Taalibah's Blog | Muftisays Member Blogs

ME, MYSELF AND I We know many people who are suffering a hardship or an illness, but do we ever consider whether we are fulfilling our duty towards them? It may be either our brother, sister, parent or neighbour, and at times we wouldn't even have an inclination of their circumstance and what they are going through, because, we are living in a world of 'me, myself and I'. What do I want to eat, where do I want to go, what are my needs and what do I want. Instead of a 'Muslim society', we have created a 'Selfish society'. How many widows or elderly people do we know, do we ever invite them for a meal or send them gifts? The era where someone suffering with cancer was recognised as a serious illness, is now regarded similar to that of someone suffering a paper cut, because our hearts are no longer affected by the pain and torment suffered by others. Sometimes by the fadhl of Allah Subhaanuhuwata'aala we are placed in a position where we perform a deed in lightening the burden of another person, even then, we carry it out with such a heavy heart, only to go on feeling pleased with ourselves. In reality due to our insincerity, how much value does our deed carry? At times, just a few words of kindness would suffice, but we do not have time to say them. The thoughtless phrase which has become common upon our lips, 'never mind, I'm sure you'll get over it' or our attempt to console someone 'let me know if there is anything you need', we don't mean it but it is just lip service. When a person becomes sick, we influx them with visits which do nothing apart from cause inconvenience, purely with the name of performing a face value ritual. Instead of making a sick person feel better, we say words that make them lose hope. How many times do we hear that elderly parents are placed into homes? they may not be our parents, but they are parents from our Ummah. How many Muslim children are placed in non-Muslim foster care and adoption, teenagers hanging around street corners, lost due to lack of attention, affection and time? They may not be our children but they are children from our Ummah. We don't have time because its time for 'me' to eat, 'me' to work and 'me' to sleep. Selfishness does not have space in Islam, we walk on and over anyone to attain and fulfil our own selfish desires. We no longer know the circumstances of anyone around us, including our own blood ties, all we know is ourselves. The young can't empathise with the elderly, the healthy can't empathise with the sick, the wealthy can't empathise with the poor, one brother/sister can't empathise with another, why? Because we are all too busy in concern for ourselves. The Ummah can be described as a whole body if the finger is injured then the rest of the body should feel pain, but what is our situation today, we are engrossed in a world wind, lost in our own little worlds that we forget that a bigger world exist. What happened to self-sacrifice by fulfilling ones duty by keeping ties of kinship, helping the sick and the elderly, or saying a few words of comfort and kindness to those in difficulty. We have no time, we are too busy to be Muslims we want the world to revolve, but only around our lives and us.

Recent Blog Entries

Me, Myself and I