Overcoming Compassion Fatigue, Numbness, and Burnout
By Omar Suleiman | 2026-01-06T17:36:48.064985+00:00 | Topic: Purification
Overcoming Compassion Fatigue, Numbness, and Burnout
By Sheikh Omar Suleiman
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters, we begin with our praise of Allah. And we bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for Him. We bear witness that Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is His final messenger.
We ask Allah to send His peace and blessings upon Him, the prophets and messengers that came before Him, His family and companions that served alongside of Him, and those that follow in their blessed path until the Day of Judgment. And we ask Allah to make us amongst them. اللهم آمين.
The Problem of Modern Self-Care
Dear brothers and sisters, often when you hear terms like self-care and self-help and emotional burnout, they sound very much so like they come out of a self-help book or a five-week program online for $39.99 that'll change your life forever. And if you just start doing this or telling yourself this, then everything is going to change. And it's a growing genre for people to suggest ways out, programs to quickly shift our lives, and to get us on a path of happiness and fulfillment because this generation is suffering from loneliness, depression, at rates that are not only alarming but unprecedented.
Suicide rates, isolation, all of these different things that are growing in our time, and a lot of people try to deal with that by going to Google and searching for something to quickly get them on the right path. And it's about how do I make myself feel better, and then this notion of self-care. And sometimes self- care means, it's really just a nice way of saying that I've given too much of myself to everybody else, now I'm just going to do me.
The Secular Approach to Self-Care
And so it's going to be a radical shift of perspective. And the way that I live my life now, I've cared too much about everybody else, and no one else has reciprocated. I gave too much to life, and life did not give back to me. I gave too much to my friends, but they never gave back to me that way. You know what? In my marriage, I've been the one that's been doing this, this, this, and that. And that person has not, my spouse has not reciprocated, so forget about it.
I'm just going to do this from now on. So self-care, when people start searching for self-care, usually it's to turn a page after burnout. And because they feel like they've given too much of themselves, and now they want to turn that page.
And so, I wanted to start this khutbah off with that, because this is a different type of self-care that we're going to talk about today (إِنْ شَاءَ اللهُ). We're going to talk about it from the capacity of the sunnah. Particularly in regards to emotional burnout, compassion fatigue, and being completely overwhelmed by everything that is happening around you, to a point that you feel like you have nothing more to spend, emotionally.
The Overwhelm of Global Suffering
Kashmir happens, and it's horrible. But I just got finished watching a report on Palestine the same day, Yemen the same day, and we have things happening in our border. Do I even have time to think about the kids that are coming up from Guatemala and El Salvador and Honduras that are getting put in cages and treated worse than animals just a few miles away from me? How do I even start to think about these people? I only have such a capacity when I'm thinking about the world's problems.
How do I even direct that capacity? And at some point, do I just burn out? I'm no longer able to cry anymore. You know, seeing images desensitizes us. We see so many of them, but at the same time, ignoring them is not the solution.
Saying, I'm not going to look at them anymore because they depress me. I'm going to stop reading the news because it depresses me. You know, that has a certain amount of privilege to it that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) did not afford to us.
They just say, you know, I'm going to turn my back on it because I need to feel better. I don't feel good right now. I need to enjoy my life, and these images are not helping me enjoy my life. And so I need to turn my back on it.
The Prophet's Extraordinary Capacity
So the idea is, how do I build capacity like the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) to where I could be exposed to so much, and still have much to give to all of that, or something to give to all of that, without depleting myself to where I am ineffective as a constructive person in society, and also find myself in a place where I no longer can make any significant strides in my own individual journey to Allah (جل جلاله) and in trying to find the best of the hereafter, and the best of this life in pursuit of the hereafter as well.
The Temptation to Dismiss the Prophet's Example
And so you start off with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and there is this incredible ability of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) when you look at him, and there are so many times that you read about the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and you could actually just come away saying, well, he's a Prophet.
He was a Prophet. He's the Prophet. The only answer is that, you know what, I can't do all that. I can't serve the ummah day and night, and then come home and still repair my shoes, (وَأَنَا فِي خِدْمَةِ أَهْلِي)
(Bukhari 676)
The way the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was described, in the service of his household when he came home.
Can't do all that. I can't be Superman outside the house, and be Superman inside the house. I can't give this to this person, and that to that person. He's just the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). How amazing. Therefore, there's no need for me to even strive, because that's just him.
He's just Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم). And it's an enormous capacity.
The Prophet's Incredible Compassion Despite Personal Loss
How is it that a man (صلى الله عليه وسلم) could still have the capacity to care for a bird complaining about its nest, when he suffered so much human loss in his own life? How do you even have that potential? How do you have that capacity to think about a camel being overburdened, or a bird complaining, or a cat complaining, or the animals and all of the rights of these other things, when you've suffered such human loss in your life? How did that not diminish you? To where you couldn't think about those things anymore, but the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) still could
How do you cry for others, and still smile at them, despite having buried six of your seven children? That's an enormous catastrophe. And having lost everybody in your life that supported you at some point, how do you still smile all the time? How do you still cry for other people's pain, and not diminish their pain, because your pain is so much greater than their pain?
In our situation, we see the catastrophic nature of the world around us. We're not going through what they're going through. Our struggles are relatively minor, miniscule, compared to the types of horrible things we're constantly seeing all over the place.
So how does the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) being on the other side of that, a man who has gone through so much human loss, still have something to give, not just to other human beings, but to everything around him as well?
The Prophet's Prayer as Healthy Escape
How does the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) there's a different level of capacity too. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)'s escape was prayer, and sometimes there's an unhealthy escape that can take place. But the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)'s escape in prayer was not one that made him ignorant of everything else around him.
No one loved his prayer more than the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), right? No one, no human being could say they had more khushu', more focus, more humility and awe of Allah in their prayer. But guess what? When he was leading salah, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, I heard a baby crying in the back. And I wasn't too busy in my al-baqarah, al-imran, and al-nisaa to hear that baby.
He heard the baby, and the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said I sped up my prayer out of feeling for the mother that was probably stressed out over the baby. Not the musalleen that want to pounce on the mother of the baby and beat up the father and look around, where is he at, because the baby was crying in salah. No, he felt sad for the mother, who was probably more stressed about her baby.
How do you have that capacity? You're in khushu', no one enjoys his salah. (جُعِلَتْ قُرَّةُ عَيْنِي فِي الصَّلاة) (Nasa'i 3940) The coolness of his eyes with his prayer, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, with the prayer. Prayer was his moment (عليه الصلاة والسلام) but he still hears it, and it impacted him.
So it wasn't an escape that made him ignorant of the world around him, but it was different. He had capacity for this, and capacity for that.
The Prophet's Love for the Unseen Believers
How does the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) have the capacity to not just love his companions that were around him, but (هُمْ إِخْوَانِي، هُمْ أَحْبَابِي) They're my brothers, they're my beloved ones.
Who are they, O Messenger of Allah? (الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِي وَلَمْ يَرَوْنِي) (Muslim 249) Those who believe in me and they've never even seen me, us. How do you even have capacity to love us, when you've got so much around you? But the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) actively connecting himself to people that he would never see. People that he would never know their names or their stories, but still the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) felt a deep connection to them.
So that's an enormous capacity. And the answer is that yes, he is a Prophet. He's not just any Prophet.
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) Allah describes him as the following, we have not sent you except as a mercy to the worlds. Not even just a mercy to mankind. Not للمسلمين not a mercy to the Muslims. A mercy to all human beings. A mercy to all the animals. A mercy to the environment.
The Islamic Framework for Self-Care
The Prophet as Our Example
A mercy to his past in reviving the best of it, and correcting the misdeeds before. To his presence in reforming his world to the future, and leaving behind guidance that is as pristine and clear as night and day, that we can implement real life examples to better our world as well. To the future and the akhirah with his shafa'ah, with his intercession.
He is رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ . So he's a mercy to all the worlds. Now here's the thing.
He was sent as a mercy to the worlds, but he was also sent as أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ (Quran 33:21) As a great example for you. For you to adapt whatever you can.
And so if the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is described as a mercy to the worlds, the closer we become to resembling a رحمة mercy, to everything and everyone around us, the closer we become to that status and to exemplifying the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in our own lives. The more we resemble رَحْمَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ that idea of being a mercy to the worlds, the closer we get to his example (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and to fulfilling our own human potential.
The Prophet's Balance as Our Guide
So yes, he had incredible capacity (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Something that we could not attain in our own lifetimes. But he did leave behind something for us to try to implement, and that is that the Prophet صلی الله عليه وسلم despite exceeding in every single sphere of life, still left behind remarkably an example of balance.
You could take work-life-worship balance from the life of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). You could take society-family lessons and balance from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). He still left behind a sunnah of moderation too. Because there's still a baseline in every one of those spheres of the Prophet's (صلى الله عليه وسلم) life that we can take from.
The Problem of Burnout
Now again, I wanna focus today on this concept of self-care. How do you build that capacity to be able to give so much to everything and everyone around you? Where do you even get to that point? And how do you not suffer from what so many people do, which is this level of just burnout where they completely shut off. I don't want anything to do with anybody because you know what? I've paid my dues.
I'm retiring from da'wah. I'm retiring from the masjid. I'm retiring from khidmah. Somebody else take over this stuff. I don't want anything to do with this stuff anymore. I'm done.
I'm retiring from trying to be super husband. I'm retiring from trying to be a good dad. Retiring from trying to be a good friend. I'm sick of it all. Forget about it. It's the world's turn to repay me and to do good by me. I've done enough good for the world around me.
So how do I actually start to get that? Now, first and foremost, let's look at the framing. Because sometimes you've got to start from the beginning, from the asr.
The Difference Between Islamic and Secular Self-Care
The Problem with Hyper-Individualism
The framing of why this is important in the first place. Because it is dramatically different in the Islamic conception than it is in our secular conception today. In an era of hyper individualism, everything is done, everything that you do is so that you can make yourself a happier person.
Meaning you engage acts of charity not to the extent that that charity is needed to support someone else's cause or to get some other cause over the hump. You do enough acts of charity to where you feel good about yourself being a charitable person. You don't engage acts of prayer or devotion or service to where they're required of you or obligatory upon you.
You do them to the extent that they can fit into this perfect puzzle to make you the most fulfilled and happy person. It's still greed. It just has nicer aesthetics. It's still self-serving. It's just serving the self in a different way. Using others to serve self. Not using self to serve others.
The Islamic Foundation
That's not the Islamic conception of it all. I don't have to tell you that fajr is going to make you happier in the day for you to do it. It's obligatory upon you. Zakah is obligatory upon you. These things are mandatory.
Sadaqah, basic courtesies. These are things that Allah has made obligatory upon you. And it starts from that place.
And yes, from the mercy of Allah is that good deeds make you feel good too. They bring about more fulfillment and goodness in life. But you gotta start from that place. Not from the place, I'm gonna engage spirituality and religion only to the extent that I feel better about myself. It's not how it works.
The Problem with Performative Activism
That's why activism becomes very performative. Let me go take place in this protest and catch a selfie in the protest and say, Yeah, I freed Kashmir. Kashmir is still under occupation. What's your next step? But I feel good about myself because I went and shouted a bunch of slogans about Kashmir.
Alhamdulillah brother. Good for you. I'm glad you went to the protest. Are you making dua for them at night? Are you trying to think about avenues of way to actually rectify the situation? So it's you engage things just to the extent that I feel good. I press share. I am woke on social media.
Well, wait a minute. Start from here. The Islamic conception is actually the opposite.
The Islamic Goal
It's how do I become the most able (عَبْد - ‘abd) to Allah and the most beneficial (خَادِم - khadim) to the people. How do I become the most able slave to Allah? Worshipper of Allah? How do I become the most obedient worshipper? The most complete worshipper to Allah and also the most beneficial servant to the people. How do I fulfill self to a point that I can get to a point where I'm doing the best in those regards? See the difference? It literally is the complete opposite.
In the first conception you try to fit others into the pieces that fit yourself. In the second conception, you try to put yourself in the best place to work for something that's bigger than you. And that's the one that Allah and the Messenger (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam) call us to and it speaks to goal.
It speaks to goal. That you involve yourself in goodness not to the extent that it fulfills you but to the extent that it's needed and you try to get yourself to a place that you need to be to be able to do all of that good and to have that capacity to take on those things.
The Airplane Analogy
There's an example that they have in self-care now, talking about self-care about why you need to take care of yourself to be able to take care of others. It's often used. They talk about the airplane. If any of you have ever been on a plane and they announce the emergency procedures and protocols and you have not already fallen asleep or started to watch a movie or whatever it is they tell you that before you put your oxygen mask on your children put it on yourself first.
That's not because they want your children to die. That's not because they're telling you you're more important than your children. That's not the message here but they're not gonna explain the maqsad, the objective of that on a plane video.
What is that for? It's because if you don't put it on yourself first, in all likelihood you're not gonna get it on your child on time and so you won't be in a place that you're functioning enough to be able to save yourself or the child. And so you'll have a bunch of people acting frantic on the plane as opposed to actually trying to do what they need to do. Is this Islamic? Yes.
"O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, over which are [appointed] angels, harsh and severe; they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them but do what they are commanded."
Protect yourselves and your families from Jahannam. Protect your family, protect yourselves and your families. أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ Why does Allah mention yourself first? Because you cannot prescribe these things on your family and take care of family if you're not taking care of yourself.
The Spiritual Application
There's a spiritual level of this too by the way. You want your children to become huffadh but you're not even attempting to finish the Quran. What's the point? What are you doing for self so that you can do for your kids too? You gotta protect yourself and protect your children.
You gotta take the spiritual necessities for yourself and then embark that upon or impart that upon your children as well. Embark on that journey together. You can't do it for them if you're not doing it for yourself.
You cannot protect your spouse or involve your spouse or involve your children or involve your siblings or everyone else around you if you're not doing it for yourself. So Allah mentions a conception of this as
well.
"(Proverb) Faqidu ash-shay'i la yu'tihi"
That the one who does not have something cannot give it. If you don't have something you can't give it. Eventually you give, give, give and you're so depleted that you frustrate the people who now have expectations of you and you deplete yourself in the process to where you no longer have anything. And so you burn out and they burn out too.
And it's a bad situation for everybody.
The Financial Analogy
Same thing with sadaqah, right? You can't give to a point that you ruin yourself. Allah does not tell you to give charity and put yourself in debt. Allah tells you take care of your debts and give charity. Get yourself to a place of financial self-sufficiency and give charity as well. And your charity is proportional to that.
Because you've got to be in a place to where you can give to others. All of these things matter. They're all interconnected.
The Islamic Approach to Balance
Sleep as Worship
The Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam) mentions balance even in worship. In our deen you don't worship until you exhaust yourself or burn yourself out. And there's something very beautiful about this that the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam) taught us to see sleep as ibadah.
To see sleep as part of worship not just as an enabler of worship. To see sleep itself as a form of worship. Why? Because you're sleeping so you can do better in your wakefulness.
Mu'adh رضي الله عنه said:
(Bukhari 4342)
"I seek the reward for my sleep the same way that I seek the reward for my standing in prayer."
They're both for Allah. I'm sleeping to give myself the energy to do good at night. To stand up and to pray at night. I have that intention when I go into my sleep that this is to build my capacity to worship Allah. It's ibadah.
It's worship. It's sunnah, self-care.
Ibn al-Jawzi's Principle
And so how do you equate that then? If that's how you deal with your ibadah how do you then equate that to your other activities? So in worship, anything that you do to make yourself more able at worship is worship itself, right? So then cast that on everything else in life.
Al-Imam Ibn Al-Jawzi رحمه الله said that when you do something that is merely halal to enable you to do something that is mandub which is recommended. So when you engage in something that is merely permissible there's no haram in it. You do some form of action that is merely permissible so that you can be better at doing something that is good.
Or you can abstain from something that's forbidden. So you take up a halal habit or a halal pastime or a leisure or whatever it is to abstain from something that's forbidden or to get you to a place where you can do more good. Alright? So he said رحمه الله to do something merely halal for the sake of being able to do more of mandub becomes mandub in and of itself.
The Reward of Proper Self-Care
It becomes a rewardable act in and of itself. When I do self-care for the sake of being better at something else that act itself is rewardable in the sight of Allah. Because I made sure that it complied with halal with things that are good and permissible and lawful.
I didn't indulge in forbidden things so that I could get myself to a point where I've got more to give to people. Because if I'm not taking that time off to mentally refresh, emotionally refresh physically get my place to it so yes, your workouts are halal not necessarily all the Instagram videos of you working out but your workouts are halal getting to a place of where you're healthy why am I physically healthy, why am I mentally healthy, why am I emotionally trying to be healthy so I can give more to my family, so I can do more for the community, all of that in the capacity of being a better عبدall of that becomes sunnah all of that becomes rewardable in the sight of Allah with the right intention.
It's analogous to sleep and praying at night and notice Mu'adh did not distinguish between the qiyam and the sleep they are in the same category because Allah is not increased or decreased by the amount of your output Allah requires of you the best effort and when they're both in the capacity of the effort, they're both just as rewardable so taking your time out, allocating some time to work on yourself physically emotionally, mentally taking care of all of that to make you more able to build capacity that in and of itself becomes sunnah.
The Power of Gratitude
The Core Element of All Self-Care
The exercise of gratitude سبحان الله if you go to any one of these things on what's called compassion fatigue you burn out and they talk about people that lose the luster of life and they no longer can see
anything. All of them all of them include as a core element literally gratitude exercises what did Allah say in the Qur'an:
"(14:7 Quran) La'in shakartum la'azeedannakum"
if you are grateful I will increase you and Allah did not limit the capacity of what the increase is in so don't limit it yourself Allah did not say if you increase in gratitude Allah will increase you in faith Allah did not say if you increase in gratitude Allah will increase you in wealth or increase you in health Allah left it unlimited because the potential of it is unlimited the potential of what comes out of a person sitting with themself in a regular in a regularly prescribed time of the day or the week to think about what they're grateful for and to actually contemplate their blessings what comes out of that is unlimited in its capacity.
The Prophet's Secret
You could argue that's the Prophet's (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam) capacity, the secret of his capacity:
(Bukhari 4837)
"Afala akunu ‘abdan shakura"
Should I not be a grateful servant? I'm a grateful servant, I'm just trying to be grateful for all the things that Allah (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam) bestowed upon me, when you sit with yourself, I'm not talking about, you know, Alhamdulillah that quickly, no I'm talking about actually taking time out to sit with yourself at night and to say, you know, what am I grateful for? What are the things that I'm grateful for in my life? What are the things that I should thank Allah جل جلاله for
If you don't do that, you will be miserable always complaining, always unhappy always depleted, always diminished even if Allah gives you everything always going to be upset always going to be bitter so you increase your capacity with gratitude and Allah جل جلاله made that unlimited.
Celebrating Your Wins
The Islamic Approach to Achievement
When they talk about celebrating your wins, that as human beings we need to find that we're actually doing something meaningful, what did the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam) say?
(Muslim 2626)
"La tahqiranna minal-ma'roofi shai'a"
Don't belittle good deeds, he said:
(Tirmidhi 2515)
"In sarratka hasanatuka wa saa'atka sayyi'atuka fa anta mu'min"
If your good deeds make you happy and your bad deeds make you sad you're a believer, that means your heart is alive, if when you do something good you feel better, and when you do something bad you feel worse that means there's iman in your heart there's faith in your heart, that means your heart's alive
that's a good thing it's when you become prideful and boastful over your good deeds that it becomes problematic but we need to feel that as human beings.
The Danger of Diminishing Good Efforts
So when people look at every good effort and they diminish it how many times have you seen that people who diminish good efforts actually have an alternative good effort? How many times do naysayers provide an alternative? They don't they depress you and they depress themselves.
(Muslim 2623)
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said whoever says people have no hope, they've all perished, they're done he's the most worthless of them all you make everybody else worthless you make yourself worthless no, as people we need to feel like we're making strides so look at your wins look at your victories just don't become complacent with them or proud as a result of them.
Personal Boundaries
The Prophet's Example
When they talk about personal boundaries and this idea of protecting yourself the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he had that as well as giving of a person as the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was to the community around him when the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم entered his home that was it, it was just him it was just his family and that's why the people would call out to him from beyond the hujurat beyond his doors and ask him to come out and prod him to come out because once he was home he was home so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم knew how to set those boundaries in order to make those things most useful.
Extending Grace to Others
The Universal Need for Self-Care
And lastly dear brothers and sisters to come back to this this is not just a prescription for you this is a prescription for everybody around you as well too often we want that self-care and that space for ourselves to be able to build our emotional health and our compassion I need to get better, I need this time for myself but we don't afford the same things to our spouses they need that too they need that feeling of meaningfulness and that feeling of capacity and refreshment and all of that too.
The Example of Aisha and the Prophet
Brothers and sisters a beautiful narration of Aisha رضي الله عنها and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم where the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم asked Aisha permission to go pray qiyam ul-layl early in the night because he used to عليه الصلاة والسلام spend a dedicated time with her and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would sleep and then he'd wake up and pray but this time he told Aisha رضي الله عنها as soon as he hit the bed he said would you give me permission to go and spend some time with my Lord meaning I want to start my qiyam right away he asked permission عليه الصلاة والسلام and Aisha رضي الله عنها responded she said listen, I love your companionship but I love what makes you happy سبحان الله it makes you happy this is good for you, this is what's good this is what you need right now, I understand so she told the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to go ahead.
The Result of Mutual Support
And she said this was the most amazing thing I ever saw of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when she was asked, the most (عجب - 'ajab) thing, the most wondrous thing she ever said, she said his whole life was (عجب - 'ajab) was wondrous but this night, he stood up and he prayed the entire night reciting:
The long ayah in surah al-baqarah about contemplating on the heavens and the earth and he cried and cried and cried and cried, but look at the pretext to that, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم showed consideration, like look this is your time, and Aisha رضي الله عنها prioritized, said I know you need this, I know you need this.
Now brothers and sisters it would be good for us to need more qiyam in our lives but if your spouse is not having that time and having that moment, then it's going to be a depletion for them and depletion for you and depletion in the whole household, you've got to negotiate that with each other and show that consideration for each other.
Community Leaders Need Care Too
Your leaders and والله I'm not talking about myself alright why do we beat up our imams and not give them that time that they need for themselves they have families too, your volunteers at your masajid that get abused, they need their spiritual time as well, your volunteers in your organizations you need to give people that chance to be able to grow and that's to the benefit of the community because everyone has to have that capacity.
Conclusion
So we ask Allah to make us more complete as (عباد - 'ibad) of him as slaves and worshippers of him and more complete as (خدام - khuddam) as servants to his creation, we ask Allah to accept it all and to protect us from burnout and to protect us from isolation and to allow the best of our deeds to be reserved for the last of our days and the best of our days to be the day that we meet him with those deeds qualified for his mercy اللهم آمین