Ismail ibn Musa Menk Behold It Is Your Deeds
By Mufti Menk | 2026-01-12T06:09:14.480547+00:00 | Topic: Quran
Behold It Is Your Deeds
Mufti Ismail Menk
Opening and Praise
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen wa as-salatu wa as-salamu ala abdullahi wa rasulihi muhammad wa ala alihi wa ashabihi ajma'in.
We praise Allah always. The Creator, the Nourisher, the Cherisher, the Sustainer, the Provider, the Protector, the Curer, the One in whose hands lies absolute control of every single aspect of existence. We praise Him and we worship Him alone.
We send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم), all the previous prophets and their companions as well as the companions of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). We ask Allah to bless us as well and our offspring, those to come right up to the end. May Allah keep us upon steadfastness and grant us Jannatul Firdaus.
Ameen. MashaAllah, MashaAllah.
The Topic of Actions (A'mal)
My brothers and sisters, today we're talking about actions. Known in the Arabic language as a'mal, al'amal. The deeds that we do. But there is a small issue that needs clarification because there is a hadith where the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says:
(Bukhari 5673, Muslim 2816)
"None of you shall enter paradise with your deeds."
Have you heard that hadith? None of you will enter paradise with your deeds. Instead you will enter paradise through the mercy of Allah alone. Have you heard that hadith? It's an authentic narration.
Understanding the Relationship Between Deeds and Allah's Mercy
So why are we talking about actions? That is a valid question. So it's important for us to know, my brothers, my sisters, none of us will enter Jannah through our deeds, but rather through the mercy of Allah. Now the question is, how do I gain the mercy of Allah? That is the most important question when it comes to speaking about deeds.
Because someone might tell you, don't bother doing deeds because as it is, you're only going to enter paradise through the mercy of Allah. So just ask for Allah's mercy. So Allah says, if you want my mercy, you need to do deeds.
Allahu Akbar. Subhanallah. If you do the deeds, you will be invoking the mercy of Allah. You will be getting, seeking the mercy of Allah. For example, someone says, none of you are going to be getting to the other city with your own transport. None of you will get to Davao tomorrow with your own transport.
Well then what do I do? Do I just stay here? No. You have to make an effort to get to the airport and use the public transport. Subhanallah.
If you didn't make the effort to get to the airport, forget about getting to your destination. Okay, that might be a slightly different example, but it came to my mind now, but it is applicable to what I'm saying because none of you will enter jannah with your own deeds. It's the mercy of Allah.
So how do I get to the mercy of Allah? Well, Allah wants to see that you were trying your best. Allah wants to see that you were doing your best. You did your deeds.
The Example of Salah and Perfect Concentration
Let me give you an example. When you read salah, I have a question for you. Anyone who has 100% concentration in salah, put up your hand. When you say Allahu Akbar, there is nothing that you think about besides the exact salah that you are fulfilling. If you have 100% concentration in salah, put up your hands. Anyone? No one, not even one.
Okay, I might have missed a hand. Can you stand up if you have 100% concentration in salah? No one is standing, right? Let me explain. But surely Allah requires a salah where you have 100% concentration.
But you're a human being, so Allah says, don't worry, try your best. If you have tried your best, we will give you that salah. But if you didn't try, you won't get anything.
If you did not do the deed, the salah will be held against you for not having been accomplished and fulfilled. Right? You didn't do it. But if you did it, Allah says, just try your best.
And then, it is only because of my mercy that I will accept that salah. Although there was not 100% concentration. You see? So then you have a few people.
One who doesn't read salah. If you haven't prayed at all, you have a problem. What's the problem? It's held against you, you didn't pray.
But if you prayed and your concentration was a little bit this way, that way, Allah says, don't worry. The fact that you did the deed with the correct intention and you tried your best, now you need to know my mercy will accept it and grant you that jannah that you're looking for. So I hope we've understood the issue of importance of deeds even though it is only the mercy of Allah that's going to take us to Jannatul Firdaus.
The Necessity of Deeds to Receive Allah's Mercy
If you haven't done the deeds, you will not receive the mercy of Allah. If you didn't do the deed, how do you want to achieve the mercy of Allah? Because everywhere Allah explains to us through the Quran, through the sunnah of Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) that you know what? Your deeds are of utmost importance although it's my mercy that will grant acceptance to those deeds.
"Whoever does a mustard seed's weight worth of good shall see the deed."
It's the deed, you did. Whoever did the deed will see it. Whoever did bad to the same weight will see the effect and the sin of that bad.
So this goes to show you that it's important for us to do. And when we do, one of the biggest deeds that you can engage in is something known as istighfar. Seeking the forgiveness of Allah.
People underestimate it and undervalue it. It is a huge deed. It's an act of worship. Allah's mercy is called upon by you saying, Oh Allah, forgive me. It's a deed, a'mal, it's an amal. Subhanallah.
What Allah Looks At: Hearts and Deeds
So Allah tells this to us. Now, if you look at the other narrations of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) that speak about your deeds and the importance of your deeds. I give you one or two examples.
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says:
(Muslim 2564)
"Allah does not look at your outward image, your appearance and so on. You know this one, okay, mashallah, looking too good, let's go to paradise. That will never happen."
You don't enter paradise because of your looks. Subhanallah. I wonder some people might think if that was the case, they would get away with a bit of makeup.
May Allah forgive us. No, you won't. You'll be happy with what Allah has provided you.
Subhanallah. Allah says, He does not look at your appearance, nor does He look at your body. What size it is, how big it is, how well built you are.
You can go to the gym 24x7 everyday. You can have a 12 pack, let alone a 6 pack. Each of those 6 can be divided into two definitions, mashallah.
But, that doesn't mean you're close to Allah. Allah doesn't look at that. That's for your benefit.
In fact, the strange thing is, it just came to my mind now, when you do that, it's for people to look at. But for Allah to look at, there is something else. Amazing, amazing.
The outward appearance, your makeup, your physique, your body, your size, you're worried about it because of others looking at you. Allah says, hang on, that's for others to look at. For me, that's not what I'm going to look at.
I'm going to look at two things, your heart and your deeds. So you better have a good heart, and you better have good deeds. Amazing.
What's the point of having a diseased heart, when in actual fact you're so good looking. I've seen people who really look good, they're well built, but they have attitude that stinks. They speak to others without any form of respect.
They address people as though they were God's gift to mankind. But if you look at them, subhanallah, they look so so beautiful, so gorgeous, so handsome sometimes, so well built, mashallah, tabarakallah. But you know what? Allah says, you want to please Allah, clean that heart of yours.
The Heart: The Key Organ
This is why the hadith says:
(Bukhari 52, Muslim 1599)
"Behold, in the body there is an organ, a piece of flesh, that if it were good, pure, and clean. And if it is corrupt, sinful, dirty, then the whole body will be corrupt, sinful, and dirty. What is that organ? Behold, it is the heart."
You clean your heart. That's what Allah says يَنْظُرْ إِلَى قُلُوبِكُمْ Allah will look at your heart. I call on you, my brothers and sisters, today from this beautiful platform in Manila, to connect the pearls by cleansing your heart.
Subhanallah. Connect the pearls by cleansing your heart. When you want to connect pearls, you will need a little chain to connect them.
That chain needs to be clean, it needs to be good, it needs to be sweet, it needs to be full of compassion, and mercy, and purity, and sincerity. You worship Allah, you worship Him alone. That's the first cleansing of the heart.
Then when you treat the rest of the creatures of the same Allah, treat them with dignity, with respect, because they are creatures of Allah. They are part of your test. If Allah didn't want them to be part of your test, He would not have made them.
So Allah made you as a test for me, and Allah made me as a test for you. Subhanallah. And so on, we could say the same for every creature of Allah.
Be careful what you think. Be careful how you treat people.
Cleanse your heart, make it good. Think good of others. And then He says وَأَعْمَالِكُمْ That's the last word in that hadith.
The last word in the hadith. وَلَكِنْ يَنْظُرُ إِلَى قُلُوبِكُمْ وَأَعْمَالِكُمْ That's the last word. He looks at your hearts and your deeds.
So when Allah looks at your deeds, what happens? He sees that you were trying. He sees that you were doing. He sees that you did not just sit back and relax, but you used the energies that He gave you in order to try and achieve the best.
And then that makes Him even more merciful towards you. Subhanallah. His mercy is unmatched.
The Example of Motherly Love and Allah's Greater Mercy
It is of the highest possible level. You and I know that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has described the mercy of Allah on many occasions. One occasion he was walking with his companions and they passed by a woman who was breastfeeding her little baby.
And he asked them, Do you see this woman casting this little baby of hers into the fire? And they said no. So he says, Well, Allah is more merciful upon every one of us than this woman would ever be to this particular child. Subhanallah.
But to get that mercy of Allah, please try. Keep trying. Keep invoking the mercy of Allah.
The Importance of Following the Sunnah
When you are trying, you know, imagine, something comes to my mind. And I read a story where there was a father who beat up his son because the son was scratching the vehicle of that particular father. Imagine you bought yourself a new car and your three year old is taking a stone and carving something on the door of your car.
Mashallah. So the father beat the child up. And what happened? Later on they discovered, after the child was injured and hurt and perhaps it went even beyond that, they discovered what was written, I love you dad.
I love you dad. On what? On the car. Little innocent child doesn't even know.
Subhanallah. Well, you know what? The father felt mercy upon the child after he saw what was written. But what was written was actually written in the wrong place.
Now, the reason I give you this example is I want you to know, when it comes to deeds, there is a difference. You are not allowed to just take a stone and scrape somewhere and write I love you Allah on
somebody's car or maybe on the sand somewhere and think that, oh that's a big ibadah. Allah will look at it and He'll have mercy on me.
Because in order to invoke the mercy of Allah to call upon it, you need to follow the sunnah of Muhammadsallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the way shown by him because it came from Allah. Allah told you what to do by sending you a messenger. That's why Allah says:
The beginning of it is Allah has indeed favored the believers by sending to them a messenger from amongst them. It's a favor. Allah tells you what He wants.
How are you going to earn the mercy of Allah? Well, act. Do deeds. What deeds should I do? You know if your father tells you, do a deed, you get my mercy.
You're gonna tell your dad, what deed? Right? What deed do you want me to do? The father says, okay, do this. Then you do that. Subhanallah.
With Allah it's more important because if you associate partners with Him, He becomes angry. Subhanallah. He doesn't want you to worship anyone besides Him.
Your maker is the one who is owed worship. Listen to this verse:
You know one of the interpretations of that verse? Allah says, Indeed, for Him is the matter of creation. (أَلَا لَهُ الْخَلْقُ - ala lahul khalq) So therefore, He has the right to instruct (وَالْأَمْرُ - wal amr) One of the beautiful translations of this verse. The one who created has the right to instruct. Why? Because He created.
Amazing. (أَلَا لَهُ الْخَلْقُ وَالْأَمْرُ - ala lahul khalq wal amr) The one who created is the one who owns the instruction as well. Straight.
Why does Allah have the right to instruct me to do what He wants me to do? Because He made me. Come on, He made me. So He has every right to tell me, you're gonna stand this way, you're gonna bow this way.
When you bow in ruku, you're gonna say this, then you're gonna get up, then you're gonna go down in that particular order. You must do it in that order.
When you go down, you must humble yourself to Me, meaning to Allah, and you will say the following.
So that's what you will say. No change to it. Nothing, subhanAllah.
Allah's Response to Our Seeking Forgiveness
May Allah grant us a deep understanding. When you try to do this, Allah says, subhanAllah, My worshiper is actually trying. When you seek the forgiveness of Allah, Allah says to His angels, look at My worshiper seeking My forgiveness.
You know there is a narration of the Prophetsallallahu alayhi wa sallam which I derive lots of comfort from. I share it with you today. A man commits a sin, he seeks forgiveness, Allah forgives him.
Now when you seek forgiveness, you have to promise Allah that you're not going to do the sin again. Say for example, I was involved in a sin. We're all human, we all commit sin.
If I was involved in a sin and I say, O Allah, forgive me. Well, there are certain conditions. Allah tells us, you want My mercy? You need to do a deed known as seeking that forgiveness properly.
So number one, you must regret your sin. Regret it. O Allah, I regret what I did.
I admit what I did. I seek Your forgiveness. That's number three.
And I promise you not to do it again. Number four. Once four conditions are met, mashallah, you have called upon the mercy of Allah.
Allah says, I have forgiven you. Never ever has Allah said, we reject those who seek forgiveness. Not once in the Quran or in the sunnah does it say that Allah says that He will not forgive those who seek forgiveness.
Never. In fact, the Quran has a verse that is known as the verse which has the most mercy in it:
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, tell My worshippers, tell My worshippers who have committed sin against themselves, those who have wronged themselves, tell them never lose hope in the mercy of Allah.
For indeed, Allah is most forgiving, most merciful. He will forgive all your sins, all of them. Develop a relationship with Allah.
You don't need to come to Me to confess your sin. You don't need to go to another person to confess a sin. You need to confess it to Allah alone in the darkness of the night or in the brightness of the day.
The Story of Repeated Forgiveness
You need to make sure that you have done that deed when you seek the forgiveness of Allah, He will forgive you. So here is the man, he seeks forgiveness of Allah, promising never to do it again, but somehow he fell into it again. It happens to us, we seek the forgiveness of Allah, O Allah, I'm never going to commit the sin again.
After two, three years, sometimes you find yourself committing the same sin again because you're a human being. So what happens? Immediately, he seeks the forgiveness of Allah again. O Allah, forgive me.
I admit, I regret, I did wrong. Forgive me, I'm never going to do it again. He did, he was forgiven by Allah a second time.
And after some time he commits the same sin again. Subhanallah. And you know what? He seeks the forgiveness of Allah for a third time.
Allah tells the angels:
(Muslim 2758)
"My worshipper now knows that he has a Lord who can either punish him or forgive him. I want you to bear witness that I have forgiven him completely. Look at the mercy of Allah."
This is a worshipper of mine. What does he recognize? He recognizes that he has a Lord who can punish him. Allah says, if you do bad deeds, you will be punished.
And Allah says, if you do good deeds, you will see the goodness of your deeds. So this is the mercy of Allah where He says, My worshipper finally knows that he has a Lord who can do this or that. I want you to bear witness that I have forgiven him completely.
Subhanallah. May Allah forgive us. So Allah says something very interesting in the Quran.
Understanding Shirk and Forgiveness
It's one of the most important verses. He says:
Allah will never forgive shirk. He will never forgive those who worship with him or besides him.
He will never forgive association or partnership with him. But besides that, he will forgive anything he wishes to forgive. Many of us don't understand the interpretation of that verse.
Some people think it means that when you commit shirk, there is no tawbah for you. There is no seeking of forgiveness for you. No, my brothers, my sisters.
This verse is referring to those who die upon the condition where they have not sought forgiveness from the sins they have committed. So that which is in association or partnership with Allah is in one category.
It is on a category where Allah says, listen, this I don't want to forgive it.
But anything else that was committed and you did not seek the forgiveness of Allah and you died in that condition. For as long as you did not associate partners with Allah, the mercy of Allah may dictate, it may dictate that He wants to forgive you completely and He doesn't care and He doesn't mind. And what is the evidence of what I've just said now? The sahaba radhiallahu anhum themselves, the bulk of those in Mecca were pure mushriks before they accepted Islam.
Remember that. They worshiped sticks and stones and idols and everything else besides Allah. What happened? Did they lose hope to say, Oh, I committed shirk so there's no forgiveness for me.
They accepted Islam. The minute they accepted Islam:
(Muslim 121)
"Islam deletes that bad which you did before it. The good is carried forward, the bad is deleted."
It's better than the day you were born. The day you were born, there was no good, no bad. The day you accepted Islam, the good continues, the bad is deleted.
The same applies when you make hajj. The same applies when you engage in tawbah, when you seek the forgiveness of Allah. Allah says, I will forgive you.
How Allah Forgives: Converting Bad Deeds to Good
How does Allah forgive you? He doesn't give you a clean slate. No. He deletes the bad but the good continues.
Allahu Akbar. So much so that sometimes He actually changes the bad into good. Allahu Akbar.
Have you ever heard that verse?
Surah Al-Furqan, Allah says, Those who have sought forgiveness from Allah and done good deeds thereafter, if they change their lives after seeking forgiveness, Allah says, for those, because of their good deeds, because they did good deeds after they sought the forgiveness of Allah. You see, when you seek the forgiveness of Allah, He forgives you. But when you seek the forgiveness of Allah and change your life, then He takes those bad deeds, He says, bring them here, bring them here.
We will convert these bad deeds into good deeds and put them on the right side of the scale on the day of judgment. Let this person see that even the bad they did, if it led them to do the best of deeds thereafter, we are going to say, those were actually good deeds, it's okay. It's a bonus from us.
Why? Because of your deeds. That's our topic. Look at how the deeds have invoked the mercy of Allah.
The deeds have brought forth the mercy of Allah. Because you did deeds after seeking the forgiveness of Allah. That's why I tell people who say, if I seek the forgiveness of Allah, will I have a clean slate? No, you won't.
You won't. You will have better than a clean slate. Why? When you say clean slate, it means you formatted the hard drive.
You know when a person has cancer, may Allah cure all those who have any disease. Say, ameen. When you do chemotherapy, what does it do for you? It destroys the good and the bad.
Everything is gone. It restarts. It's like when you restore factory settings on your phone, all your contacts and everything good is also gone.
But there needs to be a way where you can select a few things you want to keep and the rest you format it. Right? Allah does that for you. Some people say that Allah is not merciful.
A'udhu billah. How can that happen? How can we think that? How can we think that? He is the most merciful. He will give you a bonus.
The Multiplication of Good Deeds
So much so that Allah says, you know what? When you do a deed, and you can bring it with you on the day of judgment, My mercy will multiply it for you by ten and even more than ten:
Whoever comes on the day of judgment, notice the word (جَاءَ - jaa'a). (جَاءَ - jaa'a) is a very very important word for me.
It is the most important word in that verse is (جَاءَ - jaa'a). Why (جَاءَ - jaa'a)? Because Allah didn't say whoever does the deed. Allah didn't say (مَنْ عَمِلَ - man 'amila) But He said whoever comes with a deed, it means they did it and they protected it.
Those are the two things I'm talking about when you want to earn the mercy of Allah. You don't just do the tawbah, you do the deeds after the tawbah, your life changed. Allah says in that case, bonus for you.
Protecting Your Deeds
Mashallah, you have a lot. So if you did the deed, I read my salah, many times my brothers, my sisters, we are doing a deed, but we spoiled the reward of the deed and donated to someone else before we've even walked out of the masjid because we started backbiting as we were walking out. He says, look at that brother, he looks so arrogant.
What happened? That statement that you made before you walked out, resulted in your deed being lost. So will you (جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ - jaa'a bil hasanah) on the day of qiyamah? No. (فَذَهَبَتِ الْحَسَنَةُ إِلَى غَيْرِكَ - fa dhahabatil hasanatu ila ghayrik)
You did the good deed, but that good deed went to someone else. Some people go for hajj, they give charities, they give zakah, they make saum, zakah.
The hadith speaks about al-muflis.
A person who's bankrupt is one who does a lot of good deeds, but they have not invoked the mercy of Allah by protecting the deed. That's why we say, your deeds are divided into two. The ibadah, the acts of worship are solely and only for Allah, but some of them are connected to other human beings.
And if it is done for the sake of Allah, it becomes a deed that will bring about the mercy of Allah. It's your deeds. It is definitely your deeds and your deeds alone.
I explained to you, my salah is for Allah. What else? My hajj is for Allah. What else? My shahada is for Allah.
What else? My saum is for Allah. What about my zakah? It's for Allah, but I've helped someone in the process. If I think I helped you, you now owe me, khalas, my deed is over.
But I helped you for the pleasure of Allah. I love this verse:
Allah loves those who do good. Have we heard that verse? Allah loves those who do good.
Have you heard the verse? Okay. When you do good to someone, why are you doing the good to them? Because they are good to you, so you do good to them. It's called tit for tat, right? Tit for tat.
They did good, I did good. Are you prepared to do good to those who haven't even done good to you? Are you ready? Why? Because Allah loves those who do good. So if they don't do good to me, I'm still gonna say, Oh Allah, you watch this, I'm gonna show you, it's just for your sake, I'm gonna be good to this person.
And you know what? They are not good to me, but it's okay. So you greet them, (As-salamu alaykum), and they look at you and say, they give you a dirty look. But you're happy, you're not sad, you're not depressed, because you didn't do it for them in the first place.
You did it for Allah. Your reward is registered with Allah, and it's done and it's over. Subhanallah.
Doing Deeds for Allah's Sake Alone
Change your attitude. Change your attitude. Do deeds for the sake of Allah.
When you gave someone something, when you helped someone, when you helped someone cross the road, when you were kind to people, you were kind to them, yes. But for the sake of Allah, I don't want
something from you in return. That's why in Surah Al-Dahar, Allah says:
We have fed you for the sake of Allah. We don't want a recompense from you, nor do we want a thank you from you. We don't want appreciation, gratitude from you. If it comes, it comes for the sake of Allah.
When someone does good to you, now this is the other way around, I was talking about we doing good to someone. But when someone does good to you, you must show gratitude because you're a mu'min. That's why.
Because in order to show gratitude to Allah, you need to show gratitude to those in front of you whom Allah has chosen to do that good to you. Amazing.
So this is Allah.
This is the importance of the deeds that we have. Look at how I told you that Allah converts the deeds into good deeds. Subhanallah.
Allah converts them. Those bad, why? Because of the (وَعَمِلَ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا) The one who did the good deeds after the tawbah. That person deserves a big reward, great reward.
Allah says, we'll give it to you, we're looking for it. Now let's get to this hadith. Hadith Qudsi that we're speaking about today.
Remember, the theme is actions. So the final part of this hadith, it's a nice long hadith. And the topic is connected only to the last sentence of that hadith.
The Main Hadith Qudsi: Your Deeds Determine Your Outcome
(Muslim 2577)
Hadith of Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari radhiallahu anhu. In Sahih Muslim and in other books of hadith, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) narrates the following. That's a hadith Qudsi. When you hear the word Qudsi, it means the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is narrating to us what Allah said in a version that is not Quran.
See the difference? When Allah speaks to us through the Quran, those are the words of Allah. Cannot be changed, cannot be altered. You read them in salah.
I cannot read a hadith Qudsi in salah. I cannot say (غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ) Then I say (يَا عِبَادِي إِنِّي حَرَّمْتُ الظُّلْمَ عَلَى نَفْسِي) No, no, no, haram. I cannot do that.
Why? Because that's not the deed that we were taught. But it's the word of Allah explained by Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم). So it's a hadith narrated by Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) but coming from Allah. So Allah says, and I'm going to translate the last part first.
He says, O My worshippers, indeed it is your deeds that I will reckon you with. Your deeds. The reckoning is happening with your deeds, My brothers and My sisters.
Allah is saying, O My worshippers, your deeds you shall be reckoned by. Then He says (فَمَن وَجَدَ خَيْرًا فَلْيَحْمَدِ اللَّهَ) Whoever finds goodness. Whoever finds goodness should thank Allah.
Writing Your Book of Deeds
On the day of judgment, your book will come. Written by whom? By you. You wrote your book.
So write it well. You are still writing your book. You are alive.
Your book is being written. If you've made mistakes in your book, well, when you go through that book, and you are doing the proof reading, and define print, and whatever else, those of you who might be authors know how many times you've got to go through the book, and how many people you give to check the book for you. Well, when it comes to your most important book of your life, you can still delete the errors that have been made.
By what? Tawbah. Seek the forgiveness of Allah. Do more deeds.
Do good deeds. Write a beautiful chapter everyday in your book. If you write a lovely chapter everyday, you smiled at someone, you helped someone, you did your salah, you didn't miss, you dressed appropriately, you stayed away from haram, you stayed away from sin and abomination, intoxicants and what have you.
What are you doing? You're writing a beautiful chapter. When the day ends, the chapter is plugged in. When the day ends, the chapter is plugged in.
The Angels Recording Our Deeds
I was reading another hadith Qudsi in Sahih al-Jami'ah, where the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says about the angels, that you know the angels on the left and the right. This is another very very powerful hadith. The angels of goodness that write good on the right side.
The angels that write the bad that you do on the left side. The angels of the right are actually in charge of the angels on the left. So when you do a good deed, it's written immediately.
But when you do a bad deed, do you know what happens? The angels on the right tell the angels on the left, don't write it yet, perhaps this person will seek forgiveness just now. A little while later, the angels on
the left say, can we write the deed? The angels on the right who are in charge, they say, no, not yet. Perhaps this person will seek forgiveness just now.
That's the second time. A little while later, the angels on the left ask the angels on the right, can we write the deed? They say, no, perhaps he will seek forgiveness before he sleeps, before he reclines to his bed. And when a worshiper has reclined to his bed without seeking the forgiveness of Allah, then the angels say, write it down, we gave him the chance, the deed is written.
May Allah forgive us. Look at the mercy of Allah. You do a good deed, it's written.
You do a bad deed, there is a small time before the deed is actually written against you. You're given a chance to seek tawbah. And like I said, this hadith is sahih.
It's in sahih al-jamia. My brothers and sisters, that is the mercy of Allah. But it's your deeds, your deeds that make you earn the mercy of Allah.
Receiving Your Book on the Day of Judgment
So Allah says, whoever sees good in the book:
As for the one who's given the book on the right hand on that day, the book of what? The book of deeds. It's called the book of deeds. As for the one who's been given the book of deeds on the right, he or she will say, read my book, I'm happy.
On that day, you have the right to be proud. Proud of your achievement. In the dunya, there's no pride.
On that day, the pride is not a negative pride, it's more a happiness. Subhanallah. So, this hadith Qudsi says, those who find goodness should thank Allah, and those who find otherwise.
Now if you've heard me speak in some of my speeches, when I speak of Jahannam and hellfire, a lot of the times, I don't call it Jahannam or hellfire. I don't know if you noticed. I'll let you in on something.
Based on this hadith, I always say, if you do good, you will get paradise. And if you do bad, perhaps, perhaps what? If you do good, you will get paradise. Perhaps you will find yourself elsewhere.
Perhaps you will, have you heard me say that? A lot of times I've said this. Perhaps we use the word elsewhere, somewhere else, something else. Because you know what we're referring to.
But because we are hopeful of the mercy of Allah, sometimes we don't want to say it. Just in order to instill hope in the hearts of the people. Taken from this hadith.
Allah says, (مَن وَجَدَ غَيْرَ ذُلِكَ فَلَا يَلُومَنَّ إِلَّا نَفْسَهُ) Allah says on one hand, whoever does good should thank Allah, because they're gonna see the goodness. And whoever found anything besides that, should only
blame himself or herself. Wow, what mercy of Allah.
Allah didn't say, whoever finds bad should blame himself. Allah says, if you found good in your book, you must thank Allah. And if you found anything besides that, then you have none to blame besides yourself.
That's what the hadith says. May Allah help us to do good deeds. So that was the last part of the hadith.
It goes to show the power. It goes to show how important deeds are. The power of these deeds when it comes to calling on the mercy of Allah.
The Beginning of the Hadith Qudsi
Let me take you to the first part of that hadith. Although it's not part of our topic, but it's the same hadith.
Hadith Qudsi. It starts off by saying:
(Muslim 2577)
O my worshippers, Allah is saying, I have prohibited wrongdoing and oppression upon myself. So do not oppress one another. Do not wrong one another. Dhulm would refer to injustice and any form of evil and oppression is called dhulm.
So Allah is saying, O my worshippers, I am not going to wrong you, I am not going to oppress you, and I don't oppress anyone, and I have prohibited oppression upon myself. So you do not oppress each other. Don't be bad to each other.
Be good, be kind, be just, etc.
(Muslim 2577)
O my worshippers, all of you are astray, except those whom I have guided. So seek my guidance and I will guide you. Powerful words from Allah. Showing you that Allah is in control.
When I started off here, I said, He who is in absolute control of every aspect of existence. You want guidance? Two things need to happen. You need to try and use the capacity and capability given to you by Allah to search for the guidance and to ask for the guidance.
And secondly, number one is to search for it, and number two is to ask for the guidance. So, the strength and energy I have, where is it from? It's given to me by Allah. So what should I use it for? To search what Allah asked me to search for.
I'm searching for the guidance. Today you are here. You could have been anywhere else.
You could have gone to the malls and the balls. Wherever else you wanted to go. Entertain yourself on a Sunday.
But you chose to use the capacity given to you by Allah to contribute towards this event. May Allah accept it from you. And to come to this event, may Allah forgive you and I. And grant us Jannah.
Ameen. Say Ameen. So, what did you do? You didn't just sit at home and say, O Allah, guide me.
O Allah, guide me alone. Allah says, I gave you the energy. Okay, we will guide you.
Make an effort. Get up. Use the power we gave you.
And we asked you to go and to do X, Y, and Z. You did it. Mashallah. If you did it, good news.
Allah says:
Those who strive and struggle in our cause to come to us, we will open the doors of guidance for them. Allah will not open the doors of guidance for a person who doesn't try. He doesn't even look for the guidance.
He doesn't even want it. Allah says, you want guidance? Well, work towards it. Try to achieve it.
You have to do the T, R, Y. We will do the rest. You have to try. We do the rest.
That's why every single day, we say (اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ - ihdinas-siraatal-mustaqeem) Quran (1:6) in every unit of salah. Not in every salah. In every unit of salah, we're asking Allah, guide us to the straight path.
Guide us to the straight path. Guide us to the straight path. Why? Because that guidance, Allah alone owns it.
He says, (كُلُّكُمْ ضَالٌّ إِلَّا مَنْ هَدَيْتُهُ فَاسْتَهْدُونِي أَهْدِكُمْ) All of you are astray, except those whom I have guided. So, seek my guidance and I will guide you. Hence, we say, guide us to the straight path.
May Allah guide us to that. Then, the hadith continues to say:
(Muslim 2577)
All of you are nude, naked, unclothed, except those whom I have clothed, whom I have covered. So, seek that cover, that clothing from me, and I will cover you.
Subhanallah. You know, nudity. When we say nudity, those who are unclothed, those who are exposed.
Who will cover you from that exposure? Allah. So, seek cover from Allah. He will cover you.
Whether it is covering your body, or your faults, or both. Seek it from Allah. (اللَّهُمَّ اسْتُرْنَا) In fact, when it comes to kiswah, when it comes to the term that is used, it is referring to your clothing, more than your dignity and anything else.
But, a deeper meaning would also include being exposed. So, we seek from Allah, because Allah is the one who will cover you. Allah is the one who will grant you.
Allah is the one who will clothe you.
(Muslim 2577)
O my worshippers, all of you are hungry, besides those whom I have granted food to. So, seek food from me and I will feed you.
Allahu Akbar. It means food and clothing, accommodation, everything is from Allah. Thank Allah for what He gave you by doing deeds, and by thanking Him verbally as well.
If you don't thank Him, He may take away what He's granted you. How many people have had homes and houses, and ownership of property and land, and overnight, in a second, it was gone. Whether it was an earthquake, a tsunami, a natural disaster, whatever else, or just a deal that's gone sour, overnight from riches to rags.
We've heard so many of those stories. But do we take heed? The answer is, unfortunately, not as we should. Take heed, my brothers and sisters.
The Sign of Accepted Deeds: Humility
Do your deeds. Let's do deeds for the sake of Allah. And a good sign that your deeds are being accepted by Allah, is that your deeds bring about humility and humbleness within you.
If I'm fulfilling salah, and I'm arrogant on my way out, there's something wrong with my salah. Because salah itself should prohibit you from fahsha and munkar, from that which is evil, sinful, and immoral. So if your salah is not preventing you from that which is evil, immoral, and sinful, there is something wrong with your deeds.
Change yourself. Do your deeds and become humble. Those of us who cover properly, those of us who read Quran every day, those of us who read five salah a day, watch your attitude.
Because that is the trap door of shaitan. He traps you through that. That's the hadith I spoke about earlier.
The hadith of the bankrupt person who comes with a lot of deeds, but they have wronged this one, and cheated that one, and deceived that one, eaten the wealth of this one. So their good deeds are given, and they are taken, and given to those who were wronged, such that no more good deeds left. So the bad deeds of those who are remaining are actually now going on to this person.
Subhanallah. That's why we say, my brothers, my sisters, (مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ عَشْرٌ أَمْثَالِهَا) Whoever brings a good deed on the day of judgment, and it was not taken away by bad that they did against someone,
that it was dished out to someone else, you were able to protect your deed after you did it. Allah says, we're going to multiply it for you by ten, and even more than ten.
Now do you understand what is meant by coming with a good deed? Subhanallah. You come with it. You don't just do it.
You do it and you protect it after you do it, like a jewel. You make sure that you have surrounded it properly, and no one must take my deed. People are backbiting, say, I'm not backbiting, you walk away with your deeds.
Subhanallah. But people were backbiting, and you backbite with them. What did you do? Your salah went, your zakah went, your hajj went, everything is gone.
You walk out, you got no more deeds left. Subhanallah. What happened? You didn't be careful.
You had su'udh-dhan. When people spoke about others, you thought the worst of them. What's wrong? Your heart needs to be cleansed.
Didn't we speak about quloobikum, your hearts, earlier on? The deeds of the heart, I'm sure we spoke about that earlier today. May Allah grant us an understanding.
Allah's Independence from Our Deeds
And this is why I want to end this beautiful hadith, where the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says, that Allah says, O my worshippers, you will never be able to harm me, no matter what you do.
And O my worshippers, you will never be able to benefit me, no matter what you do. O my worshippers, if all of you were as pious as the most pious person's heart on earth, it would not increase me in anything. And O my worshippers, if all of you were as sinful as the most sinful heart on earth, you would not decrease from my kingdom and my property and from me anything.
Allah is showing you how powerful He is. You do deeds, it's for yourself, not for Allah. When I worship Allah, it's not going to increase Allah's value.
When I don't worship Allah, it's not going to decrease Allah's value. It's to do with my value, me and I. Subhanallah. So do your deeds because it's you.
Allah's Infinite Kingdom
Then do you know what Allah says? Amazing. May Allah bless us all. Say ameen.
O my worshippers, if from the beginning, the first person right up to the end, the last person, all of you were to gather in one place and every single one of you were to ask me whatever he or she wanted from the beginning right up to the end and I were to give every single one of you whatever he or she wanted,
it would not displace from my kingdom and ownership except that which a needle would displace when it is put into the ocean. Subhanallah. You understand the kingdom of Allah? Allah is showing us who is the owner, who is the boss.
Allah is showing us who is the supreme, who is the inevitable, who is the maker, the power of the creator, the power of the one we are going to return to.
He says, all of you, not just you on earth today, the 6, 7, 8, 10 billion, whoever, and how many ever. Not just you.
The trillions who existed from the time of Adam, the gazillions, the Philippinillions that existed. Subhanallah. Sorry, that's just a number I created because we're in Philippines.
From the time of Adam going all the way down to the end of time, if everyone was gathered in one place and Allah gave every single one of you what you asked for, what you wanted, everything you wanted was given to you, Allah said, you know what? It will not displace from our ownership anything. That's what He is saying. The example He gives only by way of example.
Not that it displaced anything at all, but just to show you and I that you know what? When you throw a needle in an ocean, how much water is displaced?
Well, you know what? That is what the example is given of if Allah were to give everyone everything, it would not displace except that much, which means nothing. That's what it means. It would displace zero.
When you put a needle in an ocean, it displaces nothing actually. It's irrelevant. It's negligible, totally negligible.
And yet we think we're a big deal and we think we don't have to do deeds. Subhanallah.
A Lesson from the Remote Parts of Africa
I end with one beautiful example. A true story. My brothers and sisters, you, I'm sure, have visited remote parts of your country. I have visited remote parts of Africa.
Wallahi. I have seen people who have nothing. Nothing.
No house. No clothing. Meaning very, very, very little.
Food, they don't know where it's going to come from. And I've seen them so happy and so content. No phones, no gadgets, no makeup, no perfume, no accessories, no handbags, no cars, no whatever.
Nothing. They're so happy, so excited. And I've seen them worship Allah in an amazingly beautiful way.
I've been to remote parts of Africa that have made me weep, weep for days on end. When I've heard and seen little children do deeds and their parents beautifully teaching them and the melodious recital of the
Qur'an, which would be better than most of us, including myself. And you hear a small child in the middle of nowhere that barely has food and pure water to drink.
And they're reading:
And you start thinking to yourself, Allahu Akbar, Ya Rabb Al Alameen, these are the true worshippers. And look at us, we don't even read Salatul Fajr on time. Some of us don't even read Salatul Fajr, forget about Salah.
Some of us wouldn't even be bothered about trying to do things that would please Allah. Some of us are so affected by the environment around us that we are more embarrassed to face people than to face Allah. So we give up what would please Allah because we want to please the people.
That is so embarrassing. Yet there are people who have nothing in this world, or very very little in this world. And wallahi their deeds are mountains, mountains of deeds.
Where are we? Why do we think we're a big deal? I am humbled when I see the people. Travel on earth, travel in your own country, go to places, see people, and learn from people. And then you will realize that you know what? We need a lot of help.
The hadith says, materialistic items, look at those who have less than you, for you to appreciate the favors of Allah. (انْظُرُوا إِلَى مَنْ هُوَ دُونَكُمْ) (Bukhari 6490, Muslim 2963)
But religious matters and matters of the deen, look at those who are higher than you, so that you realize how much effort needs to be made upon yourself.
Conclusion
May Allah bless everyone of us. May Allah grant us goodness in the dunya and the akhira. I've overshot my time, but inshaAllah it was also part of a good deed. The brothers did tell me that, you know what? We don't really mind, inshaAllah.
So alhamdulillah. But even if they don't mind, I mind. MashaAllah.
Because I don't want to overshoot too much and make people bored. May Allah forgive everyone of us. Really it's an honor to be here.
I pray that we can love each other for the sake of Allah. I pray that we can do deeds and purify our hearts. A sign of your good deeds really being accepted by Allah, is your heart becomes softened.
If your heart is becoming hard, there's something wrong with you. When you start hating your brothers and sisters, there is something wrong with you.
No matter who, no matter what.
I've seen religious people, knowledgeable people, preach and promote hatred, and saying that is Islam. No, no, no, no way. Not at all.
When Allah sent the Moses, Musa alayhi as-salam to the Pharaoh, he told him to speak with softness, with kindness. To speak to him in a beautiful way, to remind him. When Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam spoke to the enemies, he spoke to them with respect.
There is a lot that we need to learn from. Remember, your heart is softened. When you get closer to Allah:
"Then their skins soften and their hearts to the remembrance of Allah."
One day we may talk about that.
May Allah bless you all. May Allah grant us a new beginning, in such a way that our good deeds carry forth, and our bad deeds are wiped out.
I say this statement of mine, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, Glory be to Allah and praise be to Him, Glory be to You, O Allah, and praise be to You, we bear witness that there is no god but You, we seek Your forgiveness and repent to You.