SAVE YOURSELF FROM SUFFERING
BY SAVING OTHERS

The easiest way to have a peaceful life is to keep the peace with others. One who does not make anyone suffer, saves himself from suffering.

There is a tradition according to which the Prophet of Islam once observed: “One who harms another will be harmed by God; one who causes hardship to another will suffer hardship by God’s will.” (Sunan al-Tirmidhi 1940)

God has created the system of this world in such a way that here no action is unilateral. Here every action is bilateral in its consequences. If you throw a ball at a wall, it will rebound at you. If you abuse someone, these words of abuse, meant only for others, will enter your ear as well. If you take revenge upon someone, his family members will likewise take revenge upon you. The same is true of every action. When anyone acts against another, he should realize that just as the other party will suffer from it, so too will he have to suffer in one form or another in consequence.

This grave reality, as explained in the above prophetic saying, relates to everyone. No one is exempt from it. No one has the power to escape it.

The truth is that in this world the easiest way to have a peaceful life is to keep the peace with others. One who gives no one any trouble, saves himself from trouble. One who does not make anyone suffer, saves himself from suffering in this world.

In this world no one can lead a life apart from the system of nature. Here everyone has to live in accord with this plan of nature, whether big or small. Here living in accord with the plan of nature leads to success, while deviation from it leads to failure.

Islam is not something separate from nature. Islam is in fact an application of these eternal principles of nature to human life.