Service to others and its reward
By Yasmin Mogahed | 2026-01-10T03:32:43.514215+00:00 | Topic: Justice
Service to Others and Its Reward
Opening Remarks and Introduction
I want to start out by saying that I already love this crowd. You know, SubhanAllah, I've spoken to a lot of different groups for many years and you know, it's a beautiful crowd. It's a beautiful event. It's a beautiful cause. I was told that almost exactly one year ago today at this exact event my sister spoke. So it seems to be a family tradition and it's a great tradition.
I stand here in front, you know, before you supporting nine different organizations, all of which are doing amazing work. Work which is very much a part of our Islamic tradition and that is social work, that is social services, providing social services for the community.
The Core Concept: Giving to Others is Giving to Ourselves
See, the thing is about service is that, you know, whenever I get a chance to stand up here and speak with a group of people for a cause that has to do with service, I always hope, my goal is to have people leave the room with just a couple concepts and if people leave with just a few concepts then I'll feel happy.
I'll feel content and one of those concepts is this, is that when we give to others we are essentially and first and foremost giving to ourselves. Anytime I reach out and I help another person up I am actually helping myself first and helping that person second and I'm going to spend the rest of the few minutes that I have with you telling you why. Why is it that when I give to others I am essentially giving to myself? I'm going to make two arguments or rather two types of arguments.
One is just a purely secular psychology argument and the other is the Islamic argument.
The Psychological Argument: Positive Psychology and Human Well-being
Now, if I look at this question from just a purely secular psychology perspective, this is what you'll find and that is that, so there's traditional psychology which tended to look at what's wrong with the human being. The focus with traditional psychology had been for a long time looking at abnormal psychology, you know, the different things that can go wrong and then what are the symptoms and then how do we treat it, but more and more we now are coming out with the sort of the new wave of psychology which is called positive psychology and positive psychology isn't so interested in looking at what can go wrong with the human being but rather more focused on how can we improve the well-being of the human being? How can we just be happier people? How can we live more fulfilling lives? And here is what's very interesting about what they found.
The Universal Human Motivation for Happiness
They found that in essence, to sort of summarize, every person is essentially motivated towards seeking more happiness. People want to be happy. Pleasure is something that's just a human motivator. Everyone agree? That no matter what religion you follow, no matter what, you know, race you come from, no matter what your background is, there's something that we all have in common and that's that we all want to be happy. Yeah, everyone agree? All right, so this is a shared human motivation and shared human experience.
The Baseline Happiness Theory
So what they found in their studies is that people essentially have something like a baseline happiness, all right? Everyone wants to be happier but what the research shows more and more is that people kind of hang out around their baseline and it's not so easy to go up from that.
And what's interesting is they find that even when really amazing things happen to you, you know, people who win the lottery, people who get a new job or a promotion or a raise or you know they get married or they have a child, these kinds of, you know, nice things that happen to people. What they find is that this will provide a spike in that happiness but essentially it's more or less it's sort of temporary. That it's a spike but then people end up coming down to their baseline.
The Myth of Happiness as a Destination
So what are they looking for? They're looking for well how can we do what? Increase our baseline because it seems like these things are happening and you know we always think that once I get that job, right? Then I'll be happy, right? Once I marry that person, right? Then I will be happy. Once I have a child, right? Or once I become, you know, a size 4 or whatever it is if you know depending on which culture you live in.
I was just joking but I was telling my husband this that it's no matter, this is a side note, but no matter what a woman looks like, no matter what size she is and no matter how much she weighs, she always wants to be thinner and the reality is it's kind of like we are so socialized in general to think that no matter where we're at we could always go less as women and this is an unfortunate consequence of the media, alright? But that's a side note.
So this idea, this idea and that's also because of something called Photoshop. The women don't look like what they look like. It's like we want to look like these women but these women don't look like these women. You know what I'm saying? Because the photo is photoshopped. I mean there's something called a thigh gap but then there's just an abyss and it's like it doesn't exist. But anyway, the reality is that we have this idea that when I reach you know this particular destination then I will be happy but really what the research finds is that's not how happiness works.
Happiness isn't a destination and even when we reach these so these so-called destinations and these milestones in our lives, it doesn't actually make us overall more happy but it's this very temporary spike.
The Two Reliable Ways to Increase Baseline Happiness
Long story short, what did they find? They found that there are, although it is extremely difficult to increase your baseline, there are, they found two very reliable ways to increase that baseline and one of them is service to others and that is very powerful because what it teaches us about human nature is that when I give to you, when I serve you, when I help someone else who's in need, when I reach out and I you know pick someone else up, I am actually making myself happier and that's amazing and the interesting part about it is very few other things will do the same for my own happiness and well-being. That's a powerful reality.
Money and Happiness: The Truth About Spending
You know they tell you that money doesn't buy happiness, right? They all told you that but it's a lie, okay? In fact, money buys happiness and you're gonna be like what's happened to her, right? But what the studies have found is that money buys happiness when it is spent on others and that's amazing, right? That when I spend money on myself, it actually does not make me happier. This is the result that they found in studies, that people can spend on themselves and it doesn't make them happier. There might be, you know, a temporary sort of peak in my pleasure but that actual well-being is found that the increase in well-being is when I spend on others and that has been found to reliably increase happiness and well-being.
Again, this is the the design of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is how the creator made our fitra. Our nature is that it actually feels good to give to others more than it does to just be selfish and if I keep that money, I may keep it, I may get rich but it actually isn't making me happier whereas if I spend it on others, it makes me happier.
Service as Treatment for Depression
Now so far, I haven't talked about religion. So far, I'm just talking to you from a purely psychological secular point of view that this is just the design of the creator, that the creator has made us in such a way that it actually feels good to help and that one of the ways, in fact, this is so powerful that one of the most effective ways to pull a person, if a person is dealing with depression, if a person themself is struggling, one of the most reliable ways to pull themself up is to pull up another person, is to help another person who is suffering, to help, to lend a hand to another person is one of the most reliable ways to pull myself up and that's again, that's the design of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Service to others.
The Power of Gratitude
Now I told you there were two ways to increase that, that well-being, right? And the second is gratitude.
It is the practice of gratitude. It's when we, you know, there's this, there's this cartoon, it's sort of like a meme, right? And it has two pictures on it and I think it's very illustrative of this concept.
At the top, it has a little kid and the little kid is holding a plate with one slice of cake, all right? Now if we think of, okay, so this cake, this one slice of cake, he is looking at this slice of cake and he has a huge grin on his face. He's extremely pleased, all right? And then underneath him is another picture of another child who's looking at an entire cake, missing one slice, and he's looking very sad. Why is the one on the bottom sad and the one on the top happy? It all has to do with what they are focused on.
You see the one on the top, the one on the top only has one side. Let me ask you this question. In terms of actual quantity of cake, who has more? The one on the top or the one on the bottom? The one on the bottom. The one on the bottom has the entire cake. So maybe this, the one on the bottom has like nine slices out of ten, all right? The one on the top only has one slice, but the one on the top is actually happy and the one on the bottom is sad. And the reason for this is simply because of what is being focused on.
The one on the top is focused on what he has and the one on the bottom is focused on what he does not have, what is missing. And this is another reality that we find. Very, very powerful reality psychologically.
And that is what you focus on grows. What you focus on grows. So whatever you focus on, if you focus on what you have, it'll start to look bigger and bigger in your eyes. And if you focus on what you don't have, it will also start to look bigger and bigger in your eyes. And so the practice of gratitude is one of the other reliable ways to increase this baseline happiness.
The Islamic Perspective on Service
Now I want to take a moment and just sort of switch to the, what does the Quran and the Sunnah say about service? So I've given you guys an argument of how the designer, how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala actually made the human being that we are motivated to give, because not only do we get the reward in the hereafter, but he actually has designed it so that we get an intrinsic, immediate reward in this life from serving others.
Is that we actually feel happier. We get our own happiness and our own increase in our own well-being by giving to others. But now I want to sort of switch gears a little bit.
The Fundamental Principle: How We Treat Creation Reflects How Allah Will Treat Us
And that is talk about what does the Quran and the Sunnah, what does Allah and his Messenger say about service to others? Now when you look at, and you kind of do a scan of the text, when you look at the Quran and you look at the Sunnah and you look at the examples of those who came before us, you'll find that there is a principle that's throughout the text. And that principle goes like this. The way in which we treat the creation is how Allah, how God will treat us.
So I'm going to repeat that. The way in which we are with people, and in fact it's not only people, but all of creation, even animals. There's many examples of treatment of animals.
But this is the principle. The way in which we are with the creation is an indication of how God will be with us. You guys understand what I'm saying? So for example, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) teaches us that if we are merciful with people, then the Creator will be merciful with us.
And he also teaches us the other way around, that if the one who is not merciful to people, the one who does not show mercy to people, will not be shown mercy by God. And we have other examples of this.
The Story of Abu Bakr and Forgiveness
You know, one of the most powerful stories, and subhanAllah it's a story, it's a timeless story, about something that we, many of us know about. But sometimes we don't really look deep and see how this story teaches about this principle, and about the principle of forgiveness and mercy. During the time of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), as you know, Aisha was accused. And when she was accused of being unchaste, her father Abu Bakr found out that one of the people who was accusing his own daughter was a relative.
And not only was he a relative, but he was a relative who Abu Bakr was financially supporting. So can you imagine that? You find out that not only your neighbor or your friend, but your own relative, who you are giving and supporting, is one of the people spreading this awful rumor about your own daughter. Slandering your own daughter.
So what does he do? He doesn't go out looking for revenge. All he does is withhold the financial support. If we put ourselves in that position, I mean, you can only imagine how we would react. All he does is withhold the financial support. And Allah (جل جلاله) reveals an ayah at this occasion. And this is a timeless lesson for us.
And Allah (جل جلاله) tells us tells Abu Bakr and teaches all of us, let them pardon and overlook. This is what Allah (جل جلاله) says. Let them pardon and overlook.
The Divine Paradigm of Forgiveness
Now, I want to pause for a second and think about this. What is it that keeps us from being merciful to others? What is it that keeps us from giving to others? What is it that keeps us from forgiving others? A lot of times it's things like, well, they don't deserve my forgiveness. Does that sound familiar? He doesn't deserve or she doesn't deserve this forgiveness from me, this generosity of forgiveness from me.
But what's very interesting is that Allah (جل جلاله) makes a completely different argument in this ayah. He doesn't say for Abu Bakr to pardon and overlook because this man deserved it. He says something else.
The question is this. Do you not love for Allah جل جلاله to forgive you? You see, that's a completely different paradigm that he is being told to treat this relative in the way that he wants to be treated by God.
The Islamic Transaction Model: Serving Creation for the Creator's Reward
You understand? And that's a different way of looking at things because typically we think of our interactions with the creation as sort of transactional between me and you. I do for you, you do for me, right? Like I scratch your back, you scratch my back. But see, Islam came to teach us a different transaction. Allah came and the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) came to teach us a different type of transaction and that is I do for you because Allah will do for me and that's different, right?
I use this example of like a customer service representative. Has anyone ever worked in retail or customer service? Okay, so when you work in customer service, you learn this very, very early on. Well, first the customer is always right, right? No matter how rude the customer is being to the customer service representative, the customer service representative has to treat the customer kindly, right? The customer service representative has to be kind, has to be polite to the customer, yeah? Can anyone tell me why? Because they want to get a check at the end of the month. It's as simple as that, okay? It's not because they're going to get paid by the customer.
Are you guys following? They aren't getting, you know what I mean? They're on like an hourly or whatever. They're not getting paid by the customer but they're getting paid by the boss. Are you guys following? And so the whole idea is that they treat the customer not for what they're going to get back from the customer, they treat the customer for what they're going to get back from the boss.
And their pay comes from the boss. Their reward comes from the boss. And if they are not good with the customer, then they don't get their reward at the end of the month.
You understand what I'm saying? And Allah is high above any analogy. But Allah makes the best kind of transaction with us. And that is this. He has told us that no matter what, we should treat the creation with mercy. And we should reach out and give to the creation. Not for what the creation is going to give back, but for what Allah is going to give us.
You see? So the transaction is not between me and the creation, but it's between me and the creator. And when I give to people, I'm not expecting the people to pay me. I'm expecting that reward from Allah.
The Divine Deal: Allah's Reward System
And this is that concept. This is that concept of service that we have in Islam. That when I give and I help, my hope is that I'm going to get that help and that service. That service is going to be rewarded by Allah. And if you think about it this way, if you think about it this way, if I made a deal with you, suppose I made a deal with you. You go out and you find a house.
I noticed that in Atlanta, you all have really big houses. The South is like, I don't know, it's intense. For what you can get a castle here, you could get a one-bedroom studio in California, but that's a different story.
So suppose you see a castle, right? Like a mansion out here. And you find out from the builder or from the owner that it's actually worth 10 billion dollars, I don't know if you have houses that expensive. 10 million, let's say. But today you find out that it's your lucky day and it's on sale for a cent. So this house that's actually worth 10 million dollars, you get it for a cent. You pay one cent, you get the house that's worth 10 million dollars.
The Psychology of Getting a Deal
Would you feel like you got a deal? Even if you have food coma, you know you got a deal, right? It's very interesting to study the psychology of Black Friday. Have you guys ever studied Black Friday? Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, if you see what a person, what a human being will do to get a deal, it's pretty intense. It really is.
And in fact, you almost find that every year someone gets killed because people want a sale at Walmart. And that's how it works. Human beings are very motivated for a deal. They'll stand outside in the freezing cold, right? Outside Best Buy. There used to be people who would camp outside Best Buy because they want to get a sale on a laptop. You guys understand what I'm saying? One time there was this lady going around Walmart with mace because she wanted to get the, I think it was like a video game or something first.
I mean, this is the psychology of people to get a deal. Now, why am I saying that? Because God is making a deal with us, you know? And Allah says that he makes, he knows our nature. He created us.
Allah's Infinite Deal
But look at Allah's deal. Here's Allah's deal. Allah's deal is, I help the creation, God helps me. See, I give to the creation, right? The creator gives to me. And now this isn't, remember my example, like about a few minutes ago when I said the $10 million house for a cent. You're getting something worth a huge amount for a small amount.
You following? Now, think about the reward of Allah. Think about now. There's a hadith in which the Prophet says that the most beloved person to Allah is the one who is the most beneficial to people.
So now we're not talking just about a $10 million house. We're talking about the reward and love of God. And this is by me lending a hand to the creation. Something that is maybe easy for me to do. Something small. And as a reward for that small action that I make, I get something infinite.
Forget $10 million. You see, the Prophet said that if you help a person in need, guess what happens? God helps you when you're in need. Now, can you think about that for a second? God. I'm not talking the president, you know. I'm not talking about some, you know, some big politician who has some power. I'm talking about God.
I'm talking about the Lord of the universe. That He will help you out. That if you help another person, the Lord of the universe will help you.
The Reciprocal Nature of Divine Help
And the hadith goes on to say every time there's, you know, there's an action that you do to the creation, God will reward you with that action for you. So you help a person in need, God will help you when you're in need. You, you, you, you, you know, you help get someone out of a difficult situation.
Guess what? Newsflash. We're all going to get into a difficult situation at some point in our life. And forget for a moment the difficult situations of this life. Let's look at something more difficult. And that is the next life. The day of judgment is something intense, right? And we all know this.
We all know we're going to stand in front of Allah. And that's going to be a difficult day for everyone. I mean, it's going to be a difficult day. And on that day, Allah says that if you helped people out in this life, Allah will help you out at that time when you need it the most and when I need it the most.
Our Desperate Need for Allah's Mercy
And you know, it's very, very important to know this. You and I are in desperate need of the mercy of Allah. You know, sometimes we forget this, but even the prophet, even the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, even the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that no one enters paradise by their deeds alone, except that Allah has mercy on them. Without the mercy of Allah, none of us will enter paradise. And they asked him, his companions asked him, even you, oh Rasulullah, even you.
He's the perfect human being, you know, as perfect as a human being can be. And he said, even me. So we know that if he's in need of the mercy of Allah, what about us? And this is one of those ways in which Allah جل جلاله gives us almost like, you know, a shortcut to the help and the mercy of God is help another person.
Be merciful to another person. When you see someone in need, give to them and God will give you infinitely. That's what I call a deal, right? We're not talking one cent for 10 million, follow me. This is infinity. This is an infinite reward.
Abu Bakr's Response to Divine Guidance
So what did Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه do when this verse was revealed? So remember, this relative, right? This relative who had accused or who had spread the rumor about his daughter and he was financially
supporting.
So when he, this verse was revealed and Allah is saying, do you not love for Allah to forgive you? And Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه because of this and he wanted the forgiveness of Allah, not only did he continue that financial support, he increased it for this man. Why did he do that? Like how could he do that? It's because it wasn't about him and the relative. It was about him and Allah.
And every single time you give, every single time you serve, essentially it's about you and God. It's about showing Allah جل جلالهI'm doing my best to help your creation. And Allah, when Allah pays you, it's not like any boss, you know? Allah's paycheck is infinite.
Understanding the True Benefit of Giving
So this is why, subhanAllah, everyone who usually stands up here and encourages you to give, they may make you think that you're doing someone else a favor. You guys understand? And yes, you are. You are helping others.
But I want you to realize that essentially you're actually doing yourself a favor. That when you give to others, you're making yourself richer. Even when you give any amount of money, you're making yourself richer.
The Counterintuitive Advice for Financial Struggles
And this is an amazing phenomenon of God. You know if a person is struggling financially, you know the best advice I can give to a person struggling financially? This might sound counterintuitive, give charity. Isn't that weird? But wait a minute, you're telling me that I'm struggling and you want me to give? And I say yes.
The Investment Principle in Islamic Giving
Because you know what? Any accountant knows this. If you want to grow your money, do you hold on to it or do you invest it? You know this, right? But see, to a little kid, they don't understand the concept of investment. It looks like it's being lost, right? If I tell a little kid, give me five dollars and I'll invest it, they'll think they're losing that money.
They don't understand the concept, right? But to an adult, especially an accountant who understands the way it works, they know that if you want to grow your money, you don't hold on to it. Keeping your money in the bank isn't going to grow it. You're only making the banks, you're helping out the banks, but you're not helping yourself, right? How do you grow money? You invest it.
Meaning, you give a portion and then you get back. You get a return. And when you get a return, it's not in the same amount that you invested. It's grown, right? That's how it works with sadaqah. That's how it works with giving charity. Now you've made an investment, but not with, you know, the stocks, but with
God, yeah? So you've given an amount to Allah in order to grow your own money and that's actually how sadaqah works.
When you give to Allah, it doesn't decrease your wealth, it increases it. And this is something like those who've tried it can bear witness to it. That anytime you give for the sake of Allah, sincerely for Allah, you will always get that back times some factor. You will always get it back and more. If you want to grow your wealth, give for the sake of Allah.
The Universal Application of Divine Investment
And by the way, it doesn't only work for wealth. It works for anything, any kind of gift that you have. If you have some extra time and you give a portion of that time to Allah, meaning for the sake of Allah, you're volunteering, you're helping in these kinds of services, you know what will happen to your time? It will increase. You guys know what I mean? Allah will put blessing in your time because you gave a portion of it for enough for, you know, for the sake of Allah.
Allah will give you blessing in your time because realize that time at the end of the day is a creation of Allah. Time, Allah's not constricted by time. Allah created time so Allah can expand or contract his creation. Allah can put blessing in your time when you give it for the sake of Allah. And it's the same with money. It's the same with wealth. It's the same with your abilities.
The Secret to Protecting Your Gifts
If you want to protect any gift that you have, you know what the secret is? Give a portion for the sake of Allah. Use the gift for the sake of Allah and that's one of the best ways to protect it.
If it is your wealth, give a portion of it and that will protect it and increase it. If it is health, use your health to help others and Allah will protect and increase it. If it's time, same thing. Any ability that you have, if you give, you will actually get back and you will protect it.
The Power of Sadaqah in Protection
SubhanAllah, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in a hadith, he says that one of the ways to protect ourselves from calamity is through sadaqa. Sadaqa is so powerful.
There's an ayah in the Quran that says that after death or at the time of death rather, people are going to beg to be able to come back to this life, to have another chance, right? People are going to want to be able to come back and to get it right. And you know what people are going to want to come back and do? The first thing that they say is so that in order for us to give sadaqa. That this is how powerful sadaqa is.
That when a person's soul is being taken and they want to go back, when they're dying and they want to go back to this life to get it right, the first deed that they say they want to do is that they want to give
The True Prototype of the Most Beloved to Allah
Now I'm going to wrap up with this. If I were to ask you this question, if I were to ask you to think of the person who you, you know, if you think of the prototype of the one who's most beloved to Allah, right? Someone who's really really pious, typically what comes to mind? You know, usually what will come to mind is maybe a person dressed a certain way, right? Someone who spends most of their time maybe in i'tikaf, in the masjid, right? Praying, staying, you know, in seclusion in the masjid. This is the type of image that we might come to.
The Prophet's Revolutionary Teaching on Service
But what's very interesting is there's a hadith in which the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says that the most beloved person to Allah is the one who benefits others the most.
(Tirmidhi)
And that this, this, this is the part that really blew my mind. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that it is more beloved to me to help my brother in their time of need, to help my brother in their time of need than to make i'tikaf in this masjid. Now hold on for a second.
When he's saying this masjid, which masjid is he talking about? He's talking about the masjid, in Medina, all right? So he's saying that it is more beloved to me to help my brother or my sister in their time of need, to walk with them in their time of need than to do i'tikaf in the masjid an-nabawi in Medina. And this is the masjid where one prayer is equivalent to a thousand in any other masjid. And he's saying that it is more beloved to me to stand and help, to help my brother or my sister in this time of need than to, than to do i'tikaf and not for one day but for a month in this masjid, in masjid an-nabawi.
i'tikaf is seclusion in the masjid. You know in Ramadan when we really want to get closer to Allah, what do we do? We go and do i'tikaf. He is saying that helping and serving another person in need would be more beloved to him than being an i'tikaf for a month in masjid an-nabawi.
Conclusion: Recognizing the Divine Honor in Service
And we have that opportunity. We have that opportunity, and that opportunity when it's given to us, we should realize that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is honoring us. Allah is blessing us if we're in a position to help another person in need.