or from the dealings that people have with one another and that they customarily regard as good. The ḥadith, “Every act of kindness is charity,” therefore embraces both categories: every deed by which you worship Allah is charity, just as has already been mentioned in a previous ḥadith: “Every utterance of subḥān Allāh is charity, every utterance of lā ilāha illā Allāh is charity, every utterance of al-ḥamdu lillāh is charity; commanding the right is charity, and forbidding the wrong is charity.”

As for the goodness that people recognize in their mutual dealings, it too is maʿrūf: beneficence toward others through wealth, through social influence, or by any other form of kindness. Included in this is greeting your brother with a smiling face instead of a frown, speaking to him gently, and bringing happiness to him. For this reason the scholars—may Allah have mercy on them—have said that when a person visits the sick, part of doing good is to cheer the patient and say, “You are in good health,” even if the reality is otherwise and the illness severe. One says it with the intention that, compared to someone worse off, the patient is indeed in a better state, because bringing joy to the sick is a cause of recovery. You will notice that when someone has an ordinary, minor illness and another person tells him, “This is something light and harmless,” he is gladdened, forgets the illness, and that very forgetfulness contributes to his cure, whereas fixing one’s heart on the sickness only prolongs it. Let me illustrate: a man with a wound may become absorbed in something else and feel no pain, but once he is free of distractions he remembers the wound and it starts to hurt. Consider, for instance, the porters who load goods onto trucks—