Compassion: Moral Code of the Daa`iya

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim



In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Compassion

Shaykh Salman al-`Awdah


Moral Code of the Daa`iya

Translated by Muhammad Buneef

We are in need for a daai`ya who possesses a heart that is aflame with concern for the Muslims and the Islamic reality. A heart that is aflame with concern about the situation of the Ummah in both the east and the west, a heart that has compassion on his brothers and realizes the Speech of Allah Subhannahu,
"...firm against the kufaar, and compassionate with the believers..." (Surat al-Fath:29),
not like the Khawarij who killed the people of Iman and welcomed the idol worshipers. Surely the believer should be stern with the kufaar and merciful with the believers and realize within himself the statement of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
"The example of the believers in their friendly relations, their mercy and their compassion towards one another is like the whole body..." [Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi all from the hadeeth of Abu Musa al-Ash'ari]
and his statement,
"The believer to the believer is like a building, some [parts of it] support others." [Bukhari, Muslim both from the hadeeth of al-Nu'man bin Basheer.]

We are in need for the one who feels the pains of his Muslim brothers. When he hears of calamity that happens to his brother he will feel pain for them, even if they have some shortcomings and innovations. Shaykh Muhammad Rasheed Ridha used to feel pain for the Muslim's reality and the sorrow appeared in his face when a calamity afflicted one of the Muslims. He used to cheer when the matter was vice-versa to the point that his mother recognized this quality of his. When she saw him sad she asked him, "What's the matter with you my son, has someone passed away in China today?" She realized that the sorrow and joy of her son is related to the condition of the Muslims; he cheers to their cheerfulness and becomes sad with their sadness, and this is the true walaa' [loyalty] to the Muslims.

Compassion is that one should posses a heart which becomes affected by the Muslims' errors and deviations in the deen. He becomes sad upon the spread of sin and disobedience among them, a sadness that doesn't push him away from them but compels him to feel like a doctor among them who struggles to save them and if he is unsuccessful he tries to lessen the illness according to his capability. This compassion should push him also to be zealous concerning himself, his wife and his children so that he calls them to that which is good and forbids them from that which is prohibited and stops them from committing that which is displeasing to Allah `Azza wa fall. There are many duaat who speak about Islam but those who posses this true lively compassion are few. If compassion lives within the daa`iya's heart it will yield fruitful dawa, advice and participation in the Muslims' pains everywhere. But when the person looses compassion he becomes living for himself, his wife, his children, living to enjoy that which is around him, and he forgets the worries of the Muslims. At that time he abandons the truth of walaa' to the believers even if he speaks about the hadeeths which warn the Muslims of calamities. He becomes like a hired female mourner. There are many of those who are accustomed to a speech that they repeat on occasions... and who memorize statements that they hear and recite without feeling any zeal nor fervor towards the deen and it's people... so woe to this ummah... how needy it is for burning hearts!

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The Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa'sallam said:


"The Muslim is a unique Ummah among the whole of mankind:

Their Land is ONE, their War is ONE, their Peace is ONE,

Their Honour is ONE and their Trust is ONE."

[Ahmad]