Kindness to the Helpless

Kindness to the Helpless

1985 7 July 4-5 Kindness to the Helpless (536) To give shelter to those who have nowhere to go in society is an act of worship of the highest excellence. Every human being is liable to fall into need at some time: a mother and father reach the end of their life; a child becomes an orphan; a traveler falls into difficulties far from his native land; at times such as these a person is completely dependent on others. To come to his or her rescue at such times of crisis is a deed highly pleasing to God. God will not let such action go unrewarded. There are countless verses of the Quran, and sayings of the Prophet of Islam, which emphasize the importance of being charitable to those in need.

The reason that offering help to the helpless is so pleasing to God is that it is a practical acknowledgement that every man is inherently helpless before the Lord. It is not only those who are being helped who are helpless. Those who are helping them are in the same position, for everything is in God's hands: He gives and takes as He pleases. To realize this fact is to believe in God, and to express this realization in the form of actions pleasing to God is to worship Him.

But the only way of telling if a person is true in his faith and his worship is to see how he deals with a weak and helpless human being. A person is brought before us in this world in the same state of helplessness in which we will be brought before God in the next world. There is no pressure on us to help him. So there will be no pressure on God to help us out in the next world. He has done nothing to earn re compensation with us; so we will not be deserving of God's reward when we come before Him in the hereafter. But if we are kind to such a person, while praying to God that He should be kind to us when we come before Him in a state of need and destitution, then there is hope that God will look with favour upon our actions and our prayers.

To be kind to those in need is to acknowledge that we are all in need; we all depend on God's mercy. We all stand alone; we are all in need of God's assistance. If we pray for God's mercy and help, then we should also show that we are willing to help and show mercy to others. One who believes in God, and sees how helpless he is before the Lord, should, when he sees the helplessness of others, immediately remember his own position; if he really desires God's assistance for himself, he should be quick to run to the assistance of others.

One who really feels his own helplessness before God feels like giving everything he has away to the helpless, so that he in his turn may receive a full share in God's blessings. He feels compelled to do his utmost to give one in need a helping hand, so that God may come to his own rescue at his hour of dire need.