Abdul Rahman Chao - Don't Belittle Any Good Deed

The Power of Small Good Deeds

Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha narrates a story where a mother and two daughters, two of her girls came to Aisha radiallahu anha seeking help. They were very poor and they were very hungry.

Aisha radiallahu anha did not have anything on her except for three dates. So she gave the three dates to this woman. So the mother gave one date to each of her daughters.

And there was one date left. And as she was about to put the date into her own mouth to eat it, she saw that her two daughters were still hungry. So she split the date in half, and she gave half a piece to a daughter, and she gave the other piece to the other daughter.

The Prophet ﷺ then continues and he says, that:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5995)

Allah has assured or guaranteed paradise for that woman because of that action. Or he has freed her or he has saved her from hellfire. Brothers and sisters, this story shows us an example of how parental love and charity intersect.

And so Aisha radiallahu anha, she was expecting the mother to eat one date. It's a fair split, one date for each. But yet the mother sacrificed for herself, and she gave that last date and split it with her two daughters.

Protecting Yourself from Hellfire

This hadith, this story echoes another narration that we find in a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ as narrated by Adi ibn Abi Hatim, in which the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1413)

Fear, protect yourself, save yourself from Jahannam. Even if it is with a piece of date. And whoever does not have that, then let them protect themselves from the hellfire even if it is with a smile.

Never Belittle Any Good Deed

Brothers and sisters, never belittle any good deeds. And sometimes as we are looking at what is unfolding around the world, especially in Palestine, especially in Gaza or in Sudan or elsewhere, we sometimes get these whispers from Shaytan. Shaytan will say to you, why are you donating? It's probably gonna get stolen.

It's probably not even gonna get to their hands. Maybe it's gonna get intercepted. Maybe that donation is gonna get thrown into the ocean.

And we have seen those kind of videos online where donations that were earmarked for those individuals were being stolen. And the thieves were very proud of themselves. But here the lesson I want you to understand is you are not responsible for the end result.

Whether or not it gets stolen, whether or not it gets to the right hands, don't belittle the good deed or stop yourself from doing that good deed. Because if you do that, you are going to miss out on a lot of opportunities. And we have evidence for this in the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ in which a man, in an authentic narration, he went out at night and he gave charity.

And he just simply put it in the hand of a person. And the next day people started talking. And they said, did you not hear? There was a man yesterday who was giving charity and it ended up going into the hand of a thief.

And so when he heard about that, he said, no, tomorrow I will give charity again. And so he did so in the night and it ended up the charity going into the hands of a prostitute. And again people started talking.

And he again gave charity on the third night and it ended up going into the hands of a rich person. And the lesson to be learned from the hadith was, perhaps when he gave that money and it landed in the hands of the thief, that the thief will be ashamed of their act and not be in need of thieving. Or perhaps that prostitute will seize from that form of work of ill repute.

Or perhaps that it will go into the hand of that rich person and that rich person will be reminded of the blessings that he has or that she has and she will give charity. So even as we are looking at what is happening right now to our brothers and sisters in Gaza, do not in any way stop the efforts. Do not give up on donating.

Do not give up on supporting. Do not give up on doing whatever you are trying to do to alleviate their situation. Because we should not be waiting for the results only to take action.

Sometimes you do something good and the results you will never see. But does it mean you don't do it? No, you still do it. You do not justify the legitimacy or the need for an act based on if you will reap its benefits.

Lessons from the Prophets

How many prophets of the past saw and witnessed the fruits of their labor? The prophets of the time tell us on the Day of Judgment some prophets will come with many people, many followers. And some will come with a handful of followers. And some prophets will come on the Day of Judgment with no followers.

Does it mean that they failed? No. It just simply means that you do your part and Allah will give you your reward. The Prophet ﷺ says in a hadith:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2626)

Do not belittle any good deed. Not just any good deed but any aspect of a good deed. Even if you are to meet your brother with a smiling face.

And another narration, the Prophet ﷺ he says:

The Prophet ﷺ says, do not belittle any good deed that you do. Do not belittle it. Even if it is to give someone a piece of rope, how do you know they're even gonna use it? What if they throw it away? Even if you're to give someone a shoelace, even if you are at a well and your bucket is filled with water and someone comes to ask for water and all you do is pour that water into whatever bucket that they want, a bowl for example. Or perhaps that you remove something from the road that harms people.

Or perhaps that you will meet another Muslim and that you say salam to them or that you smile at them. Or even if you are to go and talk to someone when they are lonely and give them some sort of companionship. And that's why the Prophet ﷺ tells us that even if it is almost the day of judgment, the end of the world is about to happen, that if you are able to plant a date palm, then do so.

The Weight of Small Deeds

So brothers and sisters, why is it important to not belittle any good deed? Because you do not know what is that one deed that will tip your scales in your favor on the day of judgment.

Whoever does one Adam's weight, one mustard seed weight of good, then they shall see it. And whoever does one seed weight of evil, then they should see it.

But perhaps a big reason of why people do not think about doing these little good deeds here and there is because they are so easy to do. And they only think about big deeds, big أعمال الصالحة. And they think if they do that, then they're good.

But that's the issue. Not everyone has the ability and the resources to do those big good deeds. Like Abu Bakr giving all of his wealth, like Umar giving half of his wealth, like Uthman رضي الله عنه funding and equipping an entire military expedition.

And so that is why brothers and sisters, it is important to diversify your حسنات portfolio, your good deeds portfolio. And because those good deeds are so easy to do, that's why people don't do it. Because they're so easy to do.

People would rather do the big and showy things to satisfy their ego. May Allah protect us. Look at the woman who used to clean the masjid, Umm Mihjan.

We don't even know what her real name was. She was a black lady who used to clean the masjid. And when she passed away, they didn't even tell the Prophet ﷺ. And the Prophet ﷺ was upset.

He said, why didn't you tell me? And they said, oh, she used to just clean the masjid. And the Prophet ﷺ said, show me her grave. And he went to her grave, and he made a dua for that person.

The Value of Simple Acts

Sometimes we don't do good deeds because we think that there is no value in it. Or we think it's beneath us to do it. Like the man who was at a well, and he saw a thirsty dog.

And all he did was climb back into the well, fill his shoe up with water, and give it to the dog. So insignificant, yet so significant in the eyes of Allah. And because of that Allah forgave him.

The Prophet ﷺ was one time in the masjid, in a section called as-Suffah. It's towards the front, and it's where the poor people used to sit. And the Prophet ﷺ used to love sitting with the veterans of the Battle of Badr.

And at this one point, it was quite crowded, and some people who had fought in the Battle of Badr came to the Prophet ﷺ, and they came up to him, and there were all these people sitting there. And they greeted the Prophet ﷺ, they said salam to him, he replied their salam, then they said salam to the other companions who were sitting down. But remember the Prophet ﷺ used to honor the veterans of the Battle of Badr because they are special in the eyes of Allah.

And those people just stood around because there's nowhere to stand. So it became awkward. And so the Prophet ﷺ started calling people by name, those who didn't participate in the Battle of Badr, to stand up and make room for them.

So much so that there were equal amount of people standing, who were being told to stand up to the number of those veterans who were standing up. And he would put those people in their place, and let them sit. And it created some sort of difficulty and discomfort in those who were being called out.

And so some of the munafiqeen, they jumped on that, and they said, what is this? You have a Prophet telling people to get up and make room for those people when those people already came before, and all they wanted to do was to come and benefit. And the Prophet ﷺ, sensing that people were discomforted by being told to stand up and make room, he made a dua for them. He says, may Allah have mercy on the man who makes space for his brother.

And so Allah sent down the verse in the Qur'an, O you who believe, O you who believe, if it is said to you, to make space for your brothers, make space. And Allah will make space for you. Such a small deed of simply moving your body, and yes, you might have to sit in a certain way to make a little bit of space for them, but just by doing that, they earned the dua of the Prophet ﷺ.

A Beautiful Dua for Protection

Brothers and sisters, finally, I want to share with you an authentic dua. And I believe if you are to practice this small deed, don't look down on it. It is such a beautiful hadith of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ says, and it's a very long hadith, and I'm not going to explain the whole thing, but I'll just give you the dua that you need to say. Whoever says:

It's called the Khamsa Tahlilat. Whoever says, there's no god but Allah, Allah is the Greatest, All praise is due to Allah, Glory be to Allah, I seek forgiveness from Allah.

Do you know what the Prophet ﷺ says the reward for that is? If you say that, because we know in another hadith the Prophet ﷺ says, whoever says لا إله إلا الله...

But in this authentic narration the Prophet ﷺ says, whoever says these five, with those five sentences after that, the hellfire will not even touch you. So it's not just a guarantee of going into Jannah, but it is a guarantee that Jahannam will not touch you. A simple dua.

Do not miss out on these rewards.