Ten Easy Things You Can Do to Make Our World a Better Place

1.    Greet strangers (and friends) with salaam.

    

      What’s a better greeting? Peace be Upon You (which is also the greeting of the inhabitants of paradise) or a greeting such as “Hi” which who knows what it means? 

Abu Hurairah (ra) related that Rasulullah (saw) said, "You shall not enter Heaven unless you have Faith and your Faith is not complete until you show love towards one another. Would you want me to show you how you can achieve this? Shower your Salam upon one another." (Muslim, 96)

Giving salaam to one another strengthens our love for each other and strengthens the brotherhood (and sisterhood!) of the Ummah. It’s not a hard thing to do and we shouldn’t feel shy about it. Even if our friends greet us with a “Hey” or a “What’s up?” let’s be good role models and reply with a salaam. 

2.    Smile.

     

      The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Charity is prescribed for each descendant of Adam every day the sun rises.”…He also said: "Your smile for your brother is charity."Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 3, Number 98.

     

      Smiling is a really great habit to cultivate. Not only does it make you happier, but it cheers up other people as well.  For example, say you’ve had a really bad day; maybe you didn’t do so great on your exam, or you stayed up the entire night working on an assignment. You’re walking back to your Mahallah, totally exhausted and depressed, and then out of the blue, a person gives you a big smile.  Smiling shows people you care. Come on people, smiling is effortless, the risk of straining your cheek muscles is minimal, so do put a   smile on!

3.    Pick up trash and stones from the footpath.

      This is also a form of charity. Apart from the obvious benefits of removing highly trippable objects from the place where people walk, picking up trash will also encourage people who see you to feel guilty about that candy wrapper they were about to throw on the floor, and put it in th nearby trash can instead.

4.    Hold a door open.

      Instead of allowing it to smash into the face of the person behind you :)

5.    Tell your parents/siblings how much they mean to you.

    

      Sadly, we don’t do this enough.  We take our family for granted, thinking they’ll always be around… please do take the time to say, “I Love You”.

6.    Give up your seat for someone older than you.

      Whether it is in the train, bus, or even when you are waiting for ages for your turn at the bank.

The Prophet (pbuh) said, “He is not of us who does not have mercy on young children, nor honors the elderly” (Tirmidhi). 

7.    Make dua for the Ummah
     
      

     Take at least five minutes out of your life every day to think of those less fortunate than we are. Alhamdulillah we live in a very peaceful, Muslim country with very few problems. Some Muslims living in non-Muslim countries have such a hard time. Some of our brothers and sisters in Somalia and other parts of Africa are starving.  Muslims in Syria, Palestine… please, the least we can do is make dua for them. Perhaps, because of your dua, Allah will change the condition of the Muslim Ummah.

8.    Thank someone for something you don’t usually thank them for.

     The ladies at the café who clear up our dirty plates, the bus driver who spends so much time everyday ferrying us back and forth, all those people who work so hard.

The Prophet (pbuh) said: He who does not thank Allah does not thank people.

 

9.    Be a good listener.

      Most of us love to talk, I’m sure. I know I do. We should also learn to love to listen. Listening carefully to your friend when she/he is talking builds a stronger friendship, and you’ll learn stuff about him/her that you never knew before. Listen to your younger siblings talk, they’ll respect you more for it. And of course, do at least try to listen to your teacher in class!

10. And finally, very important, please take the time to comment on this post :)

 

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