Belief in the Unseen

You know what (غنى - ghina) in Arabic language means?

الغنى أصله الاستغناء - richness originates from not needing.

And what's the opposite of rich? Poor. What we call poor in Arabic language? Anyone knows? فقر. It comes from فقر - الفقير يعني الاحتياج - faqir means he needs. He needs somebody to help him. That's why all humans are فقراء, poor, because they need Allah:

"O mankind, you are those in need of Allah, while Allah is the Free of need, the Praiseworthy."

All humans are فقراء, poor, because they need Allah. And Allah غني هو - He's the most rich because rich, you don't need. If I have money, I don't need you. If I don't have money, I need you.

That's what it is. So the real meaning of rich, whatever you have, and you feel you are satisfied, you don't need anybody. So that means you became automatically غني.

Story of Al-Fudayl ibn lyad

That's right. Because الغنى, it's to feel that I don't need you. That's why الفضيل بن عياض man came to him and said to him, this is a gift for you. He said, "I will take it from you only if you are rich." He said, "Alhamdulillah, I'm rich." He said, "Do you have money?" He said, "I have 2,000 dinar, 2,000 pieces of gold."

Then الفضيل smiled. And he said:

"Are you looking forward to make this 2,000, 4,000?" He said, "Of course, absolutely."

فَقَالَ أَنْتَ فَقِيرٌ

He said, "If you are looking make it you are فقير because you still need that."

No problem, it's not a shame to be فقير But from that, you learn a point, that you know what, you reach to a point to be content, satisfied, with what you have.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ told us what rich means:

(Bukhari 6446)

"Being rich, it doesn't mean that you have so much money. Being rich is when you are content with what you have. When you feel that you don't need people."

Fourth Benefit: Protection for Society and Family

No doubt. Good deeds protect the society, the community, the family from being affected with the general punishment. The Prophet ﷺ was asked: "Will we ever be destroyed as a nation while we have righteous people among us, good doers among us?" The companions understood that as long as good deeds been practiced in the society, that will prevent the punishment from coming.

He said, "Yes, if the corruption became the majority, if the good doers or the good deeds became something minor and not common on earth."

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said in Surah Al-Baqarah:

"And were it not that Allah checks the people, some by means of others, the earth would have been corrupted."

Because there is good and bad on earth, because of the existence of good people, otherwise Allah will destroy the whole entire earth, and whoever on it. It is because your salah, it is because of your siyam, it is because of your qiyam al-layl, it is because of the sadaqah, of that two, four, five dollars that you put it in the box.

It is because of your participation in a circle like this. It is because of your participation in the dawah, in the mosque or in your area. Because of your support to your Islamic school. It is because of your support of any social activity that taking place in your society. Because of these deeds, Allah protects society.

Abdullah ibn Masarra said:

"It is because those who remember Allah and mention Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, while people are unaware of that, it is because of those people who always remember Allah, who always been grateful and thankful and asking for His forgiveness, otherwise Allah will destroy this earth." SubhanAllah.

Fifth Benefit: Righteousness of Your Children

One of the outcome of a good deed: the righteousness of your children. As much as you do good in this dunya, this is what impact and affect your children and the children of your children.

You remember the story of Al-Khadr? When he found that wall, when he built the wall, and there was a treasure underneath that wall, he said that their father had hidden this, he hid this treasure under the wall. The Quran says:

"And their father was righteous." This was their grandfather's treasure. This is the great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather. Can you imagine that? Because of his righteousness, Allah protect their children. You want to protect your children. You want to secure your children's future.

Make sure that you are not to die as much as from the good deeds. Sa'id ibn Musayyab, one of the great imams, one of the tabi'een, used to say when he pray in the night, he made his night prayer very long, and it's the only reason he make it, he made it so long like this, so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect you by this long night prayer. He talking to his own son.

Mothers, fathers, grandfathers, grandmothers, if you really care about the safety, the righteousness of your children, and your great grandchildren, make sure that you offer as much to death from the good deeds.

Sixth Benefit: Barakah in Time and Life

You know what good deeds make, how good deeds affect your life, make you live in good, it make your time and your moments and your hours and your days in this dunya blessed with barakah.

There is a great imam, his name is Nawawi, rahimahullahu ta'ala, Imam Nawawi. Imam Nawawi passed away when he was 45 years old. That's it, 45 years old. This man, his books, his writings, have reached every corner on the earth. Every generation since this man died, benefited from his work.

How many masjids in the world read from Riyadh as-Saliheen? How many persons learn from al-Adhkar by Nawawi? Millions and millions and millions of people. This person was able, managed to put together a lot of books, a lot of books in a very short period of time. They estimated that he used to write every day four big chapters. He authored every day four big chapters.

Ibn Taymiyyah, who died at 67 years old. Some of the ulema said that he authored over 300 books. And Ibn Ali al-Dhahabi said, no, it is 500. And Ibn Rajab said, I have seen more titles than 500. He said, Allah knows how many books that this man was able to write.

Ibn Abi Dunya authored 1,000 books by himself. Ibn Asakir, when he wrote the history of Damascus, do you know how many volumes? 80 volumes he wrote. Ibn Hajar in Andalus wrote over 400 volumes. Ibn Shaheen, 330 titles. One of his books, called Al-Tafseer Ibn Shaheen, 1,000 volumes.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give barakah in their time. Ibn Qudamah Al-Maqdisi used to pray 300 rak'ah every day. And he makes Khatm al-Qur'an every day. Every 24 hours, he makes one Khatm al-Qur'an. Where he get time from? And guess what? Those people, they work, they earn money, and they write book, they teach, they are good to their family, they look after their family.

Seventh Benefit: Exit from Hardships

You know what? Good deeds always provide you exit when you're on a hardship. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said in Surah at-Talaq:

"And whoever fears Allah - He will make for him a way out. And will provide for him from where he does not expect."

Those who have taqwa, Allah will always provide them exit when they're on a hardship, on a calamity. And will provide them from a way that they never anticipated.

You know, when the Prophet ﷺ told the story of three people who entered a cave and a big huge rock blocked the exit, how they were able or managed to exit that cave. Why? How Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala removed that rock? Through their good deeds. Every one of them mentioned the good deeds that he did in his life.

Story of 'Awf ibn Malik

This verse was related to the story of عَوْفِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ الْأَشْجَعِيِّ. When the kuffar, when the kuffar have taken his son. They've taken his son. The pagans in Mecca, they've taken his son. So, عَوْف went to the Prophet ﷺ and he told him, "Ya Rasulullah, they took my son. What should I do?"

And the Prophet ﷺ he can't fight in that time and to get him back. Then he said:

"Seek help from Allah and say: لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ"

He went home and told his wife. She said, "What did the Prophet say to you?" She's waiting for the answer. Then he told her, he only told me, "Say as much as you can: لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ." Allahu Akbar.

What do you think his wife said? Listen to the believer female, the righteous female, the good-doer female:

"Allahu akbar. What an excellent advice the Messenger of Allah gave you!"

All of a sudden, their son came home. All of a sudden, their son came home. And coming home with what? With 400 sheep. Why? 400 sheep with him. This is what happened.

He said, "I was one night sitting and all of a sudden, the mushrikeen, those who have taken me, they forgot, they forgot to tie my hands. And I kept quiet. And he kept drinking until he got drunk and he slept. So I was able to take all the sheep and he didn't even wake up. And I left the whole thing and I came to Medina."

And Allah revealed the verse about providing exit to them.

Abu Musa al-Ash'ari's Wife's Story

Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, his wife, she said, "Take this dirham and get us flour from the market. That's the only thing we have." He went.

And he said, "In my way I saw a beggar who cried, asking me by Allah and by all the names of Allah to give him. I couldn't do anything. I took the dirham and I gave it to him."

"And I said, my wife gonna make my night hell tonight. And I said, just to keep her busy, I found hay and I put the bag, filled it up with hay, looks like have something in it. And I give it to her and I run to the mosque. I run to the mosque. I don't want to face the problem. At least she come down a little bit, you know."

He said, "I came back and she was, she cooked bread. She paid for the bread. And I said, how did she do that? She said, from the flour that you provided me with."

Then he was crying. Allah, he doesn't know where that came from. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He provides and provides exits for you when you have hardship.

Don't ever when you are in the hardship, think that disobeying Him, stopping the good deeds will take you anywhere. Sometimes when some sisters come to complain about family problem, she is so stressful. She is very stressed. She has so much stress in her house. The first thing she did, she quit praying on time. She said, "I'm very depressed. I'm very bad situation. You know, even I don't pray anymore on time." Subhanallah.

Allah will provide you, Ya Akhi and Ya Ukhti, exit and provide to you from Allah. If the first thing you do, you quit doing the good deeds.

Eighth Benefit: Barakah in Everything

Wallahi, my brothers and sisters, one of the excellent outcome of the good deeds of us in this dunya: Barakah, not only in time, Barakah in whatever we have in our hand. Barakah in our children. Barakah in our money. Barakah in our homes. Barakah in our work. Barakah in our community.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said:

"And if only the people of the cities had believed and feared Allah, We would have opened upon them blessings from the heaven and the earth."

Barakat. Do you know what's Barakah? Barakah originally comes from the word, Birka. Do you know where all the water gathered? Like the oases or a place has a lot of water. When there's a lot of water, there's a lot of good around that water. Because water brings a lot of good.

So there's, basically you can have, you can plant trees, you can bring animals, there is shade, there is living. There's a lot of Barakah. That's why the word comes from Barakah. Because comes originally from the Birka. So, there's a lot of good will come to you. And this is what Allah said: A lot of good will come to you from heavens and earth. If people have Taqwa.

The Wheat from Umar's Time

Ninth Benefit: Radiant Faces and Good Appearance

Good deeds make your face shine. Nur, you achieve. Nur. That's why those who make Qiyam al-layl, their faces always shine. Because in the night, they choose to stay with the Nur of Allah, with the light, the source of all lights in Heaven and Earth. And Allah gives them from His light. You look good, you look fresh.

SubhanAllah, the ulema set an example. If you deal with somebody who's so rich, so powerful in this dunya, don't you think that being close to him, this will impact the way you look? I know some brothers in my own community, they were taken to work with congressmen, in our community. They used to come to my masjid. Young brother, mashallah, in his twenties.

I remember the way he dressed, and after he started working with the congressmen, after one year, wow, he looks sharp, he looks, you know, very clean, you know, the hair is just right, and the suit, and he looks, ya'ni, mashallah, very good. Why? Because he hangs out with people, powerful people like that.

It impacts. What happened to you? You can look, mashallah, very straight. I just want you to imagine those who are always with the King of all the kings, with Rabb as-samawati wal-ard, how you will look like, ya'ni? If this is how human impacts human, so how Allah will make you look like? As much as you come closer to Him, as much as Allah makes you, your face just by looking at the saliheen, you can recognize them just from their faces, from looking at them.

Tenth Benefit: Better Replacement for What is Left for Allah

Ya'ni, whoever leaves anything for the sake of Allah, whoever leaves anything for the sake of Allah, Allah provides him better than that. That's one of, the good deed is to leave what is haram.

One of our mashayikh said, who used to be a teacher in al-Azhar, he heard this story from his teachers as well in al-Azhar. He said in al-Azhar there, in the old days people come from the villages to study in al-Azhar and to live there. He said one of the teachers had one of the students, very nice man, but he was very poor and young.

One day this young man was walking by a house and he saw the house, the door open. He walked into the house and he found food, mashallah, fresh bread and butter and cheese enough to eat. Then he said "it's haram for me to eat from this. I am a student of knowledge, coming all the way from the south of Egypt to Cairo to learn, not to steal." Astaghfirullah, ya'ni, he went away from the haram and he felt good that he did that.

He said in the same day, and a woman came to this teacher. She talked to him. Then he said to this young man, "Come, I want to talk to you. Are you married?" He said "No." He said "I have this woman who came. She has a daughter. She's a widow. And her daughter, she has a lot of money from her father. She's looking for a student of knowledge, a person righteous who will take care of her."

He said "I don't have any money." He said "Don't worry. She will let you live with them. She is only the mother and the daughter and you marry her and you will basically, I know that you are trustworthy. Let's go see the girl."

And then what? It is the same house he walked into in the morning. He said "Wallahi, it is the same house I walked into and guess what? Now she provided us with the food that I was almost going to eat from that house. And now I got the food and I got the one who cooked the food." Wallahi, whoever leaves something for Allah, Allah will take care of them.

Eleventh Benefit: Divine Reward and Recognition

My brothers and sisters, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said:

"Is there any reward for good other than good?"

That's why, that's why those who have done good in their life, how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala rewards them in the dunya, in their life, and after their death, and after them.

Look at Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Ibn Mas'ud. Look at them. How many, how many young boys used to take care of the sheep and the goats in Mecca? How many young boys were in the time the Prophet doing this job? Hundreds and thousands of them. Do we remember any one of those people? Do we know their names? But every Muslim knows who Abu Bakr and Ibn Mas'ud are.

That is how جَزَاءُ الْإِحْسَانِ الْإِحْسَانُ. Abu Hanifa, Malik, ash-Shafi'i. Tell me if Malik was busy with being a businessman. Or ash-Shafi'i. Or Imam Abu Hanifa. You know what he used to do? He used to make silk, and he sold it. If this is what he will do, even if he opened the biggest factory in his life, in that time. What is it? Nobody will remember.

But those people, because of their righteousness, because of their good deeds, Allah made them famous like this. And guess what, Allah guided millions to follow the sunnah of the Prophet through them, in the smallest area, and in the biggest area.

Story of Imam Ahmad's Devotion to Sunnah

Imam Ahmad, one of the things that I cannot take it out of my head, when I remember Imam Ahmad, just to that extent, he followed the sunnah of the Prophet. Imam Ahmad, at one time, the ruler was mad at him, and he wanted to punish him. He was hiding in one of his student's house. One of his student's house, his name was Harb ibn Isma'il.

He stayed at his house three days, then he said, "Let's move." Then he said, "Why?" He said, "Because the Prophet was hiding in the cave three nights only." To that extent, to that extent, because of that righteousness, Ibn al-Jawzi said, when the flood came, when the flood came to Baghdad, the whole entire cemetery, the bodies were shown, and the water entered to the graves, and it stayed few meters away from the grave of Imam Ahmad. It didn't touch it. And all the people of Baghdad witnessed that.

Ali ibn al-Husayn az-Zaynabi, one of the judges in Baghdad, his home burned. He said, "Every single thing in my house was burned. Except a chapter from Musnad Ahmad, that was written by Imam Ahmad, his handwriting. This is the only thing that was not burned in my house."

Twelfth Benefit: Companionship in the Grave

Allah said it is your good deeds that you see in your grave.

Your good deeds come to you in the shape of a good person in your grave, telling you that, "I'm your good deeds." It looks good, it smells good, gives you good company, until the day of judgment comes.

Thirteenth Benefit: Peaceful Death Experience

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us that al-mawt is hard, is a very hard thing. (الموت مصيبة - al-mawt museeba) - It's a calamity. But for the believers, al-mawt is a different experience. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said:

Those who said "Allah is our Lord" and they stood fast, they did good deeds in their life. How's their death experience would be like? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said: "Don't be worried about what's happening behind your back and don't be afraid from the future. Then, give you the glad tidings of the Jannah."

Fourteenth Benefit: Safety on Day of Judgment

Good for you, when you will be resurrected from your grave. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said that every woman pregnant will lay off her load. When a breastfeeding woman will leave her child. Can you imagine seeing your own son, your own father, your own family, your own daughter, your own wife and you turn your back to them? You turn back, you run away from them?

The day, warn them about the day when everybody will regret what he or she did in this dunya.

And that day:

Everybody will be terrified, in heavens and earth, except the good-doers, except among the good-doers.

Why? Because they feared this day in their dunya. As Allah said:

Allah said that those believers used to feed the hungry people, people who need food, they give, they donate, they do good deeds. And they do this because they fear that day.

What is the reward? Good for them. That you will be saved on the Day of Judgment. That you will be surrounded by the angels:

Angels surrounding them telling them, "Don't be worried, don't be afraid. This is the day that you've been promised."

Salaam, Allah will save you, protect you from everything. You will be good, enter Jannah.

A call will call upon them: "Enter Paradise. As a reward for the good deeds that you used to do."

Fifteenth Benefit: Eternal Bliss in Paradise

Any good you do today, that's the good that you get tomorrow. That's the good that you get today, and tomorrow, and after tomorrow, and guess what? Forever. Forever you are in Jannah. In Jannah which has no end for it.

You ask about the people of Jannah?

You ask about the people of Jannah?

You ask about the people of Jannah?

You ask about the people of Jannah?

That's the people of Jannah. SubhanAllah, that's enough to describe.

Actually, the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad Rasulullah said: "There is nothing in Jannah from what you have here except their names." The happiness, the joy, the bliss in Jannah that Allah made it by Himself for them.

I ask you by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala: If I give you the choice between a house made of wood, made of wood, but this house will protect you in this winter season, in winter, in Toronto, or in Montreal, or wherever you are, Detroit, wherever you came tonight from. A house made of wood and concrete that will protect you. And I tell you, or I give you now a house made of gold, but guess what? This winter when it comes, it's not gonna protect you.

Which one you will choose? The wise person will choose the wood, which will protect him in the winter. So why, why are we leaving houses made of real gold and silver in Jannah, to run after houses made from wood and concrete in Dunya? And we know that the one in Jannah will last, and the one in Dunya will vanish. That's the reality.

Sixteenth Benefit: Good End in This Life

The good deeds will lead to the good end of this Dunya. Will lead to the good end of this Dunya, my brothers and sisters. Will lead that you end your life while you are doing something good. While you are pleasing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And end your life while you are so close to Him subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that's a guarantee that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives it to the good doers.

That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala lets them end their life while they are doing something good, if they are being sincere. Allah always is with those who are good. But not only outside, outside and inside. They are not shaytan's worst enemy in public, and his best friend in secret. No, not talking about those. May Allah protect all of us.

Seventeenth Benefit: Good Deeds Lead to More Good Deeds

My brothers and sisters, you know, maybe it's good to end with this point. One of the amazing rewards of the good deeds, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala rewards your good deeds by guiding you to do another good deeds. Allahu Akbar.

As much as you do good, Allah gives you, Allah allows you to make more good. That's why He said, if you see someone doing good deeds in the day, you have to know that he's been doing good in the nights. And that's why if you understand this, if you understand this, you know how can you earn the good deeds.

How can you earn the good deeds. If you want to enjoy qiyam al-layl in the night, if you want Allah to reward you by allowing you to do qiyam al-layl, make sure that you offer good deeds during the day, so you enjoy the night. You want to enjoy the khushu'? You want to enjoy the khushu' in your salah, concentration? You can understand, fully understand the salah? You want to earn this? This is a good deed to have khushu' in the salah.

If you want to earn it, offer something else. Offer that you pray the salah according to the sunnah of the Prophet. Following the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) in the salah will lead to the good deeds of the khushu'. You want to enjoy reciting the Qur'an and memorizing the Qur'an? I tell you, offer the good deeds of lowering your gaze.

Offer the good deeds of protecting your eyes from seeing what is haram in the daytime. And I guarantee you, when you look at the Mus'haf, the verses will totally look different. You want to enjoy listening to the Qur'an? Protect your ears.

Offer the good deeds which is avoiding listening to what is haram. You want to have khushu' in the salah when you come on Friday? Offer the good deeds by coming a little bit earlier. And maybe do two rak'ah before the salah and see how the salah will look like.

You want to know the knowledge and to understand the knowledge and to understand the fiqh in the deen. Make sure that you remember Allah in the day and the night.

Conclusion: The Limitless Nature of Good Deeds

My brothers and sisters, whenever you look at it from this perspective, your whole concept, the whole concept of the good deeds will turn to be something that has no end for it. There's no end for it.

In Islam we have minimum, but we don't have a maximum. The maximum is that you don't cross the sunnah, you don't practice bid'ah, you don't worship Allah in a way that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) didn't open the door for us, but within what is no limit. Because the Jannah is so huge. Because the reward in Jannah,

there is no limit for it. And as much as you do good deeds, as much as you earn from what you heard tonight, and more.

May Allah make us among Ahl as-Salah, make us among those who listen to the speech and follow the best of it.

Final Remarks About the Course

I just want to say something about the course that I would love to see. I would love to do this course in Windsor, but unfortunately I will not be able to do that. I have to choose one place in Canada due to my schedule.

I would like to tell you a little bit about what I'm going to be teaching this weekend. This is my fifth course, my fifth time to teach this course. Allah is my witness that I haven't fulfilled yet enough of this course.

And whenever I'm preparing it, every time, like the brothers in Toronto tell me, we are excited about the course, we have 400 people or 500 people, and the same thing last week in the US. I challenge them, I tell them this. Wallahi, if you put all your excitement in one side of the scale, and you put my excitement about this course in the other scale, mine is way more than yours altogether.

I challenge you. Why? Because I really love this, specifically this course. Why? Because it's talking about the life of the ulama.

Imam Abu Hanifa, may Allah be pleased with him, used to say: "Wallahi, studying and learning about the life of a scholar is more beloved to me, sometimes, than learning the fiqh that they have said or wrote." Absolutely. Because this is something every Muslim should learn from.

Stories of the Scholars' Impact

Imam Ahmad, may Allah be pleased with him, 5000 attended his class. 400 wrote the hadith. And the rest, they learned from his manners. From his behavior, from his adab.

The scholars were not just about knowledge - one of the things that's really one of the conclusions, one of the points I try to stress in this course a lot, to show you another perspective to the scholars. The scholars, first of all, are humans. How they made a change on the people around them.

They used to say, in Al-Kufa, Al-Waleed ibn As-Sadiq said that his father, Abd Al-Malik, sent him when he was a kid. His father told him, "Go study under Al-Fudayl ibn lyad." He said, "If I look at the people of Kufa today, and I think of somebody, every morning, his knowledge, his iman, his manners, are better than the previous day would be Al-Fudayl ibn lyad."

Meaning, every day he increased. Every day, he goes one level higher. What did you learn from Al-Fudayl ibn lyad? I was looking forward to see what kind of knowledge he's going to teach.

Listen to the father advising his son. He said, "I want you to learn from this shaykh, how he avoids talking about things which don't concern him. I don't know anybody in Al-Kufa who has control over his tongue like this man."

That's what I teach in my course. That's what I want you to know about the scholars. That's what I want to expose to you by coming, and looking, and studying, and seeing, how those people had so much self- control over themselves. How much effect over the people that are around them. And so much impact in the society that they live in.

And to be able to see this, not only through one period, or a hundred years in Islam, it is actually from the 2nd century all the way to the 14th century. Taking you all the way from Spain, all the way to India. I will walk you inside the villages and buildings, to see what life in India looks like, in the time of the scholars that we talk about. And to see the city of Cordoba.

Where there was not known a single illiterate citizen, in the Muslims in that time. Not a single illiterate person. A hundred percent of the population in Cordoba in that time, they knew how to write and to read. Unbelievable society.

Then to go through Egypt, Basra, Samarkand, males, females. They couldn't do that in other parts of history as well. But through the life of those individuals.

So I really, I would love your community to come forward, and to make that trip and journey, to learn and to share. Basically, since I've been teaching this class, the brothers and sisters, the amount of information.

One thing makes me so excited, because I don't preach in this class, as much as we discuss things together as a group. So that's why every class has its own flavor, because a lot of good feedback, basically, I get from the brothers and sisters who participate.

If you have a wife, take her and your children to enjoy that weekend.