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Y. Islam: Small Kindness
Written by Yusuf Islam, Founder, Small Kindness, United Kingdom
Monday, January 2, 2006
Because I have been given wealth and perhaps a little bit of a name. I use a little of that to share with others. Because of that, people have recognized the kind of work we are doing in Kosovo and the Balkans, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, and now in Iraq. This last is right in the center of Baghdad, educating girls in computer skills and management skills. Our basic target is to help orphans.
Once you are given something as a gift, it is kind of selfish just to keep it to yourself. So many people maybe began with nothing, and they kind of made a promise, somewhere along the line, to share some of this [the fruits of success] with others. So it is that promise, it is the element of keeping your word, which helps keep your integrity with yourself. Everybody in a way has to live with himself, and if you cheat yourself that is certainly something you will find difficult to live with. That helps me because I have made a promise—I will commit to continuing to help people, which is my obligation anyway as a Muslim. As a Muslim you have to give a certain amount of your wealth every year, and that is my commitment.
There is a verse that comes to my mind. It says, “Strive in good works and wherever you are God will bring you together.”
[Source: Islamic Perspectives on Peace. Tarrytown, NY: Universal Peace Federation, 2006.]