Cooperation in Islam: A Norm for Building Society
Islamic brotherhood is another foundation of social cooperation and providing for the needy and the deprived in Islam, which is also mentioned in the Quran and Hadiths. The Holy Quran states: “Indeed, the believers are but brothers” (Verse 10 of Surah Al-Hujurat).
Islam has made Muslims brothers to each other in order to transform conflicting interests into common interests and empathy. Thus, since they are brothers, they must help each other.
Therefore, if there is a poor person in the society, a Muslim should not allow him to remain hungry and homeless while he has the necessary means to meet his and their needs.
The Holy Prophet (PBUH) said in a Hadith: “The example of believers in their bond, friendship, love and mercy towards each other (and caring about each other’s fate) is like a living body; if one part of it suffers, the other parts of the body also suffer with it.”
Basically, to ensure their happiness in life and achieve perfection, humans have needs that they cannot fulfill alone, so they must form a society and help each other. Hence, the basis of a society is cooperation, collaboration, and the exchange of benefits.
It has even been said that forming a community and cooperating is innate to humans. The differences between individuals in a community in terms of physical, economic, social, cultural, and other abilities also require that they help each other in various aspects of life.
Therefore, the Islamic school of thought has considered cooperation as one of the necessities of normative thinking and, by emphasizing the benevolence and haste in cooperation and mutual assistance of believers, has warned them against any cooperation in evils that would fuel inequality and social injustice.
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According to Islamic traditions, Muslims have rights and duties towards each other, one of which is Muwasat (compassion, helping, sharing) in wealth. One of the cases of Muwasat is when there is a shortage of goods in the market, and a person shares with others the goods in excess of his needs.
The servant of Imam Sadiq (AS) says: “The Imam (AS) said to me: The prices of [goods] in Medina have become expensive. How much food do we have? I said: Enough for several months. He said: Take it out and sell it. After I sold it, he said: ‘Buy [food for us] daily in line with the people... and make my family’s food half barley and half wheat. Indeed, God knows that I am capable of providing wheat for them, but I would like God to see me measuring life correctly.’”
