Nu’man bin Bashir (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) said, “The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion and sympathy are just like one body. When one of the limbs suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever”. 

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

We have become desensitized in a world full of injustices. There is a tendency to focus only on one’s self and problems because of the overwhelming feeling that there are just too many things wrong in the world. There is another shooting, another attack, another famine, and the list goes on and on. If there is always another, then what is the point?

It would be so easy to just stop caring. However, such a thing goes against the Islamic tradition. Islam teaches that all believers are one body, and when one part of the body is hurting, then the entire body is hurting. So, when Muslims are put into internment camps in China or fall victim to genocide in Burma, Muslims around the world feel the pain. We cannot afford to be passive because that means we are letting our own body, our sisters and brothers in faith, suffer. As Desmond Tutu once said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” We should not and cannot stand by. 

Yes, the burn out from social justice activism is real. It is draining to care about every single injustice out there, to rant about everything wrong, to have conversations with people, to go to protests, and more. It is okay, you do not have to be a champion for every single injustice out there. However, at the same time, you cannot withdraw completely. You cannot turn a blind eye for their suffering is also yours. Never let yourself ignore the injustices happening in your state, your nation, and the world. You owe it to your brothers and sisters facing injustices to at least acknowledge and educate yourselves and others of their struggles.