We Are Taught

Written by Hosai Mojaddidi

Muslims have a beautiful tradition of service. We are taught to want for our brother/sister what we want for ourselves. We are taught to prefer others before ourselves. We are taught to make things easy for people and remove their hardships. We are taught to follow the Best of Creation (peace be upon him) and give, give, and give some more up until our last and final breath.

The problem is that we have plenty of takers and demanders, people who manipulate these beautiful principles to their own advantage. What we need are more givers. We need more husbands who are willing to go into the kitchen and help prepare the meals and wash the dishes, just as much as we need more wives who are willing to serve their husbands a nice cup of tea with a smile on their face and take out the garbage at the end of the night.

We need to restore the spirit of giving this way. We need to give before we expect to receive. We need to reject modern notions of service that conflate it with “servitude”. Service in our tradition is not about debasing oneself or humiliating another. It’s about love. It’s about looking past yourself, your ego, your sense of entitlement and your cultural practices and preferring the sunnah of our Beloved (peace be upon him). It’s about wanting to make something easy for another even if it means inconveniencing yourself. And it’s about receiving the kindness someone gives you with every intention to return it tenfold.

Look around you this Ramadan, first in your home, and try to increase your practice of serving your family. Serve your loved ones with this spirit of generous giving and encourage that they serve others as well. Then, look to your community. At the next iftar dinner you’re invited to or the Tarawih you attend, look around and find someone you can help. Take a moment away from socializing and scan the room. Offer the mother who’s tending to her fussy infant a glass of water or a plate of food, give the brother who is sweating from the heat in the lecture hall a cup of water or a wet paper towel to pat down his forehead with, offer the aunty who is stretching her legs or back a chair or a comfortable place to sit, offer the child who is bored and restless a pen and piece of paper from your purse to draw with.

Being aware of the needs of the people around you and making the intention to try to serve people on a daily basis will increase you spiritually in more ways than you can ever imagine because you are literally putting your faith into practice. You are building your character and enriching it with the teachings of the one who was sent as Rahmat al `Alameen-A Mercy to the Worlds, (peace be upon him). He was in constant service of others; Muslim and non-Muslim, young and old, male and female, jinn and even animals, subhanAllah!

“Allah is in the aid of His servant as long as His aid is in the assistance of others.” – Sahih Muslim