Verdant Shade

Truly, among the acts of charity is magnifying
Allah, glorifying Him, praising Him, declaring His Oneness, seeking His
Forgiveness, enjoining good, forbidding wrong, removing a thorn or a bone or a stone
from the way of people, guiding the blind, helping the deaf and dumb hear and
understand, showing a seeker their need which you know where to find, striving
as far as your two legs could carry you to give succor to one who asks, and
carrying with the strength of your arms (the burdens) with the weak. All these
are acts of charity.1

Your smiling in the face of your brother is a
charity for you; enjoining good and forbidding evil is a charity; guiding a man
in a misleading land is a charity for you; seeing for (helping) a weak-eyed
person is a charity for you; removing a rock, or a thorn, or a bone from the
road is a charity for you; and pouring out from your bucket into the bucket of
your brother is a charity for you.
Conciliating between two persons
fairly is a charity; helping a man ride upon his mount, or load his luggage
upon it is a charity; a good word is a charity; and every step that you take to
(offer) prayer is a charity.2

This is the simple yet profound philosophy of mercifulness of
this greatly merciful Messenger r. Mercy is not just a
virtue. Mercy with him transcends far above mere moral excellence or
righteousness, making of every merciful deed a devout act of worship that certainly
pleases Allah U
and helps us draw near Him and, ultimately, win His Mercy.

Allah U
has sent His Messenger r
as a mercy to all people, to give them a helping hand to guidance, but only
those willing to be guided are guided.

Nevertheless, this mercy is fulfilled for believers as well as
disbelievers. The Law Muhammad r was sent with blesses
the whole of humanity and leads it to the perfection destined for it in this
life.

This message came to humanity when it had attained maturity. It
came as an open book to the minds of the forthcoming generations, embracing all
the principles of human life that remain unaltered, and is ready to fulfill
changing needs, which only the Maker of mankind knows. Indeed, He is the
All-Knower of His creatures.

This Book (the Qur’an) establishes the eternal law for human
life in a changing world. The value of its law lies in its being balanced and
harmonious; it neither tortures the body to uplift the soul, nor ignores the
soul for the body to have pleasure. All the duties this law imposes are within
human capability and for the good of mankind. It provides the faculties and
powers needed to enable them to perform these duties, and makes them pleasing
to them no matter the hardships they may suffer sometimes for their sake –
because they fulfill something they want and discharge one of the powers they
have.

At the beginning, the principles the Prophet r
came with were strange to the conscience of humanity because of the wide gap
between them and the reality of the actual spiritual life.

Islam came to call for a single humanity where all racial and
demographic differences melt into one creed and one social system. This was
certainly strange to the conscience of humanity then, to its way of thinking
and its actual state, where the nobles considered themselves created from a
clay superior to that of slaves.

Islam came to equate between people in the eyes of the law and
judiciary at a time when humanity divided people into classes, setting for each
class a law. It even made the master’s will, during the time of slavery and
feudalism, the established law. Thus, it was strange at that time that this
advanced outstanding law announces the right of absolute equality of all
mankind before the law. But, little by little humanity is trying to reach, if
only theoretically, something of what Islam practically applied more than
fourteen hundred years ago. Ever since, humanity has begun to draw closer and
closer from the horizon of these principles, where the sense of strangeness
dissipated. It adopted them and applied them, even if under other slogans.

It stumbles on the way because it is not guided by the full
light of Islam, but still it reaches something of that law – even if only in
claims and slogans – although nations in Europe
and America
are still adhering to loathsome racism, which Islam fought against fourteen
centuries ago.

These, and many others, testify that the message of Muhammad r
is a mercy to the whole of humanity, and that Muhammad r
was sent only as a mercy to all existence, the believers and disbelievers in
him alike. All humanity is influenced by the law with which he r
came, willingly or unwillingly, consciously or unconsciously.

The verdant shade of this mercy is there to whoever wants to be
shaded with it, to whoever wants to breathe under its shelter the gentle
heavenly breeze, in the scorching heat of the earth, especially nowadays.

Humanity today is in the direst need for the gentleness of this
mercy and its pure dew. It is worried and confused, straying through the
labyrinths of materiality, the hell of wars, and the aridity of souls and
hearts.

After presenting the meaning of mercy to humanity and
fulfilling it himself, the Messenger of Allah r, as commanded,
announces the essence of his Message, wherefrom mercy to all existence gushes
forth:

(Say,
“It is revealed to me that your God is only one God; will you then be
Muslims?”)3

This is the original element of mercy in this Message; the
element of absolute monotheism that saves humanity from the illusions of Jahiliyyah,
the burdens of idolatry, the worship of creatures, and the pressures of
delusion and superstitions. It builds life upon its solid foundations,
connecting it with the entire existence based on clear constant laws, not
fancies, inclinations, or interests. It guarantees to every human their right
of standing with their head raised; for heads only bow to the Creator, The One,
The Almighty.

This
is the path to mercy… so will you be Muslims?4