The Devil s Plan

So he worships his mind, his brain, his intellect and removes the Almighty from the equation.

Allah says, such a person, Allah has sealed their eyes, their ears and their faculties and none can guide them besides the Almighty.

So do you not take heed? May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us goodness. And what we mean here is, when the Almighty has revealed a verse or when revelation has come down, when the Messenger peace be upon him has clarified something in its authentic form, we need to know. Yes, it is important for us to try our best to understand what the Almighty is saying and why He is saying it.

But there will always be certain items we may not be able to understand exactly why they have been revealed. The mere fact that they have been revealed by the Almighty should be enough for us really to engage in it. Take a look at the Prophet Ibrahim a.s. He was instructed to do things that did not make sense to the human mind, but it made sense to the believing heart.

Allahu Akbar. So there is a difference between the human mind and brain and the believing heart. The heart of a believer surrenders to the Almighty whilst the mind might have a question or two of understanding.

But ultimately whether we understand it or not, when we know the source of the instruction and we still surrender to that particular instruction, we then join the ranks of those who are the friends of the Almighty, such as Ibrahim a.s. May Allah's peace be upon him. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us a lesson from his life as well. So brothers and sisters, it is important for us to protect ourselves from all types of association of partnership with the Almighty.

Because no matter how much salah we read, no matter how much Qur'an we read, no matter how many charities we have given, if we have associated a partner with the Almighty, we then spoil our deeds. And we have seen the warnings that were issued even to the messengers to say, you dare engage in any form of association of partnership with me, Allah says. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us protection.

Innovation (Bid'ah)

The next point that is important for us to realize is the issue of innovation. Where a person feels that they know better than the messenger. May peace be upon him.

The messenger peace be upon him was sent to us in order to teach us how to worship Allah. That was the reason why he was sent. He was sent to teach us how the Almighty wants to be worshipped.

So if anyone comes up with an act of worship that was not taught by the messenger peace be upon him, he has directly insulted the messenger, and he has also directly insulted Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The reason is, what was the point of sending a messenger to teach us how to worship Allah when we think we know better than him. May Allah protect us.

And sometimes people get so upset when we tell the people not to do things which were not done by the messenger. They think perhaps you belong to a sect that is deviant. May the Almighty protect us.

There is no deviance in a sect that calls towards obeying the instruction of the messenger and abandoning anything in terms of acts of worship that he has not taught. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us goodness. The messenger has said on many occasions, I leave with you two things.

For as long as you hold fast upon them, you will never be led astray. That is the book of Allah, and my traditions, my ways. May the Almighty grant us a beautiful return to the path of the messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).

Brothers and sisters, if you take a look at Surah al-Kahf, towards the end Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks about the biggest losers, those who do lots of deeds, and they think they are doing good deeds, but at the same time, they have not followed the messenger's path and way. And this is why they have lost:

Say, O Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), tell them, should I inform you of the ones who are the greatest of losers of their deeds.

People who have spoiled their deeds completely, they are those whose struggle was always astray. They neither followed the path of the messenger. They did deeds, acts of worship, which were not taught, not done by the messenger.

May peace be upon him. And they thought that they were doing good. Allahu Akbar! People who would like to add one raka'ah in the raka'at of dhuhr or the afternoon prayer, it would result in the nullification of the entire prayer.

Because we are only allowed the units which were done by the messenger. May peace be upon him. The same applies to all other acts of worship.

Beloved brothers and sisters, never ever think that there is a single act of worship that the messenger forgot to teach us. Never ever think that there is any act of worship that you may engage in that would be better than what the messenger has come with. And never ever think that the messenger has not done the deeds which were enough for us to follow.

So now we need to come up with a new deed and a new act of worship that would result in the spoiling of your deeds. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us goodness. This is why towards the end of the same surah, Allah says:

Whoever is looking forward to the meeting with his Lord should fulfill two main conditions.

Don't you want to meet the Almighty? Don't you want to meet your Maker? Don't you want to meet the One who created you? Well, if you want to meet Him, Allah says, whoever is looking forward to the meeting with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala should make sure that they have two qualities in them. One is that they do deeds that were taught by the Messenger alone. No extra deed.

Don't think for a moment that you will achieve spirituality by doing a deed that was not done by the Messenger, may peace be upon him. If you would like to know every deed of yours, ask the scholars around you, was this done by the Messenger? If it was not, you do not need it in your life, no matter where else it came from. May the Almighty grant us purity.

You do not need it, in fact, it will be a point of your downfall and mine if we were to engage in deeds that were not done by the Messenger, may peace be upon him. So, if you look at the tafsir or the explanation of the term (عَمَلاً صالحاً - 'amalan salihan) it means to do deeds that were taught by the Messenger alone. Those are good deeds.

(صَالِحاً - salihan) means that which is good enough and pure enough for acceptance. And the second condition that you would require if you want to meet the Almighty and if you are looking forward to meeting your maker, you need to protect yourself from association of partners with Allah Almighty. May the Almighty grant us goodness.

Brothers and sisters, Islam is very easy. It is us sometimes who add the salt and pepper to our religion in order to try and decorate it with innovation. Not realizing innovation can never decorate your cake, but instead it will make it unpalatable, that which can never be consumed.

May the Almighty protect us from innovation of every sort.

Oppression and the Bankrupt Person

Thereafter, when we oppress our fellow human beings, also our deeds are spoiled. They are messed to the degree that there is a hadith known as the hadith of the bankrupt person, where the Messenger, peace be upon him, asks, and I'm sure we've repeated this many times:

(Sahih Muslim)

Do you know who is the one who is a bankrupt person? And the companions respond saying, he is one who does not have any gold or silver.

In our terms, one with no cash. He's a cashless person. And perhaps he owes people so much.

So the Messenger says, no, a true bankrupt person is he who comes on the Day of Judgment with a lot of good deeds next to his name. A lot of good deeds. For example, he would have salah.

He would have lots of salah. Perhaps he might have salah in the masjid with jama'a in the first line. And perhaps he might not have missed his tilawa or recitation of the Quran.

Perhaps he might have engaged in lots of remembrance of Allah. Perhaps he might have given out lots of charities. Perhaps he might have gone for hajj, and he might have fasted in the month of Ramadan.

And he might have engaged in the voluntary fast. Now these are all signs of what we would term a pious person. Today, my beloved brothers and sisters, piety has become an item and an issue that people gauge by looking at the outward appearance of an individual not realizing that the true root of piety is the heart.

It begins to show outwardly correct, but not necessarily everyone who looks outwardly pious is actually internally pious. And not everyone who looks outwardly impious would be internally the same. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us the rectification of both, the internal as well as the external.

So, there would be people who have come with lots of good deeds, many good deeds, but ya'ti, when he comes, he would have slandered this one, he would have backbitten this one, he would have usurped the wealth of this one, he would have wronged this one, he would have sworn the other, shatama hatha.

Shatam means one who abuses verbally the others. Today we abuse those who work for us, we abuse our colleagues, we abuse our children, we abuse our spouses, we abuse our parents verbally.

How dare we do that when we are looking forward for the day we meet our maker? How do you think it would be when we present our swear words in front of the Almighty and say, Ya Allah, when I was in the world, you gave me one chance and here you are. Ya Allah, these are the words I used to use. A'udhu billah.

May the Almighty protect us from the devil. So the devil comes to us and he makes us harm someone, backbite someone. For your information brothers and sisters, backbiting is so dangerous that today we are living in an age of backbiting.

And people do not understand the meaning of backbiting because when you say, my brother, my sister, do not talk about this person bad because they are not here. They will tell you, but what I am saying is true. That shows the height of ignorance because the messenger peace be upon him has explained very clearly that when you are speaking the truth about someone else in their absence in a way that they would not like it if they were present, that is known as backbiting.

So to speak a lie is actually worse. So if you want to know what is backbiting brothers and sisters, it is to speak the truth about someone in their absence in a way that if they were there, they would not like it. May the Almighty forgive us all.

I would like to think that perhaps the bulk of us, perhaps myself included, sometimes we need to raise the awareness within ourselves of these type of words and statements. May the Almighty forgive us. And for

your information, when you backbite my brothers and sisters, immediately, your salah is given away, your zakah is given away, your good deeds given away.

You might be the most pious person externally, but because you have harmed someone through backbiting alone, or spreading rumor about them, or slandering. Slandering would mean al-buhtan, to create a lie about them. You would have given away your charities.

And this is why it's important for us to know that the Almighty has warned us through the lips of the Messenger peace be upon him, regarding every single way that the devil comes to us in order to snatch our deeds away. Do not let your deeds be snatched. If you would hold a piece of gold, you would make sure you hold fast upon it.

If you were to travel to a country where they told you, be careful of the handbag snatchers, perhaps you will make sure your handbag is well tucked in, in a way that nobody would snatch it. Why are our deeds exposed? And we are allowing everyone to snatch our deeds in a way that on the day of judgment, when we get there, this hadith continues, it says, so this man's good deeds go to the other, and the rest of the good deeds go to all those whom he has oppressed in any way, until he is left with no good deeds. But does it stop there? The answer is no.

So this pious man whom we all thought was so religious, is now strapped of all, or should I say stripped of all his good deeds, because he has oppressed so many people. And then what happens? There are still a line of people who are waiting for justice because he has oppressed even more by eating their wealth, by harming them, by spreading rumor about them, by doing whatever it is in terms of usurping their rights in the world. So now the bad deeds of those who are waiting, the bad deeds of the oppressed will now go on to the record of this man who owes them because of oppression.

So perhaps an adultery might go into his account. Perhaps another sin may go into his account. Perhaps the missing of a prayer might go into his account until he is taken and thrown and cast into hellfire.

May the Almighty safeguard us. That is by far one of the most serious ahadith or traditions of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) when it comes to the spoiling of our good deeds. Brothers and sisters, we take it for granted.

Today we spoil our good deeds with one SMS, with one email, with one phone call. We spoil our good deeds. Brother, you have your salah, protect it, protect it very dearly.

And this is why in the Quran Allah says:

Whoever comes with a good deed shall have his good deed multiplied tenfold. The reason some of the mufassireen make mention of the fact that to protect a good deed is ten times more difficult than to

engage in it. So if you engage in a good deed, mashaAllah, you deserve a good deed and you deserve the multiplication if you bring it with you on the day of judgment.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us bring our deeds on the day of judgment and may He make us from those who can protect ourselves.

Ingratitude (Kufr)

Another very important issue that we need to discuss today when we speak of spoiling our deeds is the issue of ingratitude. When we show ungratefulness to the Almighty, the term used is al-kufr.

And kufr as you know also refers to disbelief. Because when you have shown ingratitude, you have actually disbelieved in the gifts of the Almighty. And this is why Allah says:

Whosoever disbelieves in belief, whoever disbelieves in faith, has definitely spoiled their deeds.

If you take a look at those who don't have belief, those who don't believe in the first place, Allah speaks about them, He says:

We approached what they had done of deeds and made them as dust dispersed. So whilst they were in this world, because they were disbelievers, they might have been charitable, they might have been people who did lots of good deeds, so to speak. But because they disbelieved, we gave them their due whilst they were in the world.

In a way that when they got to the life after death, these deeds were all strewn all over, and they were of no benefit to them. So this is why you find sometimes the disbelievers are enjoying this world. They have good health, they have lots of wealth, perhaps they have children who are obedient to them, perhaps they have conditions of non-suffering.

But that is all sometimes just a payment for maybe a little bit of charitable deed that they may have engaged in. May the Almighty make us from those who appreciate the fact that we have belief, and we are from amongst the Muslimin, we are from amongst the submitters, and may He make us submit.

There are many verses in the Quran that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks about the loss of deeds that were done.

If you look at one of the verses revealed at the time of the messenger, peace be upon him, to raise the voice above the voice of the messenger, to create that which is disorderly, and to be disrespectful to the messenger, peace be upon him, is considered an act that will result in the loss of good deeds, the spoiling of good deeds:

This was one of the verses revealed at the time, where the companions were instructed not to raise their voices above the voice of the messenger, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And later on in surah al-Hujurat, Allah says:

And do not be loud in speech to one another.

And obviously from this we would learn the issue of respecting the messenger, may peace be upon him. When he has made a statement, it is not the same as my statement and yours. We take it, it is a spiritual religious instruction.

And we will adopt it and we will do our best to respect the word. Not only by putting it above our heads, but by following it. Some people think the respect of the Qur'an is when you put it in a high place, but you don't need to follow its words.

Allahu Akbar. Have you seen, sometimes in our homes, the Qur'an has a special place. But it is there, we respect it outwardly alone.

We see people putting the Qur'an on their heads, but do they follow it? That is the question. True respect of the Qur'an and the sunnah is when you follow the Qur'an and the sunnah. May Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala grant us a deep understanding.

Brothers and sisters, enough hypocrisy from myself and yourselves of looking at the words. As soon as we see a verse on the floor, we pick it up. Yes, that was a good deed, you picked up the verse because it was dropped on the floor, perhaps in a public place.

But did you follow that word? Maybe Allah wanted you to pick the word up as an evidence against you. It told you how to dress. It told you how to fulfill your salah.

It told you what type of wealth to eat. It told you what to abstain from. It told you to abstain from adultery.

We lifted the word, we put it up in a proper niche, in the right place, but we never ever adopted it. Is that respect? Is this what we want? May Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala not make us from those who spoil our deeds. So this is why we say, the Almighty has stated, whoever raises their voice above the voice of the messenger, perhaps their deeds may be spoiled without them realizing.

Brothers and sisters, today we speak, mashaAllah, what this would mean is we should never allow the statement of one of us to be granted more value than the statement of the messenger. May peace be upon him. May Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala grant us goodness.

Conclusion

Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala has warned us, and at the same time, He has given us good news to say, it is never too late, you are breathing, you can change your life:

And repent, turn to Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala, O believers, in order for you to achieve the mercy of Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala.

Closing Dua