5 Proofs Against Forsaking Fellow Muslims

Ibn Kathir reported in Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, and Ibn Hisham in Al-Sirah Al-Nabawiyyah from Ibn Ishaq, who said: A man from Arash came to Makkah with some of his camels, and Abu Jahl bought them from him but delayed paying him their price. So, the Arashi man came and stood before a gathering of Quraysh, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was sitting in close by. The man said: “O people of Quraysh! Who will help me against Abu al-Hakam ibn Hisham? I am a stranger, a traveler, and he has wrongfully withheld my right.” The people of that gathering said to him: “Do you see that man sitting over there?”—referring to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, while they were mocking him because they knew of the enmity between him and Abu Jahl, “Go to him; he will help you get your right.”

So, the Arashi man approached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said:
“O servant of Allah, indeed Abu al-Hakam ibn Hisham has wrongfully withheld my due. I am a stranger, a traveler, and I asked these people to point me to someone who can help me get my right from him, and they directed me to you. So please get me my right. May Allah have mercy on you.” He ﷺ said: “Let’s go to him,” and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood and went with him. When the Quraysh saw him getting up, they said to a man among them: “Follow him and see what he does.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ went until he reached Abu Jahl’s house and knocked on his door.
Abu Jahl said: “Who is it?” He ﷺ said: “Muhammad. Come out to me.”
So he came out to him, and there was no color left in his face, it had gone pale. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Give this man his right.” Abu Jahl replied:
“Yes, don’t you leave until I give it to him.” He went inside, brought out the man’s due, and gave it to him. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ left and said to the Arashi: “Here’s what he owns you.” So, the Arashi man went back to the gathering and said: “May Allah reward him with goodness. By Allah, he got me my right!”

The Prophet ﷺ was keen to help the needy, stand by their side, and respond when someone sought his aid. This help he ﷺ offered was not to someone who had accepted Islam, but to a man he didn’t even know. Yet the Prophet ﷺ did not let him down. This is a call against betrayal and abandonment, especially toward the people of faith.

Below are several proofs that demonstrate the prohibition of letting down fellow believers:

1. Support and Aid is a Right Among Believers

Allah the Almighty said regarding the believers: “Indeed, those who have believed and emigrated and fought with their wealth and lives in the cause of Allah and those who gave shelter and aided - they are allies of one another. But those who believed and did not emigrate - for you there is no guardianship of them until they emigrate. And if they seek help of you for the religion, then you must help.” (Al-Anfal: 72)

Islam calls upon the Muslim to support his brethren, whether oppressor or oppressed. In Sahih al-Bukhari, it is narrated from Anas that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one.” People asked, “O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! It is all right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?” The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “By preventing him from oppressing others.” Meaning: You support him in all situations and never let him down.

Muslims are like one body, In Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim, it is narrated from Abu Musa that the Prophet ﷺ said: “A believer to another believer is like a building whose different parts enforce each other.” The Prophet (ﷺ) then clasped his hands with the fingers interlaced (while saying that).

It is the right of a Muslim over another that when he calls upon him, he responds. In Sahih Muslim, it is narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “There are six rights of a Muslim upon a Muslim.” They asked: What are they O, Messenger of Allah? He replied: “When you meet him, greet him; when he invites you, respond to him; when he seeks counsel, give him advice; when he sneezes and praises Allah, say to him: 'May Allah have mercy on you (Yarhamuk-Allah)'; when he is sick, visit him; and when he dies, follow his funeral.”

2. Islam Forbids Letting Others Down

In Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim, from Abdullah ibn Umar, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim, he doesn't oppress him and doesn't put him into ruin, and whoever is concerned for the needs of his brother, Allah is concerned for his needs, and whoever relieves a Muslim of a burden, Allah will relieve him of a burden from the burdens of the Day of Judgement and whoever covers (the faults of) a Muslim, Allah will cover (his faults) on the Day of Judgement.” This is a clear prohibition from the Prophet ﷺ against failing to support a fellow Muslim, as it contradicts true brotherhood.

3. Allah and His Messenger Disown the One Who Lets Down the People of Truth

Al-Hakim narrated from Ibn Abbas, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever supports an oppressor to invalidate a right with falsehood, then the protection of Allah and His Messenger does not apply to him.”

4. Punishment in This World for Letting Others Down

Al-Tabarani and al-Bayhaqi narrated from Jabir ibn Abdullah and Abu Talhah al-Ansari that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “No (Muslim) man will desert a man who is a Muslim in a place where his honour aspersed and his respect may be violated without Allah deserting him in a place here he wishes his help; and no (Muslim) man who will help a Muslim in a place where his honour may be aspersed and his respect violated without Allah helping him in a place where he wishes his help.”

And in al-Jami‘ al-Ṣaghir, from Ibn Mas‘ud, he said: “Whoever supports an oppressor, Allah will give him power over him.”

5. Severe Warning in the Hereafter

Ahmad narrated from Sahl ibn Ḥunayf, that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever witnesses a believer being humiliated in front of him and does not support him, while he is able to support him, Allah will humiliate him before the heads of creation [on the Day of Judgement].”

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