Mohammed Faqih – Be kind, reflection on The World Kindness Day
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss various topics related to international holiday celebrations and the effectiveness of kindness in addressing negative behavior. They emphasize the importance of showing kindness and grace to others, as it can lead to feelings of hopelessness and discomfort. The speakers also stress the need for parents to be mindful of their children and their emotions, as it can be difficult to see them.
AI: Summary ©
In an hamdulillah Madhu was saying a horse so futile who acidy Why would we let it out? I mean surely who see you know, I mean so you are Marilena me at the level family letter remaining a little further ahead. Yeah, I shall do Allah. Allah Allah who had the hola Sharika my shadow no Mohammed Abdullah Hora SUTA who are Sophie who invaded Hungary you have a little bit of research done Amanda to also have you heard the llama Salah to Allah Who said Mr. Ali? Yeah, are you holiday toquilla Happy to party? Well, let me tune in to sunny moon. Yeah, Johann SUTA Cora Docomo lady Holika come in FCO Haider wahala coming has lobstermen. humare. Jalan cathedral one is
what? Hola. Hola Rita. I don't want to be here with our ham in Allah who can add a Marathi Eva? Yeah, you're Latina. Hola. Hola. Hola, como la salida. You're welcome, man. Well, he looking good overcome. Well, may you play in la hora Sudha, who prepares the hose and Alima today's November 13
happened to be Juma Friday. But in some countries, today is considered to be a day in observance of kindness. Right. So it's
so called International
Day of kindness.
And about three or four decades ago,
some
NGOs in different countries thought there there needs to be a movement, global movement
to revive the concept of kindness so that people can be more kind, you know, on it to celebrate this beautiful virtue.
And they came together and they decided to designate the 13th of November to be International Day of kindness where they have some recommendation, I'll give you some some examples of what they thought was necessary to
to celebrate this virtue. So for instance, they said, On this day, they basically the the motive or the objective of this movement, right, you know, you have countries like Canada, Nigeria, Singapore, UAE other countries, you know, that are, you know, adopting this,
you, the United States of America is not, it's not part of this, it's not necessarily a day that is recognized here.
And this football today is not necessarily about this movement, or this particular day, or us celebrating this day, or joining this, this movement, but it's really about the concept of sin. And what caught my attention is that their model is to make kindness the norm.
And this is what I what I want us to pay attention
to make kindness the norm. Right, something
and before you know, and then they have suggestions, things like, you know, ways to start making kindness, the norm, you know, send uplifting messages to, you know, people that you know, you know, just randomly be spontaneous about it, you don't have to wait, you know, for a special occasion to start, you know, reaching out to people checking on them, and, you know, sending them uplifting messages or, you know, or letting them know how you feel about them or sending them a DUA or, you know, something personalized things like, you know, let the guy merge into the lane, someone is trying to basically cut your cut you off, don't be offended by that just slow down and allow them
the room to get it in front of you. Right.
Things like that. Just random acts of kindness. So they have like seven suggestions, things that people can do.
And I remember Subhan Allah, you know, I may have told some of you this
that few months ago, maybe six or actually before this COVID situation, I pulled up in the driveway, in the drive thru of a restaurant to pick up something like a coffee shop.
And
when I reached the window to pay for it, they gave me my order. Before they asked me,
you know, to pay for it, which was not the norm. So I said, so how much is that? They said, the car in front of you paid for you.
I figured maybe it's one of you guys.
recognize my car he saw me through the rearview mirror. So I was like, Oh, that's so nice of him. And I tried to remember you know, which car was it? Who was it and and I felt at that moment compelled to what
I'll pass it on.
Right. So I said, Okay, do you mind if I guess now I need to pay for the person behind. I'm just telling you this because you're my community. I don't feel like I, you know. And then when she told me what the charge was, I was a little shocked. Surprised, like, I didn't expect that much. What are they having? And if he's
just a coffee shop,
then then I said, Well, that's very interesting. Then, you know, I think a week or two later, right? Same thing happened in the same drive thru again.
Right, this time, I paid attention to the car in front of me, it wasn't someone that I could recognize, again, another another random act of kindness.
And I was debating with myself, Should I pay for the person behind me or not? What if it's like, first time, you know, should you know what have they ordered something that we're not supposed to? It's not how about you know? And, uh, you know, I'm like, you know, you're not responsible for that. So, you know,
and I felt compelled again, to pass it on. I was touched by this example. Then I asked myself, I said, mashallah, you know, I'm glad I moved to Memphis, Tennessee, the South. I mean, hospitality and generosity is really the the norm here, my son, lived in California for 15 years, I don't remember ever.
Unless it's someone that knew me, you know, during the river ever. So we're just choosing to out of their own will to pay for me.
random act of kindness. And I started basically analyzing I said, perhaps maybe because there's a lot it was a Sunday. So perhaps maybe there is this teaching happening. Holiday season. It was somehow it was exactly a year ago, it was around this time of their holiday season, maybe people feeling that you know the spirit.
And that made me analyze the rule of religious teachings. And how and this is the topic of my clip, but today, that's what I'm trying to basically convey how religious teachings people who come regularly
right, the less than 1%
how these people are supposed to be the leaders.
When it comes to concepts like kindness and virtues.
You and I
and the other people in our communities that come on a regular basis, listen to what Allah and His messenger are teaching them.
Because ultimately, this is one of the objectives
that Allah Subhana Allah sent divine message to. And that is why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, what a dean on what armella, your dean, your religiosity is measured, by the way you treat other people, how you relate to other people, how you treat other people. Your ability to show kindness to people understanding, to sympathize with people care about them, in a world that looks looks at this virtue of kindness as something very strange, a world that in which activists and organizations felt the need to start a movement to remind their fellow humans of the importance of being a human being
is the act that we call being human right? You can say this is the humane This is not humane in a world that witnesses
innocent people being taken advantage of, and, you know, being exploited
in a world that legalizes acts of aggression,
and wrongdoing, a world that on one hand, says we have to fight bullying in schools, but the world allows world leaders to bully other people in other nations.
In a world where,
you know, one of the leading superpowers and countries
is okay with children being snatched away from their parents separated is the worst thing that you can do to a human being to a parent to take away their child from them. It's an it's the worst thing that you could do to a child to remove them from their parents.
And that somehow was a policy and it was okay.
And we heard about it and there was no outrage.
Right, if you increase people's taxes, they will they will be upset and they will they will be outraged. If you take their guns away from them, they will be outraged.
And they will have a Million Man March.
But in front of their eyes, in their name, you take you separate babies from their parents.
This is a level of cruelty that and somehow it's acceptable and it's okay.
And we don't care.
We lost this.
And Allah azza wa jal tells us in
Quran write, that.
Not only are we supposed to act,
kindness is really a lifestyle. Not only are we supposed to be kind, but we're actually supposed to even say words of kindness. The other day I share the Hadith here, of how the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam a man, a horrible man, an awful man came and asked permission to see the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam with a man approach and the promises and I was told that so and so wants to see you, the messenger of Allah says, Well, you know, what an awful person. And he this person is someone he was warning Russia and the members of his household that this is a guy that is just an evil man. Yet when the man came in, and the problem was, obviously, he welcomes everyone he's open,
you know, he has to be accessible to everyone. He's not going to say no, unless you have this level of humanity, I'm not going to see
is a messenger to all people. And if anything, people who are misguided, they need him more.
So, the Messenger of Allah when the man came, spoke to him softly, kindly, and treated him he honored him. And when he left, I should say the others will Allah when the man was coming, you said whatever you said about him, but then you treated him nicely. And he said to her, yeah Isha that some of the worst people are those whom people treat them kindly or nicely, so that they to avoid
their their their wrongdoing or to avoid provoking.
In another narration, it says that there are people that we interact with, and we, our hearts may resent them, an evil person, but we still speak to them why?
Allah subhana, Allah says, we're all really nasty homesnap speak kindly. So if you're supposed to speak kindly to people, imagine how you're supposed to speak to your parents. Imagine how you're supposed to speak to your
spouse, imagine how you're supposed to speak to your children,
let alone how to treat them.
A man comes to the private satellites, and it says, Who deserves the best of my treatment? Who deserves the best of my treatment of the province. I said, Oh, look, your mother.
He's still alive. His son was deprived from that. At an early age, he was only five or six when she passed away.
It will make your mother
your mother he knows you know, before it's too late, when you have the opportunity to treat your mother with kindness, and show humility before her treat her give her the best of treatment.
Even if she's not kind to you be kind to her. He said and then who he said, oh look, again, your mother
told the men who else after that your mother's still.
Why?
Because no one after Allah Subhana Allah and His Messenger Salallahu Alaihe Salam has any more fever than your mother?
No one. And her fevers are the you know the type of favors that you won't be able to pay to pay her back for it. There is nothing you can do
to pay your mother for what she has done. And that's why she deserves the best of your treatment.
And then he says, a book and then after that your father.
But still we live in a time where we if you give a reminder if you give a hot word about treating parents with kindness, you know, some people may say well, we have other relevant topics. What is the need for this?
And we have parents being disrespected and and abused.
So this is our religion.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says,
He told us a how that when he received complaints
that some of the women in his community were complaining about the abuse
and the mistreatment of their husbands.
The pastor of send them took the stand, he actually delivered a speech and he spoke to the community and he said, man, it can be chaotic. These are not the best of you. You're better than this.
How could a decent Muslim man lay your hand on his wife? How could a decent Muslim man abused his wife how?
Oh
my god, I can be theatrical. And then he made a declaration. He said the best of the believers are those who have the best, the best manners, those who are able to control their their frustration and their anger, even if it's illegitimate.
Right? It's okay to feel frustrated and to be overwhelmed and to be upset and sometimes to feel to feel you know, to feel frustrated with people around you who may not appreciate what you're trying to do. You're working so hard to take care of the family and you're working so hard to please everyone and then at the end of the day, you don't hear words of appreciation and you know, they're not valuing whatever you're doing and then they may even have doubts about you and they open
other things, and then you just lose it
ruining everything that you have done everything good that you have done.
So the prophesy sort of says that the best view are those who are the best in terms of those who are able to control their urges and their anger and their frustration and maintain and regulate their emotions, and still treat those whom Allah azza wa jal has entrusted them with their wives and their children and their parents, if they have the opportunity with kindness,
and show kindness to them.
This is who we're supposed to be my dear brothers and sisters.
And I'm going to refrain from sharing with you some some horrible stories and the statistics that are really painful to come out of a community like ours, and I'm not talking about this particular community, but generally the Muslim community here in the West, we're better than this. We're better than this. We're supposed to make kindness the norm.
We're supposed to be the leaders
and kindness About Us and Them and I'll conclude with this says that kindness and kindness will not be added to anything to any person to any profile to any act
to any relationship.
Makana fishing in Eliza Allah, it will beautify a
woman who is missing any Lasha and and it is deprived from it. Right, it will actually ruin it.
May Allah subhanaw taala make you and I have those who are whose hearts are filled with kindness, those who show other kindness and those who are treated, you know, by Allah Subhana Allah with kindness all have told us that we were looking for.
Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam O Allah evaluating a Sato by my dear brothers
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam tells us not to underestimate or belittle anything, that we do any act of kindness, even if it's as little
as simple and as little as
sharing it being careful in when you when when we are interact with one another, smiling, which is very difficult to see with us not putting these. But somehow when someone genuinely smiles, you can even tell their smile, you can see it in their eyes, you can see it in their cheeks, you can see that the person is really being cheerful when they see the process and said, Let me and Maleficent and this is my woof, it's an act of kindness, right?
Better than that is to say words of kindness.
And if you don't have something good to say, you know, it's an act of kindness for it's for you to to remain silent, and to be neutral about things.
The province, like I said, that tells us that a man was able to attain gender because he did an act of kindness, a simple act of kindness. No one was seeing him. He thought, This branch is going to trick someone it's going to hurt someone, an elderly person, a blind person, a child who's not paying attention or even an animal. He removed it. And Allah has had the process and I'm says Fisher can Hola Hola Hola. Hola. Hola. Hola. Hola. Hola. appreciated his act? Simple Wallahi doesn't take much to make to Jana, Jana.
And it's not you know, big, big deals. You know, it's not a it's not something big that an act of kindness that that was that was done to an animal, earn someone money if you're in Jannah with Allah subhanaw The promises and tells us so this is what is in it for us. As individuals, we have a loving, kind, merciful Lord, who appreciates kindness, who wants us to be more kind and let go for the enough well, what am I doing wrong? Well, everybody,
go and show kindness and show grace. May Allah Subhana Allah make you and I have people who are full of grace. People who pardon others people who let go people who show generosity and kindness to other people. May Allah Subhana Allah forgive us for our shortcomings for our flaws and for our mistakes. May Allah subhanaw taala help us become more in control of our emotions and be the people who can who can regulate their emotions and do that which Allah subhanaw taala wants from them and ask Allah Subhana Allah to bless his community and preserve and protect each and every single one of you. I know that there's an increase right now in the in the cases of COVID.
Please, you know, be Be careful May Allah subhana preserve you and protect you let us let us not let
doubt our guards and have Torquil in a loss of handle with the island trust and alive