Be of Service to Others

When true religion is received by an individual the feeling of human well-wishing inevitably develops in him. Such are those who pass the divine test.

The Prophet of Islam once observed: “Religion is well-wishing, religion is well-wishing, religion is well-wishing.” People asked him, “O God’s messenger, for whom?” He replied, “For God, for His book, for his Prophet, for the leader of the believers, for the common man and for everyone.” (Sunan Abu Dawood 4944)

When true religion is received by an individual the feeling of human well-wishing inevitably develops in him, just as when we put sugar in water, the water naturally becomes sweet. So whoever receives religion in its true spirit will necessarily be imbued with the spirit of well-wishing. Where there is no heartfelt well-wishing towards others, there can be no religion either.

There are many aspects to well-wishing. When you see someone doing something wrong or saying something wrong, your well-wishing would extend to your reaching out to him and trying with gentleness, compassion, sympathy and serious argument, to make him understand the error of his ways so that he may leave off his wrongdoing.

There are such people who look at others only to see what they can gain from them. Such people are not desirable in God’s eyes. They are misfits on the map of nature. They fail in the test which God has set them in the present world.

There are others who see people as potential objects of their beneficence. Such people will feel content only when they are able to be of service to others or when others can benefit from them. Such are those who pass the divine test.