The Concept of Mercy
| Khatib : | Sadullah Khan |
| Khutbah No: | 141 |
| Khutbah Date: | 03/18/05 |
Mercy in Islam encompasses this world and the hereafter, as well as mankind, animals, and the surrounding habitats. It is something innate, which Allah has placed into the hearts of all His creatures. Yet Allah is more merciful to His creation than a mother is to her child. That is why on the day He created mercy, He created one hundred parts to it. And He left ninety-nine parts with Him, in which He will show mercy to His servants on the Day of Judgment, and sent down one single part of mercy to earth, which humans and animals share amongst themselves.
Mercy is also a factor of life which we seem to be lacking in present time; and is obvious and evident in the injustice that continues to occur. Scholars have realized that no matter how much technology advances, people do not connect with mercy like they used to.
Mercy of Allah
The mercy of Allah is visible everywhere around us. In the Qur’an, “Al-Rahman, Al-Raheem” means “Most Compassionate, Most Merciful”
From day to day, we see the mercy of Allah. He has bestowed upon us the mercy of day, in which we are awake, and night, when we rest and sleep. He showers his mercy upon us through rain as well. Allah not only grants mercy through the benefits of the environment, but also grants mercy within our family relationships. Without the mercy of Allah’s upon families, there would be no kindness and friendship in marital relationships. Allah’s mercy is also evident in that He extends time for people to repent and may delay punishment in order to give people an opportunity to turn to Him.
Thankful for Divine Mercy
At times when things come easily in our lives, we are not thankful for Allah’s mercy and do not show gratitude towards Him for what He has given us. Due to our ignorance, we are blinded of being grateful and do not appreciate and notice Allah’s bountiful mercy. Sadly, we go on day by day, ungrateful towards Allah’s mercy of giving us day and night, food and shelter, family and love, and life itself are other examples of things we take for granted. We do not stop to think that without the mercy of Allah, our lives would be miserable. Allah is so Great that He even extends His mercy to people who deny Him or reject Him.
Prophetic Mercy
All the Prophets (peace be upon them) are merciful because Allah’s mercy has been bestowed upon them at all times. He shows His mercy to them.Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) advised the army before going to battle: “Don’t cut trees, burn houses, damage any corpses; don’t attack at night because children and women may be scared; don’t attack people of other faiths as they worship…”. Moses (pbuh) lived in Pharaoh’s palace. He left to become a Shepard and faced many hard times. But this was Allah’s way of preparing him for prophethood – this was a reflection too of Allah’s mercy.
Appreciate Divine Mercy
As submitters to Allah, our goal is to trust Allah’s mercy without any doubt, regardless of what happens around us. Sometimes, we are blind and do not see Allah’s mercy. Allah has his ways of showering it upon us and He alone knows what is best for us.
The mercy of Allah will be most prominent on the Day of Judgment, when everyone will plead for mercy to enter Heaven. But as humans who tend to forget Allah’s mercy, what can we do to ensure that we deserve Allah’s mercy?
Start at Home
Everything starts from the family. We must first be kind and merciful to our parents and our family. The Prophet (pbuh) said, “The best among you are the kindest to their spouses.” But our kindness should not stop there. We must also be kind and merciful to the elderly as well as the young, and to everyone such as co-workers, no matter who they are. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “He who does not show mercy (to others) will not be shown mercy.” As brothers and sisters in Islam, we should care for each other. We should be supportive of the dua’a of other people, since we would want our prayers to be answered as well. We should also be merciful to our own bodies and try our best to prevent damage. But mercy should not just be for human beings; it also applies for animals and other creation.
Let’s Be Merciful
Acts of worship help a person become merciful as well as receive mercy. The Qur’an is full of mercy and to attain that mercy, we should listen to the Qur’an with our hearts, not our ears. We should not look down upon others. We are no different than them, for the only thing that has brought us to the point we stand at today is Allah’s mercy.
We are ONE body, ONE Ummah. We should all be merciful to one another. On the Day of Judgment, there will still be some believers who are in the hell fire for what they did; but the angels and the prophets (pbut), and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) will ask Allah to forgive the believers (asking for shafa’a) The weaker and poorer a human being is, the more we are required to show mercy to him/her.
Our goal is to assess whether we are merciful or not and to increase that beautiful attribute of MERCY. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “The Most Merciful shows mercy to those who have mercy on others. Show mercy to those on earth, and the One above the heaven will show mercy to you.” Thus, the servants of Allâh showing mercy towards one another is a cause for Allâh sending His mercy down on them. The Prophet (pbuh) also said: "The Most Merciful shows mercy to those who have mercy on others. Show mercy to those on earth, and the One above the heaven will show mercy to you."