Ayesha Naseem Mirza, Walsall
How an act of kindness can change a life
All my life, I have seen that whenever my parents are met with a situation in which they have to choose between their own comfort or the comfort and ease of someone else, they have always chosen the other person. They have always explained to me that they do this because being present for someone even if you can’t do much more to help them is an act that they remember and keep for life.
How much a person earns, how big their house is, how they lived their lives, or who was with you in your good times are things easy to forget — but what isn’t easily forgotten is your presence and your support in someone else’s difficulty. What isn’t ever forgotten is an act of kindness. But kindness is not just necessary in times of hardship. Kindness is unconditional. Be it a good day or a bad day, be it with strangers or your loved ones, an act of kindness is a virtue.
This lesson from my parents has stayed with me for as long as I can remember. Now, I also try to do the same in my life. Where and when I am able to bring ease to someone else, I try to do that instead of prioritising my own.
Certainly, Islam instructs Muslims to show kindness to others. In the Holy Qur’an, it is stated in Chapter 4, Verse 37:
“And worship Allah and associate naught with Him, and show kindness to parents, and to kindred, and orphans, and the needy, and to the neighbour that is a kinsman and the neighbour that is a stranger, and the companion by your side, and the wayfarer, and those whom your right hands possess. Surely, Allah loves not the proud and the boastful,”
The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) said: “Whoever relieves a believer of his worries in this world will have his afflictions removed by Allah on the Day of Judgement…Allah always stands by the side of the one who is helpful to his brother.” i
The society that we are living in now is always busy. People don’t have time because their daily lives have become monotonously overwhelming, and daily routines run by the clock, with little or no leeway. In this kind of a lifestyle, just the effort to do one act of kindness daily can introduce a wave of change in one’s life – that could be as simple as giving someone a smile while passing by or donating some charity or even, in your own home, doing something different with your family for a certain time of the day to encourage bonding.
The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace), the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community said “you should treat people with kindness beyond their due right. And if you can go beyond this, you should detach yourself from your personal desires and ulterior motives and worship God and serve His creation […]” ii
Little or generous acts of kindness can obviously benefit the people they are directed towards, but even for one’s own self, they boost confidence and can feel rewarding, though humbling, especially when seeing the result of your attempts at good deeds and the difference they can make in someone’s life. Just one individual effort, pursued by all of us, daily, could bring a collective result of good for all and would foster an atmosphere and society which thrives on compassion, understanding and overall unity.
References:
i https://files.alislam.cloud/pdf/Selected-Sayings-of-Holy-Prophet.pdf p. 41
Voice of British Muslim Women 
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