Every chapter of the Quran (except one) starts with the words “Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Raheem”. These beautiful words mean “In the name of Allah, the Most Kind, the Most Merciful.” But what do kindness and mercy really mean and how can we also be more kind and merciful?

Kindness – A gift for others and to ourselves

Kindness is showing care and love to others. It can be as simple as smiling at someone, helping your friends, or sharing your lunch with someone who doesn’t have a meal. Allah’s kindness is everywhere—He gives us air to breathe, the sun to keep us warm, and opportunities to improve ourselves. When we are kind, we spread goodness just like Allah has given us so much goodness in our lives.

Mercy – Giving second chances

Mercy is forgiving people when they make mistakes. Think about a time when someone upset you and you didn’t shout at them – instead of getting angry, you forgave them. That’s mercy! Allah is the Most Merciful—no matter how many mistakes we make, Allah is always ready to accept our apologies and promises to do better.

Living with Kindness and Mercy

By saying “Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Raheem”, we remind ourselves to be kind and merciful, because we know that Allah has told us that it’s important to be kind and merciful. Whether you are 10 or 100, kindness and mercy make the world a better place. So let’s start today—be kind, forgive easily, and spread love wherever you go!

Starting with yourself

How can we be kind and merciful towards others? The first thing to do is to check how kind and merciful you are towards yourself. Do you allow yourself to make mistakes? Do you forgive yourself when you can’t do a task or when you fail at something? If you aren’t kind to yourself, you’ll find to be kind to others.

This works for other people too – usually people who are unkind towards others are also unkind to themselves and they’ve also been treated badly by others. It’s not our responsibility to fix other people, but we can be ready to forgive them when they make a full effort to change.

Protecting ourselves

Being kind and merciful doesn’t mean that we should allow others to treat us badly. Allah doesn’t like people who are unkind or unfair. We can forgive others and be kind without allowing them to hurt us.