DO NOT HARM OTHERS
— Abdulazeez Sodiq
Know -may Allah honour you- that the Prophet (peace be upon him) had cursed anyone who tortures animals. What then do we say of Muslim that causes harm to people around him?!
To harm is to court pain, being it physical, mental or emotional. So, when you hit, abuse or backbite a person, then your are harming them.
However, Islam accords a great importannce to preventing harm such that it is one of the branches of Imān.
Abu Hurairah (may Allāh be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
Iman has over seventy branches – the uppermost of which is the declaration: None has the right to be worshipped but Allāh; and the least of which is the removal of harmful object from the road, and modesty is a branch of Imān.
Moreover, Allāh has urged us to relate nicely with people, regardless of their religious and cultural affiliations. The only exemption to this is when such nice relationship will lead to compromising the religion.
In Surah al-Mumtahinah, Allah says:
Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from you r homes –from being righteous toward them and acting justly towards them. Indeed, Allāh loves those who act justly (60:8).
In other words, Allah has permitted us to be generous to people, including the disbeliever who are not hostile toward us not the religion of Islam.
To further buttress this, Mu’ādh ibn Jabal (may Allāh be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
…and behave decently towards people.
There are various ways of behaving decently people: showing them respect, protecting their dignity as well as their products property and showing them and compassion at all times.
It was narrated by Abu Hurairah (may Allāh be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
The Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand people are safe
On the other hand, ‘Āisha (may Allāh be pleased with her) reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
The worst of people are those whom the people desert or leave in order to save themselves from their dirty language or from their transgressions.
It, therefore, behooves every Muslim to wary of harming people so that they may succeed in this life and the hereafter.
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