Many centuries ago prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said something that resonates even louder today. He said that even a smile is charity. Kindness starts with a simple smile. These days everyone of us have our own ever growing problems and I guess we have forgotten to smile towards our fellow human beings. How many of us pass by our neighbours and neglect to even look at them, forget giving them a smile. Young people wake up in the morning and the first thing they gravitate towards are their cell phones, heads down, completely lost in their universe, they forget to look at their families, smiling at them would be a far fetched reality.

We have to be conscious of the fact that we need to play our role in society. We have to make a conscious effort of being kind to others. A simple smile could make someone forget their problems, even if it is just for a brief moment.

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) exemplified kindness and compassion for us. He wasn't just kind to muslims but to all people. You must of heard the story of the lady who threw trash at our beloved Prophet whenever he passed her house. Can you imagine how we would react if someone threw anything on us let alone garbage? We would fly over the handles. And it would most probably be our right to do so. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) although not only didn't retaliate, he didn't even look at the lady with anger. He kept walking and didn't react negatively to this incident which, by the way, repeated over and over again; Until one day he walked passed the woman's house and this time, garbage was not thrown at him. If we were at that position, we would probably hoped that the old lady got what she deserved and died. Prophet Muhammad on the other hand started inquiring about the woman from her neighbours.

When he found out that the lady was sick, he went straight to her house, knocked at the door and when the woman opened the door, he gave her a warm smile and said; I heard you were sick today so I came by to ask if there is anything I could do to help. This was the character of this man, most of us don't care about some of our family members and don't make a simple phone call in ages to ask how they are doing. He went to wish well to a woman who repeatedly threw thrash at him. The woman embarrassed and humbled started crying and asked for forgiveness. She converted to Islam shortly after.

This is one of the many stories of our Prophet's kindness. He never once raised his voice, he never scolded anyone ever, even when they were at wrong. His companions said, he was the most smiling and joyful of the people. What he went through during his lifetime, we can't even imagine 1% of that happening to us.

• All his children died during his lifetime with the exception of one.
• He and his companions were persecuted.
• His family members were murdered.
• All his possessions were taken from him and he was boycotted.
• Bounties were offered for his assassination.
• All his enemies joined forces to fight him and drove him out of his homeland.
• And he faced countless other trials.

Despite all this, He always had his smile. He was kind and showed compassion to everyone. Be it poor or rich, young or old, muslim or non-muslim. He showed kindness to animals and instructed his followers to do the same.

What is our modern day problems compared to what our prophet went through? Yet we are more and more bitter as a society towards each other. Most of us go out of our way to make life difficult for others. Our hearts are darker and we don't realize that despite the problems, we have the obligation as muslims to be kind to each other, regardless of the fact that they are muslims or not.

May Allah grant us all understanding and help us walk in the path of our beloved prophet. Ameen.