There are almost 7 billion people that reside within this world, yet the irony is that we often feel incredibly alone and distant from other human beings. We have been conditioned to believe that all we need is Allah and nothing else. Yet, Allah gave us families, He gave us friends and He gave us colleagues. There is a deeper wisdom within these relationships. Each one is teaching us something about ourselves and our place in the world and their purpose within our lives.

Every one of us will at some point in our lives experience some type of hardship or pain that hurts us.

It is therefore, important to explore the importance of helping others from an Islamic context. Helping each other is a way to overcome grief that we may experience, and it can empower us in our worship of Allah.

It is one of the principles of our faith to help our fellow human beings.

The Holy Quran has not only endorsed helping others, but it has in fact commanded everyone to help others since Allah has helped him. Therefore, it is an obligation to do good to others.

Allah says:
وَأَحْسِن كَمَآ أَحْسَنَ ٱللَّهُ إِلَيْكَ
“Do Good As Allah Has Done Good to You.” [Al Qasas 28: 77]

Yet in another verse of the Quran, Allah says:
وَتَعَاوَنُوا۟ عَلَى ٱلْبِرِّ وَٱلتَّقْوَىٰ ۖ وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا۟ عَلَى ٱلْإِثْمِ وَٱلْعُدْوَٰنِ ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ شَدِيدُ ٱلْعِقَابِ
Cooperate with one another in goodness and righteousness, and do not cooperate in sin and transgression. And be mindful of Allah. Surely Allah is severe in punishment. [Al Maida 5: 2]

This Noble verse exhorts us to cooperate in deeds which are righteous and matters which are motivated by the fear of Allah and forbids them from extending their cooperation to anything sinful and aggressive. Just consider that the noble Quran has not suggested here that one should cooperate with Muslim brothers and not with non-Muslims. Instead of that, it declares that righteousness and the fear of Allah are the basis on which cooperation is to be extended for this is the real foundation on which rests any cooperation among Muslims themselves. It clearly means that no help is to be extended even to a Muslim brother if he is acting contrary to the truth or is advancing towards injustice and aggression. Rather than help him in what is false and unjust, effort should be made to hold his hands against indulging in the false and the unjust for this, in reality, is helping him at its best – so that his present life as well as his life in the Hereafter is not ruined.

According to a narration from Anas RA appearing in Bukhari and Muslim, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been reported to have said:
اُنْصُرْ اَخَاكَ ظَالِمًا اَوْ مَظْلُوْمًا
Help your brother, whether he is oppressed or the oppressor. The Sahabah RA were surprised. They asked: ‘Ya RasulAllah ﷺ as for helping the oppressed brother, that we understand, but what does ‘helping the oppressor’ mean?’ He ﷺ said: ‘Stop him from doing injustice – this is helping him.’