The Good Deeds

A-úthú billáhi minash shaytánir rajím. Bismilláhir Rahmánir Rahím!

[Arabic du’á]

In my previous Khutba, I talked about Surat Al Asr which reads:

“By [the token of] time through the ages, Verily, Man is in loss except those who have faith and do righteous deeds and exhort one another to truth and patience.”

As you can see, faith is not a passive thing. It should always be confirmed and manifested in good deeds. Deeds that are consistent with the Quran and the Sunnah. The word “deed” or “action” has been mentioned 360 times in the Quran. However, it is difficult to count them in the same way in the Hadith.

The Quran provides several examples of actions and deeds. For example, there are religious deeds, political deeds, industrial deeds, agricultural deeds, social deeds, military deeds, intellectual deeds and so on. All of these deeds could be divided into two categories – religious deeds and worldly deeds.

All acts of formal worship, such as Salat, Siyam, Haj, Zakat and charity fall under the first category, along with all other acts that are performed in accordance with divine commands or an authentic Hadith, such as Jihad, kindness, helping the poor and the needy, etc. The deeds that are performed as part of our daily lives and all other acts that are intended to satisfy a legitimate need or interest, whether individual or collective, fall under the second category.

Observations.

The characterisation of deeds into these two categories leads us to the following observations:

1- Both types of deeds must compliment each other. The religious deeds contain the aims and objectives of this life, while the other deeds provide the means to achieve these objectives and aims. It is futile to have aims without the means to achieve them or to have means without objectives.

Once the Prophet noticed a man constantly staying at the mosque. He asked his companions: “Who is supporting him?” They replied: “His brother.” So the prophet said: “His brother is better than him.”

The worshipper satisfied himself with the religious actions, but did not care to work and earn his living, while his brother combined worship with earning a living and supporting him.

Religiousness does not mean laziness and indifference. Religiousness is not withdrawal from life and desertion of work and action. This may be true in other religions, but most certainly, it is not true in Islam. We are told in the Quran:

” And say: Work righteousness. Soon will Allah observe your work and His messenger and the believers. Soon you will be brought back to the Knower of what is hidden and what is open. Then He will Show you the truth of all that you did. [Sura 9/v105]

“Work”, is a call to the believers to be active, to be positive and productive, to spread goodness and righteousness. Our life is but a test as to whom will be best in deeds.

“He who created Death and Life, that He may try which of you is best in deed. “Sura Mulk, 67/v2

2- A good deed is not limited to bringing benefit or gain. It should go beyond that to oppose and fight evil.

Thus, the good deed should not only aim to please Allah and bring benefit to the believer but should also aim to prevent an evil act detested by Allah. A believer who fulfils the two aims is called (Saleh Musleh) “useful and reformer”, while the one who is only concerned with the first aim is called “useful”.

The useful and the reformer Muslim is the ideal example that Islamic education (Tarbiya ) seeks to produce. Such individuals are praised in the Quran which says:

“They Believe in Allah and the last day. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. And they hasten in all good works. They are in the ranks of the righteous.” Sura 3/v114

If each member of the community is useful and a reformer, then the scope of evil and corruption in the society will be very small and limited indeed.

The extent of evil and corruption in any society increases when its members become selfish and egotistic and where each one cares only for himself and his own interest regardless of the common good and the collective interest.

3- The good deed should also be a proper and successful deed. Relying on the nature of the deed as proper does not necessarily mean to give up and abandon causes and exerting best efforts to achieve the expected goals of our actions and deeds.

For example, Dawa to Islam is a good deed. However, it could be far from successful if it is done the wrong way. Building a mosque could be bad deed if it is intended to cause mischief and disunity.

” And there are those who put up a mosque by way of mischief and infidelity – to disunite the believers and in preparation for one who warred against Allah and His messenger before. They will swear that their intention is nothing but good, but Allah does declare that they are certainly liars.9/107

The verse refers to what is known as the “mosque of mischief” (dirar) which was built by some Hypocrites not far away from the mosque of Quba, the first mosque built by the Prophet on his way to Medina. The mosque built by the Hypocrites was a result of conspiracy they had mad with a notorious enemy of Islam called Abu Amir who had fought against Islam in Uhud.

His supporters wanted a mosque for him to come to, but it would only be a source of mischief and division. The conspiracy was exposed and disappointed.

At the Battle of Uhud the Muslims suffered a painful defeat because some of them disobeyed the Prophet and ignored his orders. Fighting for the sake of Allah did not justify the abandoning of proper rules for sound military planning. These rules necessitated strict discipline and total obedience to Mohammed, as a messenger of Allah and a leader.

The lesson from Uhud is that the Muslim community cannot afford to ignore discipline, order and leadership.

Our actions and deeds must follow these criteria. Unfortunately, there are many proper actions that fail because of bad planning, lack of resources or emotional involvement that obscures rational thinking and proper judgement.

Hasty decisions and rushing to short cuts do not bring success.

Good intentions do not justify that we neglect or ignore Sunnan Allah, His Rules that He created for the universe. These rules do not favour us simply because we are Muslims. If we want to be triumphant, then we must follow the rules, we must do all that is required to the best of our ability and then put our trust in Allah, because He

“does not waste the reward of those who do good”. 9/120

4- A good deed is useful and beneficial to its doer.

If any one does a righteous deed it will be to the benefit of his soul. If he does evil it works against his own soul.45/15

None of our deeds, no matter how good they may be, are beneficial to Allah. Also none of our sins, no matter how ugly they may be, are harmful to Allah. He does not need our deeds, good or bad. Whatever we do, we do for our own benefit to gain His Pleasure and His Grace.

Islam acknowledges the principle of self-interest, provided that it does not cause harm to others. Self-interest, which is not limited to worldly benefits, but extends to the hereafter. There are many examples in the Quran for the benefits of good deeds and consequences of bad deeds.

Whoever works righteousness, man or woman and has faith, We will give him a life that is good and pure and We will bestow on such their reward according to the best of their actions.16/97

“Then, as to those who Believed and did righteous Deeds, their Lord will Admit them to His Mercy: That will be the Achievement for all to see. 45/30

“For those who Believe and work righteous deeds is a reward that will never fail.41/8

On the other hand there are also many verses, which deals with the consequences of evil and bad deeds.

” Whoever works evil will be Requited accordingly. Nor will he find besides Allah, Any protector or helper. 4/123

” Taste the Penalty of eternity for your evil deeds”.32/14

“..If any does evil, The doers of evil are only punished to the extent of their deeds. 28/ 84

A good deed has its sure reward, and that reward will be better than the merits of the doer. An evil deed will not be punished with a severer penalty than justice demands. On tope of that, sins and evil deeds may be forgiven by making repentance at the right time.

“Allah accepts the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance and repent soon afterwards; to them, Allah turn in mercy..” 4/17

” Of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil until death faces one of them and he says: “Now I repent”. Nor of those who die rejecting Faith. For them We have prepared a most grievous punishment.4/18

Repentance from bad deeds and Kufr, when facing death, is no good. That is too late. Those who miss the opportunity to repent will stand at the Day of Judgment before their Lord bending their heads saying:

“Our Lord. We have seen and we have heard. Let us go back to the world. We will work righteousness for now we do believe indeed”. 32/12

For those, there is no going back, there is no return to this world. There is no second chance for them to work righteousness. They had their time. They had their opportunity. They missed it. Now it is time to face the consequences of their deeds and action. Now is the time to be paid for their evil and their sins.

Let us pray to Allah :

To increase and strengthen our faith

To Guide us and help us to work righteous deeds acceptable and pleasing to Him so that we may gain His Mercy and Grace.

To keep us away from evil and all bad deeds.

To forgive our sins and accept our repentance. And make us among the winners and the joyful – the day we meet Him.

[du’á in Arabic]

Ameen! Aqeemus Salaah!