Seek to Understand People in Need

By Zakir Zulfi
This is a real incident, which I personally experienced. In a mosque in Bhopal after the zohr prayer, a man stood up in order to make an announcement. He wanted to express his condition to the congregation. However, overwhelmed by hesitation and a sense of shame, he was unable to speak.
All of a sudden, the man turned back and headed to the gate of the mosque. I joined him there and asked him what had happened. He did not say anything, but his eyes were full of tears. Then, he revealed, “I wanted to ask people for money because I am in great difficulty. But I couldn’t get myself to beg. My niece is in hospital. She has been there for a month and her father is no more. I have spent my everything, and have even sold off all my property, for her treatment. I wanted to ask the people in the mosque for money for her sake but I couldn’t get myself to do that.”
This incident teaches us that we should care about people who are suffering. We need to take the time and effort to listen to them and then try and do what we can to assist them.
(Zakir Zulfi was a student of the 18th batch at Darul Umoor Srirangapatna and is currently based in Bhopal)