UAE Friday sermon: Compassion strengthens a community solidarity

ABU DHABI // Compassion strengthens the social bond in communities, worshippers will hear on Friday.

Through sympathy, believers can spread goodness across a community and in return create the social cohesion that Islam aims to inspire.

Muslims should also help to improve the situation of those less privileged, the sermon will say.

“Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, and to parents do good, and to relatives, orphans, the needy, the near neighbour, the neighbour farther away, the companion at your side,” it says in the Quran (An-Nisaa: 36).

Worshippers will be reminded that solidarity requires believers to support those in need, financial and morally.

As the Prophet Mohammed said: “The example of the faithful believers is like the human body; if the head aches, the whole body aches. In like manner, a faithful believer would suffer if other believers suffer.”

The Prophet compared ­social cohesion to building a wall. “A faithful believer to a faithful believer is like the bricks of a wall, enforcing each other.”

These Islamic principles resonate with Emirati traditions, too. Such values are deeply rooted in a tradition called Al Faza’a, where members of the community volunteer to come to each other’s rescue during times of need and adversity.

One way of showing solidarity in calamities is to donate blood for the wounded, sick and injured, through blood banks. The reward for such selflessness is great because it saves lives.

The widening circle of social solidarity includes neighbours, so it is essential to treat them well and to share their joys and sorrows.