The Small Yet Extremely Important Islamic Virtues

Islam is a religion of peace and love that spreads the message of harmony, justice, and equality. It contains guidelines and instructions that can help benefit all of the humanity and make world a safe place to live where there is harmony and kindness all around. However, with negative projection of the religion and the lack of knowledge about the true spirit of Islam, humanity still has not been able to benefit truly from Islam.

At present the knowledge of Islam that people have is all limited to the religious rituals performed by Muslims, the message of monotheism and the Quran that contains accounts and details of all the guidelines that Muslims are to follow in order to be better Muslims. What most people don’t know about Islam is that it is full of small virtues and all these virtues are the essence of Islam. The religion is not just worship and prayers, rather it works on human character and tries to make it as sublime as possible.

Islamic Virtues and Their Importance

Today, this article on QuranReading.com, discusses the major small virtues of Islam that carry the essence of the religion.

Kindness:

At present the most necessary virtue that the world needs is kindness. People have grown ruthless, they are neither kind nor considerate and take everything in the wrong manner and don’t care for the human life. Islam preaches kindness, and the extent of this kindness is not limited to humans only, rather the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is fill with examples where He extended His kindness to animals as well as trees and plants. Therefore, kindness is one of the major virtues of Islam. Regarding kindness Allah Almighty says in Quran:

“God loveth those who are kind.” (5:13)

From this ayah of Quran it is clear that “being kind” is one of the attributes that Allah Almighty loves in a person. When a person is kind it means he or she values the life created by Allah Almighty and when one is kind to the creation of Allah Almighty in return He is also kind to the person. Therefore, kindness is one thing that should always be present in the personality of a Muslim and he or she must extend this kindness to all those who come in contact with him or her.

Righteousness:

One of the major objectives of Islam is to make sure that the followers stick to the path of righteousness. In order to do so, Allah Almighty sent down Quran that is full of all sorts of instructions that are required by humans to keep on the path of righteousness. The anti of righteousness is evil and mischief. These two elements are what have caused the world of today be in such a plight where there is neither peace nor a hope for a peaceful future. Allah Almighty condemns mischief and evil undertaken by humans in this world in the Quran in the following way:

“Do no evil nor mischief on the (face of the) earth.” (2:60)

The thing to understand is that here mischief or evil does not strictly mean not following the guidelines of Islam, rather it means mischief and evil in general that are harmful for the world and its inhabitant. Although evil or mischief by any standards will be the one which Islam describes and there will be nothing out of it, however, if someone thinks that there is some evil or mischief about which Islam has not spoken, then he or she should avoid it as well, because Islam is against everything that is harmful for humanity and the world.

Generosity:

Generosity is another personality attribute that Islam promotes in its followers. The reason behind promotion of generosity is the Islamic spirit of taking care of other people and putting others over one’s own self. Pertaining to the spirit of generosity, Allah Almighty says in Quran:

“Give of the good things which ye have (honorably) earned, and of the fruits of the earth which We have produced for you.” (2:267)

The spirit of giving to others is one of the core preaching of Islam. When a Muslim gives things from his or her earning it endorses the fact that being able to earn a thing does not mean that a person has become the Mighty, rather it shows that whilst earning personally a person realizes the fact that it is Allah who has provided him or her with the blessings and now it rests upon the person to share those blessings with others who are less fortunate and did not have the same chances or facilities available to get more earning. Therefore, when one is generous he or she actually shows submissiveness to Allah and acknowledges the fact that only He is the true Sustainer and the least we can do is give to others from what He has given us.

Gratitude:

One of the greatest of human evils is the arrogance. We out of arrogance think that whatever we have is solely ours and we have earned it without realizing the fact that other people have also contributed to it and above all the Almighty has also allowed us to achieve which we have achieved. However, people forget these facts and instead of offering gratitude for whatever they have, they take the route of arrogance. In Quran, Allah Almighty says about gratitude:

“Eat of the good things that We have provided for you, and be grateful to God, if it is Him ye worship.” (2:172)

From the ayah it is clear that it is Allah who has provided everything and when one utilizes or consumes from what He has given, one needs to offer gratitude for what He has provided.

Contentment:

The vice of human greed is as evil as the vice of human arrogance. We as humans are greedy and we never get enough of something, therefore, to fulfill our never ending greed we continue on pursuing things and take every measure possible to fulfill a little part of our greed. Islam gives the concept or virtue of contentment as per which a Muslim ought to be content with whatever Allah Almighty has provided him or her and remain happy in whatever is available and be Thankful to Allah. therefore, instead of following the base desires of greed, a Muslim should find solace in contentment and ask Allah for everything he or she requires.

Conclusion:

In a nutshell, in order to truly understand a Muslim has to see beyond the general notion and see of the things that Islam has spoken about, even the most minor ones. The aforementioned virtues carry the essence and spirit of Islam, therefore, in every day dealings a Muslim must also try to incorporate these virtues in his or her personality.