Allah Does Not Let Good Go To Waste Virtual Khutbah

Allah Does Not Let Good Go To Waste | Virtual Khutbah

Opening

Alright everyone,

Introduction: Allah's Promise of Reward

Dear brothers and sisters, I wanted to share a reflection today on the verses in the Quran that speak to this concept of Allah not letting good go to waste. Now these are things that we find throughout the Quran, this is not necessarily one verse or one particular context, but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioning, for example,

Anything that you do will be repaid by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in ways that you could never have imagined and in ways that will greatly outdo the initial deed.

Allah's mercy, Allah's gratitude will always be greater than whatever deed you put forth for his sake, subhanahu wa ta'ala and I wanted to speak particularly to this verse

Types of Waste and Divine Justice

And there are different types of waste that could be implied here. There is the ultimate promise from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that everything that is done here will have its reward, will have its proper compensation in the hereafter but when it comes to the importance of us knowing that our efforts are not in vain especially when the presence of evil seems to be so overbearing or the presence of hardship or whatever it may be, the counter forces of good seem to be so heavy that a person feels paralyzed and doesn't know is it really worth it anymore.

And by the way, you know, when we're doing something good and we're not seeing the output or we're not seeing the reward of that good in this world, then that is a way for us, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, to keep ourselves sincere and to remind ourselves why we do good in the first place. We don't do good with the condition that we have to see the results in this world, we don't do good certainly with the condition that we have to be credited for that good in this world but what are the implications of this and how can this really be an empowering verse for us.

And inshaAllah ta'ala tonight by the way the session will be about al-Latif, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala being subtle in our Quranic healing session but I want to speak about this inshaAllah ta'ala.

Context: The Command to Remain Firm

First of all the fact that واصبر wasbir) - "to be patient" - for verily Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not let the reward of the good doers go to waste, this comes in surah al-Hud and surah al-Hud after one of the scariest ayat to the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم:

"To be firm as you have been commanded to do and those that have turned back with you should also remain firm, should also remain upon istiqamah and do not turn back وَلَا تَطْغَوْا )wala tathaw), because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not love those who turn away and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is well aware of that which you do."

So the command to stay firm that was given to the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم comes before this and of course this surah was one that was distressing to the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم because it spoke about sort of this last warning to the people after which you know, comes punishment after all of these years of patience with them and calling them, after which now comes punishment.

But

Historical Example: The Change of Qibla

Some of the scholars actually quote a narration in which some of the sahaba that lived past the changing of the qibla from Jerusalem to Mecca, were worried about their companions who had passed and their prayers that were done before and so you know when the Muslims migrated to Medina they were still upon the qibla, upon the prayer direction of Jerusalem and then 16-17 months in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala changed the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca, from al-Quds to the Kaaba and some of the sahaba worried about according to this narration, worried about their companions that had passed away before that change of qibla, would their prayers still count and the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم

taking that to Jibreel عليه السلام and Jibreel عليه السلام coming down with the verse from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that Allah does not let the reward of those who have done good go to waste.

So that's a very specific notion here that there was a time in which this was done and it was done in this way and the nature of that good, the mechanics of that good have changed but the intention and the way that it was put forth are still given in full credit.

The Example of Khadija radiAllah ta'ala anha

And subhanAllah you have to think about the sahaba that lived as Islam was developing before their eyes and all of these new obligations were coming down new good deeds were coming down and promised rewards with those good deeds and Khadija radiAllah ta'ala anha did not live to see the five prayers legislated, she didn't live to see Ramadan legislated, she didn't live to see zakat legislated, she didn't live to see the hajj legislated, right the only one of the five pillars of Islam that Khadija radiAllah ta'ala anha caught was

No Good Deed Goes Unrewarded

One of the things that we find one of the implications of this verse is that when you enter into Jannah, لا تُظْلَمُونَ )la tuzhlamun) - "you will not be wronged," Allah mentioning that you will not be wronged, in that you will not have any good deed that you did missing on the day of judgment in terms of the reward if it was done sincerely for him then you can expect to be rewarded fully by him so you will not be wronged no hardship that you endured with patience and steadfastness will go unrewarded on the day of judgment, لَا تُظْلَمُونَ )la tuzhlamun) you will not be wronged.

And you know beyond that this idea that on the day of judgment every deed that you intended both in terms of a deed that you were not able to perform but you intended to perform a deed or a deed that you intended to do good by, but the results of that good were underwhelming ok, so you know there are deeds that you intended good deeds that you sincerely intend and the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says to us:

"That verily actions are but by intention, and everyone is going to have مَا نَوَى ma nawa) what they intended Allah will give them the full reward of that which they intended, so long as they were sincere in that intention."

If something missed you, not because of a lack of intention but because of a circumstance that was out of your control, the reward is full, if you've been unable to pray Jumu'ah because your masjid is not open in the pandemic, every Jumu'ah that you intended is written down full bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, because anything as the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said anything that misses you as a result of a sickness or travel, or a deed that you would have done but because of circumstances out of your control, you're unable to do, Allah will give you the full reward of that deed, you're not missing any of it, you're not missing any of it.

Examples of Intended vs. Actual Deeds

If a person went into a coma and they missed the last 10 nights of Ramadan, and every single year, the last 10 nights of Ramadan they do i'tikaf, they'd have the full reward of that i'tikaf, if a person goes to hajj or a person intended to go to hajj and they're unable to go to hajj this year, and they're sincere in that intention, the full reward of hajj is written down for them bi-idhnillahi ta'ala.

So, there are deeds that you intend of good to do that you don't get to do, but you have the full intention, and the reward is written down and then there are sometimes deeds that you get to do, but it didn't turn out the way that you wanted them to turn out, okay, so for example, you gave sadaqah to a project, and you were sincere in giving your sadaqah to that project but, you know, there was a hang up, the masjid didn't end up getting built, whatever it may be you intended to do something good because you thought that it would yield certain good in society for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and so you put something forward, thinking that this was going to be good for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah will not reward you according to the underwhelming result, Allah will record you according to the greatest potential that you intended of that project okay, so that's the generosity of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

So both the deed that you intended to do, but you were not able to do, and the deed that you intended to have some sort of effect, but it didn't actually have that impact that you sought, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala you know, in his mercy الشكور ash-Shakur), in his gratitude Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would incorporate all of that in your reward,

The Impact of Good in This Life

But, you know, I want to really speak to the impact of good in this life okay, the impact of good in this life and we can root out, you know insincerity here, that if a person does something seeking praise then that lowly praise will come in this life, and what remains in the hereafter will be the opposite of that, may Allah protect us, if a person does something in this life that is good but to achieve something that is dunyawi in its nature, worldly in its nature, and that's their intention, then, you know, their reward is restricted to this world and Allah will choose whether or not to punish that person in the hereafter but sometimes it can just feel very debilitating right, that, you know you think you're doing some good and you just, you're overwhelmed by the presence of hardship, it's like, you know what good is this anyway if when I'm doing this good, all of this is happening.

The Challenge of Charity in Ongoing Crises

So if you think about it in the capacity of charity, right and I'll mention this, subhanAllah, and I say this and I don't want to take away from any of the relief agencies and the great work that they're doing in fact, I want to support them you know, you feel like hey, you know, I'm giving this money to support our brothers and sisters in Yemen or Afghanistan, or Somalia or Mali, or the Rohingya, or whatever it may be right, Syria, Palestine, you can go the list goes on and on and on and on and you're seeing that the situation is getting substantially worse.

Now, as Muslims, you know, we want a world in which charity is unnecessary you know, when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم tells us about the return of Jesus peace be upon him when Jesus peace be upon him comes back, when Isa عليه السلام returns what happens, right? Charity becomes unnecessary because righteousness is established and affirmed on this earth and so as Muslims we're obviously thinking about those bigger things, right but sometimes it can feel just, you know, you can just feel so you know, debilitated and not really have that motivation lack the motivation to give anymore to these charitable causes.

You still should give to those charitable causes but you still should work in small ways with the same mentality, with the same mindset towards doing away with the things that are making that charity necessary and not feel overwhelmed by either of the two circumstances meaning, yes my small charity is not big enough to feed an entire village but it's good enough to feed that one person and I'm pleased with that, right and if I can do more then I'll feed more and yes my advocacy work and the things that I'm doing are not good enough to stop the zulm of this people the oppression of this people all together but if it can stop them by limiting their oppression or if it can you know, if it can stop the oppression to a segment of the people then Alhamdulillah, right.

You know I still don't lose sight of what I want in terms of the entire you know, the entire eradication of the zulm in all of its manifestations political, theological, spiritual social, all of it, right that wrongdoing, I should want it to go away and I should not belittle the effort that I put forth in that regard.

The Hidden Impact of Good Deeds

And it's important for us when we say that Allah does not let the good of the good doers go to waste to understand that in this life you don't know what impact you are having, you don't know the inspiration that you are giving to good that you might not even see materialize in your life and you don't know the enabling that you are doing of good you don't understand the full impact of the good that you might be enabling, the good that you might be inspiring or the good that the impact that might be coming out of your good in any capacity it's impossible for us to understand the full workings of that.

And if you look at people that do, you know, that go on to do great things, they're usually inspired by a moment that the one who was doing the inspiring might not have deemed very significant right, you know it was just a talk that someone got or it was you know, a few minutes that they listened to or it was something that I saw someone else doing that inspired me to do something good and the reward is fully to that person and they might not even know what they inspired, who was watching, right, who was watching what ideas were derived out of that, what someone took from your sincere effort and in renewing their own intentions and making sure that they too were sincere and moving things forward.

You don't know who you're inspiring, you don't know what you're enabling, you don't know what impact the good that you are doing is actually having and that's the beauty of this all, right that you trust that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala definitely knows the full impact of it, you ask Allah to expand your good as much as possible and you ask Allah to reward you for every single element of that good, that which you know and that which you don't know for surely He knows and the most implicit ways in which good is inspired by that good or good is done as a result of that good, in ways that you could never quantify because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in His generosity can quantify it all right, can bring it all on the day of judgment things that could happen generations from now, things that could be happening in your own lifetime that you would not attribute to some good that you did but Allah attributes it.

And so in the same way that when we're talking about the qadr of Allah the decree of Allah, that we trust that there are workings around us, that we are unable to perceive and comprehend that would allow us to understand evil and hardship in a more holistic way, had we had that comprehension, the same is true when it comes to our efforts of good that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala surely sees the impact of that good, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's knowledge encompasses it all and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's generosity can reward it all and that should keep me going when I find myself in a situation where I see that my good is having no impact.

Again this is not talking about sincerity versus insincerity you have to move past that or build on that, not move past and that's insignificant, it's the most significant element of this right, that I'm doing it only for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and no one else, I'm doing it only for Him and no one else, but building on that, that I am confident and assured that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will bring something out of this that is greater than what I can perceive and that in His generosity Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will reward it all bi-idhnillahi ta'ala.

The Example of the Prophet in Ta'if

And so with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمon the worst day of his life, as he was surrounded by the people in Ta'if, the children and the sufaha, the children and the thugs and the fools of Ta'if surround the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم for a span of several miles, spit at him hit him with stones, curse him right, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم it would be very difficult for him to see anything but rejection on that day right, it would be very difficult for him to see anything but rejection on that day, I mean there are people literally in your face, punching you spitting at you, cursing you causing your body to be covered in blood how could you see any success in that mission.

But even the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم knows that he does not know what child heard his recitation of the Qur'an, a child in Ta'if that would come years later and say, I remember when you came here and called our elders to Islam when you called our people to Islam and you recited سورة الطارق Surah at-Tariq) and I memorized it from that day the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would not have known that but the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had trust in Allah knowing that and rewarding that as well.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was not aware of the jinn that had come to listen to him while human beings had rejected his message that there were other creations that were present that listened to that Qur'an being recited by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and went back to their tribes to call them as well the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would not have known that had Allah not made that known to him صلى الله عليه وسلم

And so sometimes you are speaking to a people or you're doing some form of good and you're not seeing the benefit in the intended audience but it might be that the unintended audience was meant to benefit from it and they will carry it forward and they will do good with it and Allah will reward you fully because you intended with the deed good and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would not let it go to waste.

The Hadith