Be Ready to Remove
Others’ Pain

A true human being should be ready to relieve others’ pain just as he does is own. He is happy to see others happy and sad to see others sad.

According to a tradition the Prophet of Islam once observed: “There are more than seventy branches of faith, the most superior branch is believing that there is no God save Allah and its lesser most branch is removing anything from the path which may cause others injury. And modesty is also a branch of faith.” (Al-Adab al-Mufrad 598)

One aspect of the temperament produced by faith is always having the urge to help others. It becomes impossible for a true believer to see someone in pain and difficulty and not help him. Even if he sees anything like a stone or a thorn in the path, he will not rest content until he removes it. He always fears that someone might take that path and get hurt.

One way of leading one’s life is thinking only about oneself, being concerned only about one’s own comfort and problems. Once his problems have been solved, he does not care about anyone else. But such a person is not a true human being. His character is not of the noble kind which nature demands.

The true human being is one who becomes uneasy at the pain of others, just as he is uneasy about his own pain. He should be ready to remove others’ pain just as he does on his own behalf. As he becomes active in solving his own problems, he looks upon the affairs of others as he looks upon his own. He is happy to see others happy and sad to see others sad or in trouble.

What differentiates human beings from stones is this sensitivity. A stone has no sensitivity, while a human being is a sensitive creature. If a person loses his sensitivity, there will be no difference between him and a piece of stone.