InshAllah lets join hands in this time of crisis and quaranitne by extending our support in whaterver way possibel to help those in despair.

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.” James Keller.

Arabic words of the day :

Al-‘eethar – selflessness

Al – Jannah – Paradise

Ansar – Helpers ; citizens of Al Medina

Muhajireen – “The Emigrants” first converts to islam emigrated from Mecca to Medina

P.S. – to share my blog selflessly is also a form of Al-‘eethar 🙂 🙂 .

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