By Amal Abdullah
Our world holds more than seven billion people — seven billion complex lives with stories and experiences as vast and intricate as our own. Out of the seven billion, a good chunk lives in suffering. There is so much hurt in the world, so much that needs fixing, each problem a grain of sand in an endless dessert. One could devote an entire lifetime, from the zealous ambition of youth to the greying years of old age, and just barely make a dent in the barricade of problems that plague the modern world.
Yet, we are entrusted by Allah (swt) to do our part, to add what little twigs and sticks we can collect in our small efforts to patch up our dam against the increasingly strong current of problems. We are told in the Quran that we are خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ, the best nation to have been brought forth for the people, because تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ, we enjoin good, we forbid against evil, and above all, وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّـهِ, we are guided in the work we do by our faith in Allah (swt) (3:110). As well, we are told that وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ ۚ وَأُولَـٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ, that there should be, among us, a group that calls to good, enjoins what is right and forbids what is wrong, and it is them who are the successful.
Not everyone needs to put aside their life to save the world, but we all need to do our individual part, small as it may be. And the smallest thing we can do is support with our money and our duas. That requires the lowest effort — anyone can do it, everyone should do it.
There are so many avenues one can pursue when carrying out their duty to make the world a better place, so many causes and issues that require our attention. The lists are endless: we could focus on the greater problems of poverty (8% of the world’s population lives in extreme poverty), or of healthcare (half of the world’s population does not have access to basic healthcare), or environmental sustainability (by 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year).
Within these larger issues, there are an infinite number of sub-issues that one could pursue. Take healthcare: you could devote your life to finding a cure for cancer, or helping sufferers of diabetes, or so much more. You could work in combinations of issues too: you could work in public health and research, improving policy and education to keep the population in good shape. You could become a doctor and keep people healthy in everyday life.
Take poverty: you could work on homelessness, or food security, or employment skills and services or more. There are different levels of poverty too: from extreme poverty in the developing world to the kind that exist right here in our own backyards. The way this all branches out goes on indefinitely.
On top of this, we also need everyday heroes, our family doctors, our counselors, our donors, and our volunteers who work tirelessly to make things regular operations like Masjid and MSA programs, organizations like NISA Helpline and NISA Homes possible. This is needed too.
Then further still, we have the roles that Allah has given us personally as friends and family members. This role, to raise and live in good families, comes first. We are told that they are the prime way we do our part in maintaining the world. We learn from multiple ahadith that the morsel of food one puts in their spouse’s mouth is charity, or that the money one spends on their family is charity.
There are essentially an infinite number of things we could be doing to pay our rent in this borrowed life on this borrowed planet with this borrowed time and body and energy. Everyday, at every moment, all of these opportunities for good present themselves to us if we care to look. At the root, all of this encourages us to follow the Quranic advice of فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْرَاتِ, to race and compete with each other in doing good (2:148), and to وَسَارِعُوا إِلَىٰ مَغْفِرَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا السَّمَاوَاتُ وَالْأَرْضُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ, to hasten to forgiveness from our Lord, and jannah, the width of which is heavens and the earth, prepared only for the righteous (3:133). If we don’t see these opportunities for good outright, then we’re encouraged to وَابْتَغُوا إِلَيْهِ الْوَسِيلَةَ وَجَاهِدُوا فِي سَبِيلِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ, to seek out the ways of good in order to gain nearness to Him, and to strive in His cause so that we may be successful (5:35). We need to race, race to do good deeds (2:148). You never know what little good will tip the scales in your favour.
If this isn’t enough to convince us, we should remember that إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتِ يُذْهِبْنَ السَّيِّئَاتِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ذِكْرَىٰ لِلذَّاكِرِينَ, that indeed good deeds wipe away bad deed, and that this is a reminder for those who care to rememeber (11:114). And Lord knows we need this.
There are so many people around the world who need help from the privileged among us. If you are reading this, there is a high chance you are among the ones that Allah has given privilege. We have no excuse not to do something for others.
Is it one of the naiveties of youth to think you can save the world? It might be. I would imagine that once one has had greater experience in seeing the tragedies of life, in experiencing the hurt and sorrow that is part and parcel of this complex journey called we call living, one would be less enamoured by the fairytale fantasy of gallantly riding in one’s shining armor, ready to defend the voiceless, to cure the sick, to heal the hurting. Does that mean we should stop daydreaming of an ideal world in which justice, prosperity, and peace can thrive? Certainly not. It is up to us, the youth of today, to reclaim the God-given duty that has been entrusted to us, and do our part, be it only a dent. It is our small, collective dents that we create when we hack away at the barricade that we create the revolution we’re all waiting for.
Amal is a second-year SFU student who enjoys writing in all genres, save for the the autobiographical. She occasionally blogs at ajabdullah.wordpress.com.