(Content based on the lecture of Maulana Raza Abidi: https://www.youtube.com/live/-rZCMDvWIew?si=Dbtn-eBhL122Grvv)
A balanced Islamic community is not formed by accident. It is built through faith, discipline, concern for others, and a shared commitment to truth. It is also preserved through constant effort, because every society is vulnerable to illness: apathy, division, suspicion, selfishness, and the quiet habit of turning inward. Maulana Abidi reminds us that these illnesses must be cured one by one, before they become normal and begin to define the culture of the community. When harmful patterns become accepted as ordinary, society begins to hollow out from within. A community may still exist in name, but its spirit will be gone.
This is why the Islamic view of society is so demanding and so beautiful at the same time. It does not allow believers to treat one another as isolated individuals who happen to live beside each other. It expects them to stand by each other, to know one another’s needs, to protect one another’s dignity, and to expand their circles beyond the comfort of a small inner group. Dr. Mohammad Ali Shomali’s articles on community building make the same point from another angle: a true Islamic community is marked by righteousness, moderation, justice, rationality, knowledge, charity, environmental care, security, hospitality, forgiveness, patience, and fairness. These are not separate themes; together they form the architecture of a wholesome Ummah.1
The Community Must Be Alive
One of the first lessons in Maulana Abidi’s lecture is that a growing community can either become more alive or more fragile. In Mecca, the Muslim community was small, and in Medina it grew into the thousands. But its expansion did not mean that Prophet Muḥammad (ṣ) withdrew into a narrow circle. On the contrary, he moved among the mosques, met different groups, and nurtured faith (imān) across the whole society. That is the model: growth should produce greater engagement, not greater isolation.
The danger comes when growth is followed by fragmentation. People begin to spend all their time only with “their group,” eating together, sitting together, visiting together, and speaking only to each other. The result is not community strength but social shrinkage. A person who no longer sees the broader society becomes trapped in a limited world, and that limited world easily turns toxic. Once a group becomes self-contained, it begins to care more about its own preferences than about the health of the Ummah.
Dr. Shomali’s reflections help explain why this is so serious. He emphasizes that a Muslim community must be open to goodness, rational in judgment, and committed to justice. If the community turns inward and becomes closed-minded, it loses the ability to serve others. And if it stops serving others, it stops being the “best nation” in the Qurʾānic sense — not a nation that demands service, but one that is best able to benefit humankind.2
Balance as a Moral Principle
Balance is one of the clearest signs of a healthy Islamic society. In Dr. Shomali’s notes, Imām ʿAlī’s description of the Prophet (ṣ) as one who guided people toward righteousness and ordered them to be moderate, shows that moderation is not a side virtue; it is central to the prophetic way. The Noble Qurʾān also points to this balance in many forms: balance in charity, balance in speech, balance in worldly life and the Hereafter, and balance in the way one relates to one’s responsibilities. The balanced believer does not worship the world, but neither does he despise it. He prepares for the Hereafter while living responsibly in this one.
In Nahj al Balāghah, Imām ʿAlī (ʿa) talks about Prophet Muḥammad (ṣ), saying, “So he threw open the Truth, gave advice to the people, guided them towards righteousness, and ordered them to be moderate.”3
This idea is especially important today, because many communities fail by becoming extreme in one direction or another. Some become rigid, suspicious, and closed to new beneficial ideas. Others become so open that they lose moral clarity and cannot distinguish between what helps the community and what harms it. A balanced Islamic community refuses both extremes. It is open to what is good, whether it comes from friends or strangers, believers or non-believers, but it does not surrender its moral judgment.
Maulana Abidi’s lecture makes the same point in practical form. The community becomes unhealthy when people stay only with those who resemble them and never come out of their small circles. Balance, then, is not just a personal trait. It is a communal discipline. It means widening one’s concern, refusing elitism, and learning to live for the whole society rather than for a private cluster of friends.
Brotherhood Beyond Familiarity
One of the most powerful ideas in the lecture is Prophet Muḥammad’s pact of brotherhood with strangers. That detail matters because it shows that Islamic brotherhood is not built on convenience, familiarity, or social comfort. It is built on faith, purpose, and divine love.
Imām aṣ-Ṣādiq (ʿa) said: “[…] If someone sees a believing brother and shakes hands with him, sins are wiped off from their faces as dry leaves fall off a tree due to wind, till they (the believers) separate from one another.” 4
Maulana Abidi says the love of Imām Ḥusayn (ʿa) should be the bond that unites people. If that love truly gathers hearts, then no social barrier is greater than it.
This has direct consequences for how communities treat the shy, the introverted, and those with few friends. A society that only values the socially active will eventually silence or suppress those who are quieter, less visible, or less confident. That is not a minor flaw. It is a loss to the entire community, because Islam does not build a society around charisma alone. It builds a society where every believer has value.
In the Noble Qurʾān, Allah (swt) says, “Hold fast, all together, to Allah’s cord and do not be divided (into sects). And remember Allah’s blessing upon you when you were enemies, then He brought your hearts together, so you became brothers with His blessing. And you were on the brink of a pit of Fire, whereat He saved you from it. Thus does Allah clarify His signs for you so that you may be guided.”5
Dr. Shomali’s notes reinforce this by emphasizing security, mercy, and good assumptions about others. A community that is healthy is one in which people are not afraid of one another’s tongues or hands. They do not damage reputations. They do not thrive on suspicion. Instead, they create a climate where people are safe enough to belong and honest enough to grow. Brotherhood, in this sense, is not emotional only; it is structural. It is a way of organizing the community so that no one is left out by default.6
Caring for the Vulnerable
Prophet Muḥammad (ṣ) has said, “Any Muslim who visits a sick believer will be absorbed in mercy. When he sits with him (the sick believer), mercy will submerge him; and when he returns, he will be accompanied by seventy thousand angels until he enters his house, every one of them saying, ‘Rejoice and enjoy Paradise.’ 7
The repeated emphasis on visiting the sick in Islamic teachings is not accidental. Maulana Abidi asks a simple but profound question: why is there so much reward in visiting believers who are ill, even those who are not close friends or relatives? The answer is that such acts make the whole community strong. The sick person is not simply being comforted; the whole society is being trained to notice pain, respond to weakness, and carry each other’s burdens.
This is one of the clearest characteristics of a balanced community. It does not wait for a crisis before it begins to care. It watches for signs of struggle early. It asks people how they are doing, not as a formality but as a real invitation to speak. It does not say, “If they wanted help, they would have asked.” It goes and asks. That kind of proactive mercy is what prevents isolation from becoming a tragedy.
Dr. Shomali’s article deepens this point with a broader moral framework. Charity in Islam is not meant to be marginal. It is part of the normal life of believers and communities. In an Islamic society, there should be a fixed share for the deprived, and charitable action should be woven into the communal fabric. This means that the community does not only admire generosity; it structures itself around it. A balanced Islamic community sees the poor, the lonely, the ill, and the vulnerable as part of its own body.
Allah (swt) emphasizes this in the Noble Qurʾān, “Those who, if We granted them power in the land, maintain the prayer, give the alms, and bid what is right and forbid what is wrong. And with Allah rests the outcome of all matters.”8
Truth, Justice, and Moral Clarity
A community cannot be balanced if it is not truthful. Dr. Shomali repeatedly emphasizes that an Islamic society must be concerned with truth and justice. The Noble Qurʾān describes communities that are guided by truth and justice, “Among those We have created are a nation who guide by the truth and act justly thereby.” 9 This is not a decorative moral label. It means that the community’s speech, judgments, relationships, and public life must all be shaped by honesty and fairness.
Maulana Abidi’s lecture gives this truth a relational dimension. He warns that if a community becomes too selective, too narrow, or too loyal to its own inner circle, it will suppress others and create harm. Truth is not only about saying correct words; it is also about refusing to exclude people unjustly. The measure of a healthy community is not whether it protects its own image, but whether it protects moral truth.
This is why enjoining good and forbidding wrong is so important in Dr. Shomali’s article. The Noble Qurʾān describes the Muslim Ummah as the best nation not because it dominates others, but because it is best able to serve and benefit others by encouraging good and discouraging evil. That is a high and demanding standard. It means the community must be morally awake, not indifferent. It must be willing to advise, to guide, and to correct — always with sincerity and justice.10
Knowledge, Rationality, and Growth
Another sign of a balanced Islamic community is that it loves knowledge. Shomali stresses that a community will die without knowledge, and that learning and new scientific discovery are like fresh oxygen for society. This is one of the most important insights in the entire discussion, because it reminds us that community building is not only about emotional unity or social rituals. It is also about intellectual vitality.
“Are those who know equal to those who do not know?”11
A healthy Islamic society is rational. It does not blindly follow customs simply because they are old. It does not shut its eyes to evidence or reason. It learns from the Noble Qurʾān, Sunnah, and sound reasoning, and it seeks useful knowledge wherever it is found. Historically, Muslim civilization grew precisely because it valued learning, translated knowledge, and developed sciences for the benefit of the wider world.
This has a direct implication for youth. Young people should not be raised to think that their role in the community is limited to attendance and habit. They should be encouraged to learn, question responsibly, develop skills, and contribute intellectually. A community with engaged youth is a community with future oxygen. Without knowledge, youth drift; with knowledge, they become builders.
Justice in Daily Life
Justice is not only a principle for courts and scholars. It is a daily social practice. A balanced Islamic community is just in family life, public life, and private conduct. Dr. Shomali mentions that families must be strong, promises must be kept, and believers should not damage one another’s reputations. All of these are expressions of justice, because justice begins in the way people treat the people closest to them.12
Maulana Abidi’s lecture also points to this everyday justice when he says people should not wait for others to reveal their struggles. One should go and ask, go and check, go and care. The point is not to be intrusive; the point is to refuse negligence. In a just community, no one is invisible simply because they are quiet. No one is forgotten simply because they are not part of the dominant group.
Justice also means wanting for others what we want for ourselves. Shomali’s notes capture this through the Golden Rule: we should desire for others the good we desire for ourselves. A balanced Islamic community does not become jealous when others succeed. It does not defend privilege for a few and hardship for the many. It seeks contentment, comfort, and moral progress for all members.13
Forgiveness, Patience, and Hope
No community is free from conflict. But a balanced Islamic community does not become defined by endless blame. It prefers pardon, mercy, and patience unless there is a serious and persistent violation of rights. Dr. Shomali’s research encourages believers to think optimistically about others, avoid suspicion, and interpret things with generosity before assuming bad intent. That kind of social patience is a major part of community health.14
Youth especially need this lesson because young communities can sometimes be the most reactive. Small misunderstandings can become major divisions when pride is high and humility is low. But if youth learn to be patient, to forgive, and to give others excuses before accusations, they become peacemakers rather than amplifiers of conflict.
Maulana Abidi’s warning about toxicity in small groups is relevant here too. Toxicity grows when people do not correct themselves, do not broaden their view, and do not learn mercy. Forgiveness and patience are not signs of weakness. They are signs that the community values the whole Ummah more than personal resentment.
Conclusion
A balanced Islamic community is one that is united, truthful, just, knowledgeable, charitable, forgiving, and alive with concern for others. It is not built by slogans alone, nor maintained by a few visible people while the rest remain passive. It survives when believers stand by one another, expand their circles, care for the vulnerable, and remain morally awake. Maulana Abidi’s lecture and Dr. Mohammad Ali Shomali’s research on balanced Islamic communities together show that this is not an abstract ideal — it is the practical form of Islamic life.
Youth have a decisive role in making such a community real. They can either reinforce isolation or open doors. They can either deepen cliques or widen brotherhood. They can either become part of the problem or part of the cure. When youth learn to greet the newcomer, support the lonely, seek knowledge, defend dignity, and serve the Ummah with sincerity, they help build a society that is strong without being harsh, open without being careless, and faithful without being narrow. That is the kind of community Islam calls us to create.
Sources:
- Community Building in Islam., Part 2, M.A. Shomali., https://al-islam.org/message-thaqalayn/vol-16-no-3-autumn-2015/community-building-islam-part-2-shomali/community-building ↩︎
- ibid. ↩︎
- Nahj al Balāghah, Sermon #195 *(according to some editions, it may be Sermon #194) ↩︎
- [Thawāb al-Aʿmāl wa ʿIqāb al-Aʿmāl, Vol. 1, Ḥadīth #719] ↩︎
- Noble Qurʾān, Sūrah Āl ʿImrān (3), Verse 103. ↩︎
- Community Building in Islam., Part 2, M.A. Shomali., https://al-islam.org/message-thaqalayn/vol-16-no-3-autumn-2015/community-building-islam-part-2-shomali/community-building ↩︎
- [Kitāb al-Muʾmīn, Vol. 1, Section 6, Ḥadīth #154] ↩︎
- Noble Qurʾān, Sūrah al-Ḥajj (22), Verse 41. ↩︎
- Noble Qurʾān, Sūrah al-Aʿrāf (7), Verse 181.
↩︎ - Community Building in Islam., Part 2, M.A. Shomali., https://al-islam.org/message-thaqalayn/vol-16-no-3-autumn-2015/community-building-islam-part-2-shomali/community-building ↩︎
- Noble Qurʾān, Sūrah az-Zumar (39) Verse 9. ↩︎
- Community Building in Islam., Part 2, M.A. Shomali., https://al-islam.org/message-thaqalayn/vol-16-no-3-autumn-2015/community-building-islam-part-2-shomali/community-building ↩︎
- ibid. ↩︎
- ibid. ↩︎