Compassion in the Quran
The Quran is such a loving, beautiful book of the word of Allah that it is full of all the good there is in the world. It is full of pleasantries, advices of kindness, advice of doing good and forgiving and most of all advice of compassion. Allah has asked us in His own words to be good people. Good Muslims. Good human beings. And in doing so we are not only listening to Allah but we are also making our Hereafter better and better, so much so that it will take us to Jannah. When one opens the Quran, the first line of it tells us the attribute of Allah, the Most Gracious (Compassionate) and the Most Merciful. So will we be foolish enough to not have one of the attributes of Allah as our own?
Compassion and doing good is mentioned in the Quran over 200 times and that is the crux of what Allah wants us to live by. There are so many ayahs in which Allah relates a story giving us some advice or the other and follows it with “And Allah loves those who do good.” How much more simpler can it get? With Allah telling us directly to be compassionate in our life. An ayah of the Quran which says just this is mentioned below:
“On those who believe and do good works there shall be no sin for what they eat, provided they fear God and believe and do good works, and again fear God and believe, yet again fear God and do good. And Allah loves those who do good. (Al Quran 5:94)”
The importance of compassion in the Quran is so much that Allah has enjoined on us to even show it to our enemies. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) too showed mercy and compassion to even the people who wanted him dead, after which many of them accepted Islam. Allah has mentioned in the Quran just this, that the recipe to get your enemies to turn into Muslims and follow the straight path is to let them spend time with you and showing them compassion and kindness. Allah said in the Quran:
“And good and evil are not alike. Repel evil with that which is best. And lo, he between whom and thyself was enmity will become as though he were a warm friend. But none is granted it save those who are steadfast; and none is granted it save those who possess a large share of good. (Quran 41:35-36)”
How amazing it is to repel evil with goodness. It dissolves evil like it never existed, making it vanish indeed. So are we silly enough to ignore these words of Allah in the Quran and let grudges hold?
Furthermore, in the Quran, compassion is mentioned most importantly for one’s parents, with the mother who gave us birth to be shown the most respect and kindness for she went through immense pain for us. “Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him, and that ye be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in thy life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honour. And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility, and say: My Lord! bestow on them thy Mercy even as they cherished me in childhood.” (Quran 17:23-24). Other people that the Quran decreed one should show compassion to are our children, our spouses and our relatives, the poor and the underprivileged. Allah says in the Quran, “Therefore, treat not the orphan with harshness.”
In all places in the Quran it is mentioned that “Allah rewards the doers of good”. So let’s follow the word of Allah in the Quran and do good, show compassion to all people and enter Jannah IA.
