Avoidance Of Selfishness, Through Emulating

The Companions r.a.

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Blessed Friday jemaah,
On this day that is full of barakah, let us renew our resolve to
increase our takwa to Allah s.w.t. Let us continue to nurture our
hearts and our families to uphold the commands of Allah s.w.t.
and abstain from His prohibitions. Hopefully throuh our efforts
we will attain the pleasure of Allah s.w.t. Amin.
!ear jemaah,
"t is somethin normal that when one has been blessed with
more ri#k $sustenance%, then it is easy for one to ive to those
who are in need. "ndeed it is somethin that we see very often.
However, when one is in a situation where one is in need yet
puts the needs of someone else above oneself, then that is
indeed a rare siht.
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&hat trait or 'uality is known as Itsar. Itsar means placin
someone(s needs before ours. "n fact, it is a common trait of the
)ompanions of *rophet +uhammad s.a.w. &he spirit of Itsar
was enlivened by the )ompanions, and cannot be separated
from their personalities. &here are too many stories about how
the )ompanions had a hih sense of Itsar.
One of the stories we commonly hear of is the story of a
)ompanion of the *rophet s.a.w. who turned off the lihts so
that his uests could not see that the people of the household
did not eat alon with them because there wasn(t enouh food
for all, and they wanted to honour their uests by servin what
little food they had to the uests. &he entire family was willin to
sacrifice their meal and contain their huner for a niht. Allah
s.w.t. has thus praised that particular companion, as recorded in
surah al,Hasyr, verse -.
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/hich means. But those who before them, had homes (in
Medina) and had adopted the Faith,- show their affection to
such as came to them for refuge, and entertain no desire in
their hearts for things given to the (latter), but give them
preference over themselves, even though poverty was their
(own lot) !nd those saved from the covetousness (stinginess)
of their own souls,- they are the ones that achieve prosperity"
Friday jemaah,
&his, and many other stories, demonstrated the beauty of Itsar
that bloomed in the hearts of the )ompanions r.a. "t teaches us
to always help those who are in need and in difficulty. &he
Ansars of +adinah appreciated the opportunity to help the
people of +ecca who mirated to +adinah. "n fact, they rushed
to rab the opportunity to offer their assistance. Beyond just
ivin help, they were willin to sacrifice themselves and the
needs of their families in order to meet the needs of others. And
what they ave was not the e0cess from their meals, but they
actually ave up the portion of the food. How many of us are
willin to do the same1
!ear jemaah,
&oday we have charity drives that collect used clothes to be
donated to those who are in need. Let us now ponder, what do
we normally choose to ive away1 !o we ive away new
clothes that we have yet to wear1 Or do we choose items that
we value dearly1 Or do we choose clothes that we no loner
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use, and we see the charity drive as an opportunity for us to
clear and clean up our wardrobes1
&he fact is, as lon as we are not willin to ive to others what
we really, truly want for ourselves, then we should realise that
we have yet to achieve true faith or iman. 2asulullah s.a.w.
said. #one of you truly believes until he loves for his brother
what he loves for himself" 3Hadith reported by "mam Bukhari
and +uslim4
Friday jemaah,
"n today(s life where most people are cauht up in the pursuit of
wealth and life(s comforts, we are increasinly faced with the
problem of 5ananiyah". /hat it means by the attitude of
ananiyah is the 5me6 attitude 7 a selfish attitude of simply carin
about oneself and inorin the needs of others.
For e0ample, we often see videos circulated online showin
people bein bullied or hurt by others. 8enerally, we realise that
when the incident is takin place, there are actually many
people, includin passers,by, at the place of incident. However,
none of them will stand up to prevent the incident from
happenin nor will they step forward to help the victim. How
could this happen1 *erhaps they are afraid they would also
become the victim if they try to offer any form of assistance or
try to mediate the situation. "n social science, this situation is
referred to as the 5bystander effect6. /itness of the incident
simply watch it takin place in front of them, and choose to not
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intervene or offer assistance even when they are actually
capable of helpin.
Friday jemaah,
/e know that the ananiyah attitude occurs when one chooses
to only care for oneself and to only consider one(s own needs.
&he 'uestion is. How can we prevent ourselves from havin this
ananiyah attitude1
One of the ways encouraed by "slam is to move from simply
thinkin about ourselves, to thinkin and carin about the needs
of others, be it other family members, neihbours and even the
eneral public. Hence, do not do upon others what we would
not want done to ourselves. For e0ample, if we do not wish to
be embarrassed in public, we should not do so to others. "f we
do not want to be hurt, then we should not hurt others, be it
throuh our actions or words.
&o prevent this ananiyah attitude from overcomin ourselves,
we must inculcate it as a habit in ourselves to always help
others in any situation. 2asulullah s.a.w. said, which means.
!nyone who offers help to others in need, then !llah will ease
his affairs in this world and the hereafter" 3Hadith reported by
"mam +uslim4
By always helpin others, it will ensure that our hearts and
souls will be sensitive and conscious of those in need. By
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offerin our time and enery throuh doin volunteer work, we
will always be reminded of the blessins that Allah has
bestowed upon us must be shared with others.
Hence, let us all strive to emulate our beloved *rophet
+uhammad s.a.w. and his )ompanions, by inculcatin the spirit
of Itsar in ourselves, and at the same time, removin bad
'ualities that may corrupt our souls. Hopefully by doin so,
when we meet Allah s.w.t. we will meet Him in a state of purity
of our hearts, and in a state whereby Allah is pleased with us.
Amin 9a 2abbal Alamin.
"n liht of what is happenin currently in 8ha##ah who have
come under incessant attacks and face massive destruction
over the past month. &he increasin death toll, inhumane
actions of attackin public spaces such as schools and
markets, destroyin power plants and electrical enerators and
even affectin the supply of clean water to residents in 8a#a, is
a massive traedy that is e0tremely rerettable and ouht to be
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condemned by the world. +ay Allah protect the 8a#ans from
the cruelty and brutality of the :ionists.
2eardin the earlier topic in which is avoidin selfishness in
ourselves. Have we done our part to the oppressed people in
8ha##ah1 Or any oppressed muslims around the world1 Are
we infected with the 5ananiyah6 problem1 !on(t we have a little
bit of care in our hearts to those people who is actually our
brothers and sisters1 Or we didn(t feel anythin at all1 "f we
didn(t feel anythin at all then " would say that we have a really
bi problem in out hearts. ;ven the non,muslims are aainst
the action of the #ionists.
"f we are really concern about them, we have to do somethin.
&he least we can do is makin du(a. Other thins we can do are
by makin donations, oin for demonstration and so all. " don(t
want to et into much details on <what( we can do. But today it is
all about, how can we raise the urencies amon the muslims
to actually do somethin.
Let us continue to make doa because Allah is As,=amad, the
One whom we place all our hopes and seek help from. Ask from
Allah s.w.t. to rant peace, safety, strenth and resilience to
those in 8a#a, as well as other places where there are people
facin similar situation and are bein oppressed. At the same
time, we should pray that Allah continue to bless our country
with the peace that we have enjoyed all these while. +ay Allah
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uide us to continue to not stop makin duas to the oppressed.
+ay Allah uide to us to do whatever we can to brin back
"slam to what where it is supposed to be i.e. Al,islam ya(lu wa la
yu(la alaih. Amin 9a 2abbal >Alamin.

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