Good Deeds and their Impact on the heart
By Sh. Ibrahim
May 1, 2009
Some may wonder about the lethargy which occurs to them at the time of their ‘ibadah (worship) and while doing good deeds, they may feel enthusiastic when doing the mundane worldly errands. It could be that they may feel pleasure, or gain immediate reward from doing the worldly things and not feel the same when they are doing their duties towards Allah and Islam. If that is the case, then it is a sign of the weakness of iman. If one fails to continually check his heart and his state of iman, his heart may fall into temptation and his iman may weaken. What is the remedy to this condition and what is the correlation between iman and your heart is what I intend to speak about in this khutbah inshaAllah.
The Messenger of Allah said, “Iman is sixty some branches: the highest thereof is “laa ilaaha illaa Allah” and the least is to remove harm/filth from the road.”. When the Prophet (saw) was asked about Iman, Allah revealed this ayah: “Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but righteousness is one who believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the Prophets and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask, and for freeing slaves; establishes prayer and gives zakah; those who fulfill their promise when they promise; and those who are patient in poverty and hardship and during battle. Those are the ones who have been true, and it is those who are the righteous.” So according to this ayah iman is righteousness and it is not just the ritualistic aspect of Islam or the appearance. Rightesousness is in the heart as the Prophet (pbuh) indicated. However, it also comprises all the beliefs and acts that Islam came to teach. Iman is in essence the whole deen of Islam.
Sometimes one may become complacent at the level of iman he has attained and the level of worship he has grown accustomed to. Yet at the same time he may forget the fact that his iman and level of worship may never remain the same. He may think that his iman will never be harmed by anything. That is not the case however. One’s heart changes constantly. The messenger of Allah (pbuh) reminded us of that when He said, “the hearts are between two fingers of Allah’s fingers, he turns them as He wishes.” The Messenger of Allah himself used to ask Allah to keep his heart firm in every prayer. He used to say: “O Allah! [You] are the One who turns the hearts. Keep my heart firm on Your Deen.” Life in this world is full of temptations which affect the heart and fill it with desire and doubt when it should be filled with content and certainty. If we do not realize that on time before our hearts are poisoned, our hearts and therefore our iman will be destroyed. We should protect them at all time. That protection can be achieved by doing the good deeds.
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) gave us the prescription for shielding our hearts from the great trials and temptations that will occur during the course of our life. He said, “Rush to doing the good deeds before trials that are as dark as the pitched darkness of the night come upon you. [In those days,] a man may wake up a believer and become a non-believer by night and may be a believer by night and become a non-believer by morning selling his faith for a cheap offer of the dunya (life on earth).” So your protection from such trials is through your immediate response to the Prophet’s advice by hurrying to doing the good deeds without delay.
Dear brothers and sisters,
The Shaytan may come to you and belittle the good deeds that you do in order to prevent you from doing them. He may convince you that in order for you to enter paradise you must do great deeds which you sometimes cannot; that the dollar you give in charity is so small; and what would people say about you when they see you put that one dollar in the charity box? You must never forget that no matter how little the deed is, it is great in the sight of Allah when it has come out of a sincere heart. You must always remember what the prophet said, “Protect yourselves from the Fire even with as little as half a piece of date.” He also said, “How often one dirham surpassed a hundred dirham!”--in reward. The Messenger of Allah taught us that there is no small deed and great deed. Your intention is what transforms your small deed into a great one, your great deed into a small one.
Remember that Allah rewards for each good deed ten folds to seven hundred folds depending on the intention. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, “The deeds of my ummah both the good and the bad have been presented to me. And I found among the good deeds the filth being removed from the road and among the bad ones spit being left on the floor of the Masjid without being buried.” This shows that every good deed counts and is recorded and every bad deed counts and is recorded. Allah says, “So whoever does a good deed equal to the weight of an atom shall see it and whoever does an evil deed equal to the weight of an atom shall see it.” Allah loves that you do the good deeds consistently. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, "The best deeds are the good deeds that are done consistently even if small." He also said, “Allah is pleased with His slave when he eats his food and thanks him for it and when he drinks his drink and thanks him for it.”
Dear brothers and sisters,
Do not belittle any of your good deeds. Be always in a condition where you are busy doing something good no matter how trivial. In fact all good deeds are great deeds, because you do them for the sake of Allah. The Messenger of Allah said, “Do not belittle any act of kindness even if it is only meeting your brother with a cheerful face,” Even if it is only to put a bite of food in your wife’s mouth.
Every morning you wake up starting your day by saying: “Alhamdulillah who has brought me back to life after he had taken my soul and to Him is my return,” think of what you are going to do that day. How are you going to please Allah? How are you going to make a difference in someone’s life? Start with your family, your wife and children. Make sure they wake up to pray and for your son to join you in the masjid. Smile at them. Do what the Prophet (saw) said to Sa’ad bin Abee Waqqaas: “For everything you do O Sa’ad for the sake of Allah, you will be rewarded even if it is putting a bite of food in your wife’s mouth.” What a beautiful way of living your life! To meet your wife with a smile, eat with her and feed her with your own hand. You do that to please Allah who will bless you and your family and will bestow love between you two. It is not hard to please Allah, however, you must be consistent. Many of us have marital problems and it is only because we fail to follow the Prophet’s example and advice. We fail to realize the effect of Allah’s blessing on our homes. Obey Allah and please Him: He will bless your home your wife and your whole family. Establish a life based on competing to please Allah in all of our actions and Allah will restore love into your life and cause everyone around you to love you.
It is amazing how all these acts of kindness and good conduct are now attributed to other than Muslims only because the Muslims have failed to find them in the teachings of their prophet and have now to go somewhere else to learn them from. When honesty is mentioned, kindness is mentioned it is always someone else’s trait but not the Muslim’s. It is sad isn’t it?
The Prophet (pbuh) tells us again that “[He] saw a man going about enjoying paradise as a reward for cutting a tree on the way of the Muslims which was causing them harm and inconvenienc.” He told the story of the man who was thirsty so he went down into a well and drank from it. When he came out, he saw a dog so thirsty that he was eating dirt for its moisture to quench its thirst. The man said, “This dog has been afflicted with so much thirst as I have.” So he went back in the well and fetched some water in his shoe which he held in his mouth and climbed up the well and gave it the dog so it can drink. Allah thanked him for what he did and as a reward he forgave him. Even with animals there is a chance for you to gain Allah’s pleasure and forgiveness when you act with them in kindness realizing that they are a creation of Allah as you.
Brothers and sisters:
Islam is a practical religion. It encourages its followers to continually be active and busy doing something good for themselves their community and the whole world. A Muslim is a person who is friendly and kind to everyone around him, starting with his family. On the other hand, Allah prescribed a reward for one who saves the people from his own harm let alone the harm of others. It was narrated by the two Imams Bukhari and Muslim that the Abu Musa Al Ash’ari said that the Prophet (Pbuh) said: “Every Muslim is obligated to offer a charity.” the narrator asked: “what if one does not have anything to offer?” He said: “Let him work with his hands, thus benefiting himself and offering a charity.” It was asked: “What if he could not?” The Prophet (saw) said: “Let him assist the needy and the aggrieved.” It was asked: “What if he could not?” He said: “Then he should enjoin the good.” it was asked again: “what if he could not?” The Prophet (saw) then said: “He should then abstain from evil, for verily that would be a charity for him.”
If we all followed the Prophet’s(saw) advice the whole world would be filled with goodness.
Islam encouraged us to not only take care of our present but our future and the future of our children. It is true that the ultimate goal is to have eternity in paradise, but also it is essential to build a life of purity and goodness on this earth. The only way for us to have our ultimate goal is to invest in this life correctly by filling it with our good deeds and making a difference in our communities. It was narrated that the Prophet (saw) said: “If a Muslim plants a tree, whatever is eaten from it, is charity for him and whatever is stolen is charity and whatever is taken from it is a charity.” in another narration it says that even when animals eat from it, it will be recorded as a charity for him.
It was also narrated that if the Day of Judgment is called and one of you has a plant to plant that he should do so before he is summoned to the gathering of the Day of Judgment.
Brothers and Sisters:
There is ample of opportunity for everyone of you to augment their record of good deeds and thereby protect your hearts from ever falling into temptation. This khutba is hardly enough to mention everything. Start with your prayers and see how you can improve them so as to have their right impact in your life. Yet this is a topic for another khutba inshaAllah. I just want to remind you of one more thing: at a time of calamity, a Muslim extends his hands to help others. The current pandemic (the flue) has spread and it is now in our own backyard. It is important not to panic and do everything correctly. A Muslim believes that every calamity had been decreed before it happened. It is equally important to be prepared and follow the laws of Allah, and do everything possible to protect yourself, your family and your community. One of the doctors of our community will explain to you what you need to know and how you can protect yourself from this flu.
wassalamu alaykum
