Help One Another in Righteousness and Piety

أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم 

 Al-Maidah 5:2

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا لَا تُحِلُّوا شَعَٰٓئِرَ ٱللَّهِ وَلَا ٱلشَّهْرَ ٱلْحَرَامَ وَلَا ٱلْهَدْىَ وَلَا ٱلْقَلَٰٓئِدَ وَلَآ ءَآمِّينَ ٱلْبَيْتَ ٱلْحَرَامَ يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَرِضْوَٰنًاۚ وَإِذَا حَلَلْتُمْ فَٱصْطَادُواۚ وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَئَانُ قَوْمٍ أَن صَدُّوكُمْ عَنِ ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْحَرَامِ أَن تَعْتَدُواۘ وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى ٱلْبِرِّ وَٱلتَّقْوَىٰۖ وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى ٱلْإِثْمِ وَٱلْعُدْوَٰنِۚ وَٱتَّقُوا ٱللَّهَۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ شَدِيدُ ٱلْعِقَابِ 

O you who have believed, do not violate the rites of Allah or [the sanctity of] the sacred month or [neglect the marking of] the sacrificial animals and garlanding [them] or [violate the safety of] those coming to the Sacred House seeking bounty from their Lord and [His] approval. But when you come out of ihram, then [you may] hunt. And do not let the hatred of a people for having obstructed you from al-Masjid al-Haram lead you to transgress. And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression. And fear Allah ; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty.

_______from Tafsir ibn kathir____

 Allah commands His believing servants to help one another perform righteous, good deeds, which is the meaning of `Al-Birr`, and to avoid sins, which is the meaning of `At-Taqwa`.

Allah forbids His servants from helping one another in sin, Ithm; and committing the prohibitions.

Ibn Jarir said that,

"Ithm means abandoning what Allah has ordained, while transgression means overstepping the limits that Allah set in your religion, along with overstepping what Allah has ordered concerning yourselves and others."

Imam Ahmad recorded that Anas bin Malik said that the Messenger of Allah said,

انْصُرْ أَخَاكَ ظَالِمًا أَوْ مَظْلُومًا 

Support your brother whether he was unjust or the victim of injustice.

He was asked, "O Messenger of Allah! We know about helping him when he suffers injustice, so what about helping him when he commits injustice?"

He said,

تَحْجُزُهُ وَتَمْنَعُهُ مِنَ الظُّلْمِ فَذَاكَ نَصْرُه 

Prevent and stop him from committing injustice, and this represents giving support to him.

Al-Bukhari recorded this Hadith through 

Hushaym.

Ahmad recorded that one of the Companions of the Prophet narrated the Hadith,

الْمُوْمِنُ الَّذِي يُخَالِطُ النَّاسَ وَيَصْبِرُ عَلَى أَذَاهُمْ أَعْظَمُ أَجْرًا مِنَ الَّذِي لَا يُخَالِطُ النَّاسَ وَلَا يَصْبِرُ عَلى أَذَاهُم

The believer who mingles with people and is patient with their annoyance, earns more reward than the believer who does not mingle with people and does not observe patience with their annoyance.

________My reflections here______ 

This ayah reminds me to help each other in righteousnous and piety and not to cooperate in sin and aggression. But I am noticing we as Muslims don't cooperate in righteousness and piety while we are told not to cooperate in sin and aggression. Every Muslim organization (school, mosque, charity organisation) big or small starts up with great plans and sooner or later gets divided. Because we Muslims start to believe that we are the best and that creates the disputes among the people in the group. Satan also plays a very important role in creating ill feelings in hearts of Muslims for other Muslims. Family structures are getting affected as well because we have stopped to cooperate on righteousness and piety. Why? Because we are thinking every other person is committing sin. The reason that comes to my mind is because we stopped fearing Allah. And that's what Allah reminded us here. واتقوا الله

How can we know what is actually a sin until we fear Allah? I might actually be committing sins myselves without realizing. To me ruining the honor a muslim brother or a sister is a sin. To me belittling someone is a sin.I don't know when that Muslim brother or sister whose honor i am ruining unjustly become the most beloved to my Lord and just by ruining his or her honor I might become most disliked by my Lord. May Allah save us all from that. Ameen.

Sins are mentioned in Quran. Scholars have compiled books to describe major sins. And yet muslim have a hard time cooperating with people who are not committing major sins. 

May Allah increase our taqwa. Ameen. May Allah help us differentiate between sins and righteousness and piety. Ameen and May Allah help us cooperate in righteousness and piety. And May Allah save us in cooperating in sins and aggression.