Empathy

I was recently reading a book, where I came across a beautiful description.

As the book is not with me now, so cannot screenshot it as it is, but let me try to write that beautiful reflection.

We all know about the incident that once Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) was passing by a place and he (pbuh) saw the camel grunting, he (pbuh) asked for the owner of the camel and asked him to sell him the camel.

The owner replied in courtesy that he (pbuh) can take it as a gift from them but it is the only animal through which they earn.

Listening to the owner,
the Prophet (pbuh) commanded him that he should keep the camel to himself and should not over burden him, as the camel is in immense pain, and has complained to the Prophet (pbuh) about being overburdened.

SubhanAllah! There must be two possibilities of this incident as mentioned in the book.

The camel was grunting in pain and complained to the Prophet pbuh alone, recognising his empathy as Prophet of Allah swt.

Or

The camel was grunting and complaining to all but nobody (not even the owner of the camel has observed) other than the Prophet of Allah swt as he (pbuh) was sent as a rehmat (mercy) for all.

– Prophet of Allah (pbuh) asked the owner to be careful about the rights of those who cannot express themselves.

SubhanAllah!
Even the owner of that camel, was unable to have the empathy for its own valued camel.

There may be many people around us, like that camel, who are grunting in pain but cannot express themselves in a way we can understand, or they are expressing themselves but we are unable to identify the problems as we are not empathetic enough to recognise it.

If you are able to recognise people’s issue and their pain in an empathetic way or if you have people coming to you and complaining about their pain, then glorify Allah swt, as He (swt) has blessed you with the quality which He (swt) has blessed His Prophet (pbuh) being emotionally empathetic and emotionally intelligent trying to solve the issue and relieving the screams.

May Allah swt bless us as well with this quality as well.
May we hear the screams of our oppressed brothers and sisters which are sometimes heard by us, and sometimes they are silenced by the oppressors, may we become the voice of the oppressed, unheard, and voiceless and may we try to reach out for the solution as well.

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