Why Brotherhood and Love really Matters to the Believers

And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. Remember the favor of Allah upon you, when you were enemies and he brought your hearts together and you became brothers by his favor. — Qur’an 3[Al-Imran]:103

Brotherhood in Islam is a strong bond that unites the believers irrespective of tribe, race or origin. It is an all-encompassing concept established by Allah which starts with belief, followed by good manners and then treating others the way you’d like to be treated. The Islamic brotherhood comes in three levels of priority viz: religion, family and humanity. Your brother in-deen is superior to your brother by blood and the rest of us are brothers from a forefather. This way, a Muslim is expected to show mercy and meet obligations in that order. The earliest generation of Muslims understood brotherhood to the point they laid their lives to save their brothers’. The story of Abu Dhar Al-Ghifari, the young man and the three brothers is a very beautiful one that shows us how brotherhood can rebirth a peaceful society.

When we say brotherhood, we’re not just talking about the men. The sisters are included as well. The believing men and women are brothers to one another. They owe themselves the responsibility of trust, sincerity, and safety from harming the other. The noble messenger (PBUH) was reported to have said:

The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever. — Bukhari and Muslim

So what is the state of the believers today? Is it as exemplified by the best of mankind? We show little empathy for each other to a point where the blood of a Muslim is no longer seen as sacred. Greed and the love of the world have blinded our eyes to standing up for justice and giving our brothers excuses. Whereas when we help our brothers, we are only helping our souls. Fulfilling the rights of your brother rains down the help and blessings of Allah while severing it attracts His torment and wrath. In another beautiful hadith, Abu Hurayrah narrated that Allah’s Apostle, peace be upon him said:

He who relieves the hardship of a believer in this world, Allah will relieve his hardship on the Day of Judgment. He who makes easy what is difficult, Allah will make it easy for him in the world and the Hereafter. He who conceals the faults of a Muslim, Allah will conceal his faults in the world and the Hereafter, for Allah helps the servant as long as he helps his brother. — Muslim

The Rights of a Muslim over Another Muslim

As brothers and sisters, we have rights over one another. It’s incumbent upon a Muslim to give these rights and keep them sacrosanct. These obligations are specific to the Muslim community and can be extended to humanity in good fate. Foremost among which is the right to be treated with proper manners, doing to others what you will like to be done to you.

Ali ibn Abi Talib reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace, and blessings be upon him, said:

A Muslim has six rights over another Muslim regarding good conduct: to greet him with peace when he meets him, to respond to his invitation, to respond to his sneeze, to visit him when he is sick, to follow his funeral prayer when he dies, and to love for him what he loves for himself. — Tirmidhi

In another narration, Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace, and blessings be upon him, said:

Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the most false of speech. Do not seek out faults, do not spy on each other, do not contend with each other, do not envy each other, do not hate each other, and do not turn away from each other. Oh servants of Allah, be brothers! — Bukhari

Umar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

It is not lawful for a Muslim who hears a word from his brother to suspect him of evil when he can find something good about it.

Ja’far ibn Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

If you hear something from your brother that you reject, then make an excuse for him up to seventy excuses. If you cannot do it, then say: Perhaps he has an excuse I do not know.

Ibn Muflih wrote:

Among the rights of a Muslim over another Muslim are that he cover his faults, forgive his mistakes, have mercy for his errors, overlook his missteps, reject his backbiting, always give him sincere advice, preserve his good traits, guard his covenants, answer his invitations, accept his guidance, repay his gifts, show gratitude for his favors, assist him in the best manner, fulfill his needs, intercede for his problems, respond to his sneeze, refuse his misguided advice, protect him and not take him as an enemy, support him against his oppressors, restrain him from oppressing others, not surrender him, not abandon him, and to love for him what he loves for himself and to hate for him what he hates for himself. — Source: al-Ādāb al-Shar’īyah 1/290

How can we restore the Muslim Brotherhood

As worse as the situation of the Muslims exists today, there’s still hope if you and I play our parts. It begins by trying to implement these steps:

• Spreading Salaam amidst Muslims: One sure way to restore love and the spirit of brotherhood is to spread the greeting of peace. Spreading the greeting of peace is an assurance of tranquility and safety from one person to the other. On the authority of Abu Huraira who reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace, and blessings be upon him, said, “You will not enter Paradise until you believe and you will not believe until you love each other. Shall I show you something that, if you did, you would love each other? Spread peace between yourselves.” — Saheeh Muslim
• Straightening the rows: This aspect is obviously a defect among Muslims today. We sometimes see people in the mosque shifting their feet from their brother’s. Hopefully, if we can correct this our hearts will be reunited. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to touch our shoulders when we were praying and he would say: “Make the rows straight and do not differ, lest your hearts differ.” — Saheeh Muslim
• Making reconciliation among yourself: Even identical twins do have a misunderstanding sometimes. So brothers can differ on issues but it’s best to settle it before it escalates. Allah the Most Gracious gave us a solution in the Qur’an. So when there’s a misunderstanding, resort to this:

The believers are nothing else than brothers (in Islamic religion). So make reconciliation between your brothers, and fear Allah, that you may receive mercy. — 49[Al-Hujurat]:10

• Deploying the ‘Golden Rule’: The truth is — there can’t be brotherhood without love. Love itself begins with one’s self and can only be reciprocated to your brother as you wish for yourself. In the words of Allah’s Apostle PBUH: “None of you will believe until you love for your brother what you love for yourself.” — Bukhari and Muslim

Brother Justin Parrott published an entire thesis on this subject which I found beneficial.

• Unite upon the truth: True brotherhood is in uniting upon the truth and rejecting falsehood. We should not compromise the standards set by Allah and His messenger irrespective of whose ox is gored. This is as stated by Allah:

The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give charity and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah will have mercy upon them, for Allah is Almighty and Wise. — Qur’an 9[At-Tauba]:71

The love for one another will increase us in unity and in unity lies our strength. Today we have over a billion Muslims but we live in a sorry state. If only we can rekindle the light of brotherhood, our situation may be better than what it is of late. We ask Allah to unite our hearts upon the truth and keep us steadfast.

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