Rasulullah SA states:
“Completing an act of kindness is better than starting it”
Resolving to do good is a noble intention in and of itself. Yet, to truly have an everlasting impact, to bring about positive change, you need to see it through. Many of us are like a bottle of Coke; we get stirred into action and shaken into doing something, only to fizzle out if we leave things open and unfinished. Somehow a flat bottle of Coke just doesn’t have the same oomph as that first, delicious swig.
We’ve all been there; come New Year’s and we’re full of honourable intentions, and within a few weeks, what we started seems as though it didn’t even exist in the first place. It takes a certain dedication to see things through. That is the mark of commitment and that’s what it takes to make a difference to somebody else.
This hadeeth mubarak is the spirit of the ‘Fostership’ initiative of Moula. To just give money, or new clothes to a fellow mumin is easy enough; to take on responsibility of his material and spiritual welfare on an ongoing basis, is a far greater challenge but with far reaching effects and many more positive consequences.
Kindness is born out of a want and willingness to do for others – altruistically. If that is genuinely the case, then the nobility of that intention will naturally pull you through to the end. Kindness is not a one-act show; it is about a becoming, a transformation from the self-centred individual to someone who recognises that his life is intertwined with others. So completing an act of kindness is as much about making sure you make a difference to others as it is about completing your own self. That is why it is better to finish it than to begin it – you’re not only making a difference to others, but you too are becoming more than you were.