Replacing Bad Deeds with Good Deeds

Replacing Bad Deeds with Good Deeds

By Sheikh Waleed Basyouni - ICNA-MAS Convention 2019

The Promise of Allah and the Day of Return

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us: "For you is the appointment of a day, you will not remain there after an hour, nor will you proceed. O mankind, indeed the promise of Allah is truth, so let not the worldly life delude you, and be not deceived about Allah by the deceiver, the Satan."

It's been said that the following verse is the last verse was revealed to Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The last verse was revealed to Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam:

"And fear a day when you will be returned to Allah, then every soul will be compensated for what it earned, and they will not be treated unjustly."

The Day When No One Can Help

On that day when we return to our Lord:

"That Day a man will flee from his brother, And his mother and his father, And his wife and his children, For every man, that Day, will be a matter adequate for him."

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said people will flee from their family members, from their brothers, sisters, parents, children, spouses.

Even in Sahih Muslim, Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us that Mary, Maryam will say to Isa alayhi wa sallam, Son, and he would say:

"I cannot help you mother with anything today."

(Bukhari 3527)

"O Fatima! Ask me whatever you want today, but I cannot help you with anything on the Day of Judgment."

Nothing will help you on that day. Or benefit you, your wealth, your children, your family, your degree, nothing. The only thing will benefit you that day:

"The one who will come to Allah with a sound heart."

The Scale of Deeds and Success

The one who will be saved from hellfire and enter Jannah:

"Those who will be saved from hellfire and led to enter Jannah have attained the greatest success."

But how this will happen? What do you think will bring tranquility and safety to you on that day? How you will be saved from hellfire and enter paradise? Allah answered this and He did not let it for our guessing or to guess it out:

In Surah Al-A'raf, and there are several places where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, in that day, weighing of deeds on that day will be the truth. So those whose scale are heavy, it is they who will be successful. And those whose scales are light, the scales of the good deeds are light. Either because they didn't offer much or because the scale of the bad deed is so heavy that it made the good deeds so light. Looks so light like nothing. Those the one who will lose themselves by ending up in hell fire.

Principles of Good and Bad Deeds in Islam

So if this is the case, I would like to say a few words about this concept. Hopefully something that you can register in your heart and your mind and you think about it so often. Because as you heard in the end of the previous talk, it's not about information. It's about transferring this ilm and knowledge into actions. There are certain interesting principles in Islam in regard to the concept of good deeds and bad deeds. And there is a reason behind that concept, behind these principles, I will end my talk with it.

First Principle: Multiplication of Good Deeds

For example, one of the interesting principles that Islam told us that any good deeds you do, it will be multiplied immediately. Multiplied to ten times and up. So the minimum you get for any single good deed is ten rewards. You never get one reward for one good deed. You take ten for each one and that's the starting point, ten. Ten to seven hundred to more than seven hundred.

"Those who come with one good deed, it will be multiplied to ten. And those who come with a sin, it will be counted as one."

فِي حَدِيثِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ فِيمَا يَرْوِيهِ عَنْ رَبِّهِ that Allah have made a rule in regard to the good deeds and bad deeds:

(Bukhari 6491)

"There is a rule how it will be documented in your record."

Then Prophet ﷺ said that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said if you do a good deed, it will be multiplied to way more than seven hundred : إِلَى أَصْعَافِ كَثِيرَةِ "To many folds."

And if you do one sin, it will be written as one single sin.

One sin. Prophet ﷺ told the companions, is it too hard to earn 2,500 rewards every day?

2,500 good deeds? It's kind of a lot. Then Prophet ﷺ said after every salah, you say (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhan Allah) ten times, (الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ - alhamdulillah) ten times (اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ - Allahu akbar) ten times. He said that's what? 150 with your tongue and 1,500 in your scale.

Five times a day, ten times (اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - Allahu akbar, alhamdulillah, subhan Allah) that's 150 times ten, that's 1,500 Then Prophet ﷺ said, and before you go to sleep, you say that's 100 with your tongue and 1,000 in your scales on the day of judgment. That's 2,500 just for these two simple tasks.

Then he made a beautiful comment ﷺ. He said, and who among you commit 2,500 sins a day? Maybe there are some but these days, but I hope not many. And I'm not talking yet about praying five daily prayers, I'm not talking about (الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ، جَزَاكَ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا - Alhamdulillah Rabb as-salaam alaykum, jazak Allahu khairan)

The Excellence of Certain Times and Places

I'm not talking about any other deeds, only these two simple tasks. It's amazing that some deeds are multiplied to 700 and more. There are among us people the default is not 10, the default is 700.

And Prophet ﷺ said whoever perfect his Islam, the multiplication start from 700. If you perfect your Islam, it doesn't count anymore 10, anything it will be 700 and up. How can you multiply that? How can you raise them 10 if you wanted to increase the 10? You look at the time of your good deeds, the time like the prayer in the middle of the night, the prayer to stand for the truth in a time where people stand up for the truth.

They don't speak truth to power. That's a time where reward is higher. In the time of fitan, when you hold into your religion, your reward is much higher than other days.

Ramadan is coming, the reward of it much, much higher than any other time in the year, in Laylatul Qadr and so forth. Place. I have no doubt in my heart, those who hold to their Islam in a land where Muslims are minority, prosecuted, where basically been attacked, are much higher in reward than those who live in comfort and safety.

As-salah in the masjid is multiplied than as-salah in the house, the fareedah. Also the deed itself, some deeds by nature they are high in reward. Ibn Umar said, as-sadaqah, charity, start from 700.

You need the 10 dollars, the 100 dollars, the 1,000 dollars you donate to ICNA or you donate to one of these organizations. Here, it starts from 700 and up, in your masjid, whatever. Also the person, the more ikhlas you have, the more reward you do.

And Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the best of sadaqah is the one that you give when you're still young. You're not afraid of death, nor you're afraid of, and while you're afraid of poverty because you're still not very rich, you worry about the future, you want to save, but you still give from that money. These are things will make your deeds multiply.

And by the way, if you look at these things, if you make the opposite of them, it will make your sin greater. I don't believe that sin can be multiplied, but I do believe that the size of the sin, the severity of the sin, the punishment of the sin can be greater based on the time, the place, the person, the sin of the scholar. It's not like the sin of the jahil.

The sin of a sheikh or elderly is not like a young man, and so forth. And that's the way to basically reconciliate between the khilaf that was mentioned by some of the salaf about is that sins are multiplied. Because some of them said, a sin in Mecca is a hundred times double, for instance.

Second Principle: Good Deeds Erase Bad Deeds

The second principle, it's beautiful. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said:

"Good deeds erase bad deeds, but not the opposite."

Anytime you do bad deeds, you follow it with the good deeds, it will take care of it.

(Tirmidhi 1987)

"Follow bad deeds with the good deeds, it will erase it, take care of it."

يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ I did something terrible, what should I do? He said يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ I kissed and I touched a woman that I'm not supposed to do so with her. She's not halal for me.

Prophet ﷺ said go pray two rak'ahs. And he recited the verse. By the way, the man came repenting and regretting. It's not like okay, we got it, two rak'ahs, it's easy. Don't misunderstand the hadith. And you have to balance it based on the size of your sin, the size of your good deeds.

That's why Umar رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ when he showed a little bit of objections and a moment of heat and excitement to the Prophet ﷺ in the incident of al-Hudaibiyyah, what Umar said: قال

"I made good deeds like in the size of mountains to erase that sin"

That he consider something major, big. But be careful, good deeds erase the bad deeds when it comes to between you and Allah, not between you and other human beings. You steal somebody's money, then you go make hajj and umrah.

You know, you cheat people and you do sin that harm other people and you say, subhanallah, before you go to sleep. That doesn't erase that sins. And nothing will erase sins like tawheed.

"The light of iman and tawheed will remove any darkness of any sin or any shirk."

Third Principle: Replacement of Bad Deeds with Good Deeds

The third principle, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said and told us:

Those who repent to Allah and change the course of their life, change their lifestyle, what Allah will do to them? Will replace the bad deeds with good deeds. If it's a million bad, if it's a million sins, Allah will replace it and make it a million rewards.

And take care of that, erase that completely from your record. It's interesting how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is so generous that in the day of judgment, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will tell the person that all these sins, I forgive it and I give it in return for good deeds. He said, Ya Rabb, there are other sins even I don't see it right now in my record.

If you can bring everything, if the case can be replaced, I would like all of them to be replaced. By the way, some of the scholars said: تَبْدِي السَّيِّئَاتِ "The replacement of the bad deeds to good deeds."

It means that as Allah, basically Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will allow you, will inspire you to use your wealth, your body, the talents that you used to use it in bad deeds, you will start using in good deeds and doing something good.

You will be more excited about doing good, like not before, you're excited about doing the haram. Now after repentance and changing the course of your life, Allah inspire you always to love to do what is right.

Fourth Principle: The Power of Intention

Number four, which is very unique. And Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us that when you intend to do something good and you don't do it, because whatever reason prevented you from doing it, your intention there, you want to do it. But something happened to prevent it from doing it. You know what? I want to pray in jama'ah, but my car broke down. You take the reward as if you exactly prayed in jama'ah in the masjid. You want to go to hajj, you got sick, one of your family got sick, you get the reward as if you exactly went to hajj. Amazing.

But what if you intend, but you didn't do any effort. Just my intention to wake up in the night, but I didn't turn on the clock or alarm or anything like that. I never really have, you know, I never took the means to do it.

You will see that the majority of the fuqaha said you still get the reward: أَكْثَرُ الْفُقَهَاءِ يَقُولُونَ "You still get reward for it."

As for the sin, if you intend to do something haram and you left it for the sake of Allah because you fear Allah, Allah reward you for that fear of Him.

And if you intend to do something haram and you didn't do it, because you know what? I'm kind of busy, I'm not going to do it now. You will not be sinful. You only be sinful if you said it or you did it.

That's when you get sin for it. Unless you take actions. You take the action, you will be sinning according to the intention of yours and the action that you took.

Like for example, somebody intend to steal a bank or steal a house. He went all the way to the house, he tried to break in, you know what? The alarm goes off. He run away.

He didn't get the sin of the exact stealing, but he get the sin of the movement, of the trying, of breaking the privacy of someone. He still get sin for that.

That's why Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: (كِلاهُمَا فِي النّار - kilahuma fin-nar) (Muslim 2888) "The two people who fought one another."

Because he's sinning for carrying weapons and fighting his Muslim brother. Otherwise, he doesn't take the exact sin of a killer or a murderer.

Fifth Principle: Forgiveness for Mistakes

Number five. Any sin that you do, by mistake, it's forgiven. Out of complete ignorance, it's forgiven. Accidentally, it's forgiving. It will not be count against you.

The Opportunity for Good Deeds

I want to end with these few seconds left for me by saying this. My message to you today with showing this beautiful principle in Islam and Sharia is not to undermine the dangers of sins.