An Altruistic Believer and His Role -Wasequzzaman Mubashshir

Nowadays it has become a common belief in our society that a true Muslim generally means a ‘Hujur’ who will spend his time through saying prayer all the time with some Dhikr-Azgar(one of several means of remembering the Creator) and whose only activities are to eat, drink and sleep. But actually a true Muslim was not supposed to be of such boring, unromantic and chemistryless character.
Undoubtedly saying prayer with some additional prayer(Naufal prayer) is a significant duty in a Muslim’s life but it covers only a part of the entire lifestyle of a Muslim. The Quranic verse mentioned at the very beginning clearly signifies that the duty of a Muslim is not only to say prayer rather it is more than this.
“Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah” (May peace and blessings of Almighty God be upon you)- this beautiful bidding style of a believer proves how much unique and special he is. The main theme of such bidding explicitly makes the expression that a true believer is a well-wisher of all and no harm can be expected from him and everyone is confident of the matter that he is the one and only one from whom something prosperous can be expected both for the society and for the nation as a whole.
Several times it has been mentioned in the Holy Quran that God Almighty has commanded His servants to provide both social and economic help to the underprivileged class of the society which clearly makes a reflection of ‘altruism’ (The Holy Quran, 2:261-271, 2:178) and through such message the Most Merciful is making command to the believers to be altruistic all the time.
Moreover, again in the Divine Revelation the Sustainer has given glad tidings to those who have preserved in doing good and remained conscious of the All Knowing (3:173). There is no fixed category of good deed. It is infinite in nature. Good deed may be in the form of talking to others with a smiling face or giving a small but beautiful gift to the loved one or giving advice in a few words which may change the life of others or giving a glass of water to a thirsty person or assisting a blind man to find his path and so on.
A true believer should be very inspiring in nature. He should play his role as a guiding light for the needy and friend of the poor. Dynamism should be inherent in him as it is also the demand of Islam. His overall conduct and personality should be of such nature that everyone will be attracted to him and feel peace in his mind and soul to have a company with such a well-wisher.
Starting from Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to the four caliphs of Islam everyone’s life was enlightened with knowledge, wisdom and altruism. At the time of playing his role as a Caliph, Hazrat Umar(RA) once at the time of talking regarding accountability to the All Powerful said even if a dog dies of hunger, because of this he have to be liable to the Omnipotent. How much aware Caliph Umar was of the rights of the people under him! Such care for humanity has been remaining as an example before the entire humankind.
Before the migration of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to Medina, feuds among the various tribe was a regular phenomenon and day by day it was becoming very violent. But it was only Prophet Muhammad to whom all the believers obey as a role model and as the possessor of humanity who successfully resolved all kinds of disputes arisen among the tribes through Medina Charter, world’s first written constitution. Such kind of dynamic character Prophet Muhammad held which is hardly found among most of the believers at present days.
It is love which can heal the world from all unjust conditions and convert the world from an unholy situation into a holy land. Through pure love many valuable things can be gained and it is the only weapon to win the enemy’s heart. The main reason behind saying all such things is that a believer should possess a loving character and the capacity to be compassionate to everyone so that he can be the one to ensure the holiness of the world.
Islam is always against extremism. Moreover, any kind of extreme view is always discouraged by Islam. Rather it is the advice of Islam to be moderate always as the whole Muslim Ummah has been defined as ‘Ummatan Wasatan’ (the followers of the middle path) in the Holy Quran((2:143), (23:52)) . Therefore, only becoming moderate a believer can be a being of attractive personality which can give him the guarantee to be a successful social reformer.
Mufti Ismail Menk of Zimbabwe once said, “Both a Muslim and a non-Muslim are our brothers. A Muslim is a brother from the viewpoint of faith and a non-Muslim is a brother from the viewpoint of humanity.” Every true believer should be a symbol of humanity. He should have love and deep feelings in his heart for people of every race, class, colour, nation and of all varieties. Sympathy, equality, respect for other’s dignity and freedom, capacity to do justice and altruism all such noble qualities should be inherent in his mind, heart and soul. In one sense, a believer should be from his top to bottom an enlightened man.
God Almighty hasn’t sent each and every human being in this world without any purpose. It is decided from the Most Merciful that every person is a social being and he has been created firstly to lead his life in this world as an obedient servant of the Sustainer and then to be aware of the rights of other human beings living around him.
From this feeling a true believer should have dedication to provide service to humanity so that he can prove his sincerity to the Creator through fulfilling the duties imposed upon him by the Most Compassionate. n