Basicofislam
sister
Benevolence: Performing Good Deeds
Amr Khaled
:salam2:
Introduction
Our topic of discussion for today is related to one of the verses of the Chapter 'Al Hajj', "O ye who believe! Bow down, prostrate yourselves, and adore your Lord; and do good; that ye may prosper."
Benevolence, or performing good deeds, is just like our sustenance, or means of living. This is since Allah (S.W.T.) blesses us with entities which He might also bless orphans, a poor man to take care of, some one in need, or a person who wants to get married and needs some money to continue the marriage arrangements. The idea is not just doing good deeds when we have the chance. It should be involved in our daily lives.
Presently, people everywhere in the world are complaining. They complain that people are no longer willing to perform good deeds. People are afraid of each other, afraid of being betrayed; they can't trust anyone and they doubt everything. The less people there are doing good deeds in this world, the more people will feel worried, tense, afraid, and insecure.
The solution is to try to perform more good deeds in this life. One of the old Egyptian phrases states, "Do good deeds and throw them in the sea". This is an absolutely wrong saying! Good deeds are never to be thrown in the sea! They are never to be performed for nothing! Allah (S.W.T.) will reward us! For example, if you are sitting in a bus and an old man is standing, and you stand up to offer him your seat, you will find yourself in the same situation, but this time you will be the old man and Allah (S.W.T.) will provide you with a young man who is willing to offer you his seat.
Examples of Rewards from Performing Good Deeds
I would like to share a story which happened to my friend. He was driving his car with a group of friends. They were talking, so he wasn't really concentrating on the road, and he hit the car in front of him. Knowing he was the one to be blamed for the accident, he got out of the car, thinking that the man driving the other car will shout at him, and ask him for money to repair the car, or even call the police. Surprisingly, the other man took a look at his car, and said, “There is no harm done, you can go.” Shocked, he went back to his car and shed a tear. This is since he remembered that some time ago the same situation happened to him. However the only difference is that it was not his mistake, rather it was the other driver's mistake. However when he saw the driver with his family, he didn't want to upset them. So he told him the same words, “There is no harm done, you can go."
Allah (S.W.T.) says in Chapter Ra'd [Thunder]: "For the scum disappears like forth cast out; while that which is for the good of mankind remains on the earth."
Even if the reward from Allah (S.W.T.) for the good deeds that you have performed doesn't come in your own life, it might be given to your children after you die. In Chapter Al Kahf [cave] Allah (S.W.T.) says: "As for the wall, it belonged to two youths, orphans, in the town; there was, beneath it, a buried treasure, to which they were entitled; their father had been a righteous man: so thy Lord desired that they should attain their age of full strength and get out their treasure a mercy (and favour) from thy Lord. I did it not of my own accord. Such is the interpretation of (those things) over which thou wast unable to hold patience."
Since the man was good and lived a life devoted to performing good deeds, after he died Allah (S.W.T.) saved his treasure under the wall of the house for his children. Allah (S.W.T.) then sent two of his Messengers; Prophet Musa and Al Khidr, to rebuild the wall. This is so that his children would notice that their house was being renovated and would in turn come to find their treasure.
Seeking the chance to perform good deeds is just like seeking the means to live. Some people wake up early, asking Allah (S.W.T.) to help them earn some money, or any other means of living! Whereas others ask him to provide them with many good deeds that they can perform during the day. Is there is anyone who thinks like that nowadays?
Another story is that of Om Salamah. As she was migrating from Makkah to Madinah with her husband and son they were stopped by the disbelievers. They only allowed her husband to migrate and forced her and her son to return to Makkah. She kept asking for their permission to migrate for almost one year until they finally give her permission. She was to travel alone from Makkah to Madinah.
Let's look at several obstacles she faced:
• The distance between Makkah and Madinah (approximately 450 km).
• Her age (she was an old woman).
• She had nothing to travel on meant that she had to go there by foot.
Thus it was considered to be a very heavy task.
As she was starting her journey from Makkah she met one of the disbelievers called Othman Abu Talha. He asked her about her destination and she replied that she was making her way to the city of Madinah to accompany her husband and the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.). When he knew that she was to travel there alone on foot, he instantly offered her a ride on his camel and took her Madinah. He took her there without any intention to harm her or to ask her to pay him back one way or the other. His only intention was to do a good deed by safely taking the old woman to her destination. When they reached Madinah he asked her to dismount from the back of the camel and he went directly back to Makkah again. What was his reward from Allah for doing this? His reward is much bigger than his deed. Allah blessed him and guided him to the light of Islam. A few months later Othman Abu Talha made the same journey from Makkah to Madinah, but this time he made it to join Islam and the Muslims in Madinah.
Another story is that of a man who had a three year old son suffering from cancer. He was sad and worried about his son's condition. One day as he was walking in the street he saw an old woman searching in the garbage trying to find something to eat. He was surprised and he approached the woman trying to ask her why she was doing so. She answered him that she is responsible for an orphanages and she had no money to buy them food so she had to find something in the garbage to feed them. The man felt sympathy for the woman and he asked her about the number of people in her family. After counting the amount of food that would be needed for such a family in a week he took her to a grocery shop and he made an agreement with owner of the shop that this woman will come to him every week to take a certain amount of food without paying any money. He made an agreement with the owner that he will pay the price of the food. Just one week later he noticed that his son’s health was getting better, surprisingly he took him to the hospital to check. When they started examining him all the people working in the hospital were astonished; they didn't believe that this is the same child they examined before as the child was totally cured and nothing was wrong with him. The man goes back home thinking again and again about this and how could it happen. He couldn't find an answer to the miracle just happened to his son. Until he was reading one of the books which included the hadith of Prophet Muhammad which says "Cure your illness by giving charity". He finally knew what cured his son from cancer; indeed it was doing the good deed he did.
We should all be looking for good deeds to do; we should try to ask about the poor people in our families, the sick people, the orphanages, and the widows. Sustenance is not only some food or money that Allah offers us to support our life. It is much more than that; it is the benevolence or the good deeds that Allah puts in our ways. Doing the good deeds is our safe passage to solve our problems, to restore our lives and remove our sorrow and sadness.
Let's take a look at the story of Ahmed Ben Meskeen one of the great followers of Islam. Once he was very poor that he couldn't afford to feed his own wife and child and his child was crying from hunger to the extent that he couldn't bear it anymore. So he decided to go out trying to find something to feed his family and he met a man who gave him some bread with meat and sweets. He was very happy with the man's charity and he was running back home to feed his wife and child. On his way back home he met a woman with her child weeping from hunger and he started comparing between the need of this woman and her child and the need of his own wife and child. After some thoughts he decided that this woman and her child needed the food that he had, more than his own family and he gave it to them. He continued going on his way sadly thinking about his wife and child and how to feed them. Suddenly he heard a man shouting in a very loud voice asking "Does anyone know where I can find Ahmed Ben Meskeen?" he approached the man telling him that he was Ahmed Ben Meskeen. The man told him that he borrowed some money from his father ten years ago and that he left to do some trading and now he was back to give the money to him. Ahmed asked him, "How much was the money that you borrowed from my father?" The man answered "Twenty thousand dirham". Allah rewarded him with twenty thousand dirham just for giving up some food.
Everyone is now claiming that there is no time to do good deeds and that life is becoming too materialistic, they say that it is better to be isolated from the society and to concentrate only on our small family and ourselves. It is a totally wrong notion. If we really care about getting the reward of Allah and getting away from hell we should not be isolated from society and we should seek every possible way to do good deeds in our life. Prophet Muhammad in one of his Hadith says, "Doing good deeds protects you from having a bad end". It means that when you do a lot of good deeds in your life Allah guarantees for you that will not have a bad ending and that you will die a good death which hopefully will lead you to heaven in the afterlife.
Another story that shows how people in the past used to love and dedicate themselves for doing good deeds is the story of Zen Al Abideen ben Ali. The good man was living in Madinah and he used to wake up everyday and carry some food and basic needs to deliver to the poor people living in Madinah. The people never knew who put food in front of their doors for twenty years. Until he died and there no food was put in front of their doors no more. Only then did they know that he was the one delivering this food for them everyday. When they were preparing him to be buried they noticed that he had a blue spot in his shoulders from the many times he used to carry the goods for the poor people.
Again we should all be looking for good deeds to do; we should call the people in our family to check on them if they need anything. We should be looking for orphanages, and widows to take care of their needs. Just put yourself in a situation where no one knocks on your door for ten years because no one needs you or needs anything from you; is this is what you are really after? Isn't it better, though sometimes disturbing, to have lots of people knocking on your door everyday because you are valued and needed?
In Chapter Al Balad Allah says: "But he hath made no haste on the path that is steep. And what will explain to thee the path that is steep? (It is
freeing the bondman; or the giving of food in a day of privation. To the orphan with claims of relationship, Or to the indigent (down) in the dust." It means that the only obstacle blocking our way to heaven is to do good deeds, such as taking care of an orphan or a poor man. That is all what we are asked to do to guarantee a safe passage to heaven.
It is more or less a way to judge our life and our destination. If you find that Allah provides you with a lot of good deeds that you can do in your daily life, it means that you are in the right way and that Allah is blessing you and he is accepting the way that you are performing. Otherwise if you find yourself living a selfish life, taking care of yourself only and not doing any good deeds for the others, it means that you are in the wrong way and that you have stop immediately to take a serious look at your life and your destination and try to correct your path.
One man while he was dying said to his daughter to comfort her, "I am not afraid of death anymore. I took a lot from this life when I gave a lot. I can no longer distinguish between taking and giving as they both make me feel the same pleasure."
Concluding Thought
Finally, I would like to end with a story that shows to what extent some people love to do good deeds and to sacrifice their own needs and benefits to help others in need. During the war between Bosnia and Serbia, some donations were being collected in one of the mosques of Egypt and we were donating every possible thing to help our brothers in Bosnia including money, jewellery and lots of things. Suddenly one paralysed man entered the mosque in wheel chair and approached the man collecting the donations. He asked the people to take his wheel chair as he would like to donate it, he insisted and the wheel chair was taken and accepted from the man as a donation.
I hope it is clear by now how we should all be looking for good deeds to do not only doing it when it comes in our way.
"O ye who believe! Bow down, prostrate yourselves, and adore your Lord; and do good; that ye may prosper."
Amr Khaled
:salam2:
Introduction
Our topic of discussion for today is related to one of the verses of the Chapter 'Al Hajj', "O ye who believe! Bow down, prostrate yourselves, and adore your Lord; and do good; that ye may prosper."
Benevolence, or performing good deeds, is just like our sustenance, or means of living. This is since Allah (S.W.T.) blesses us with entities which He might also bless orphans, a poor man to take care of, some one in need, or a person who wants to get married and needs some money to continue the marriage arrangements. The idea is not just doing good deeds when we have the chance. It should be involved in our daily lives.
Presently, people everywhere in the world are complaining. They complain that people are no longer willing to perform good deeds. People are afraid of each other, afraid of being betrayed; they can't trust anyone and they doubt everything. The less people there are doing good deeds in this world, the more people will feel worried, tense, afraid, and insecure.
The solution is to try to perform more good deeds in this life. One of the old Egyptian phrases states, "Do good deeds and throw them in the sea". This is an absolutely wrong saying! Good deeds are never to be thrown in the sea! They are never to be performed for nothing! Allah (S.W.T.) will reward us! For example, if you are sitting in a bus and an old man is standing, and you stand up to offer him your seat, you will find yourself in the same situation, but this time you will be the old man and Allah (S.W.T.) will provide you with a young man who is willing to offer you his seat.
Examples of Rewards from Performing Good Deeds
I would like to share a story which happened to my friend. He was driving his car with a group of friends. They were talking, so he wasn't really concentrating on the road, and he hit the car in front of him. Knowing he was the one to be blamed for the accident, he got out of the car, thinking that the man driving the other car will shout at him, and ask him for money to repair the car, or even call the police. Surprisingly, the other man took a look at his car, and said, “There is no harm done, you can go.” Shocked, he went back to his car and shed a tear. This is since he remembered that some time ago the same situation happened to him. However the only difference is that it was not his mistake, rather it was the other driver's mistake. However when he saw the driver with his family, he didn't want to upset them. So he told him the same words, “There is no harm done, you can go."
Allah (S.W.T.) says in Chapter Ra'd [Thunder]: "For the scum disappears like forth cast out; while that which is for the good of mankind remains on the earth."
Even if the reward from Allah (S.W.T.) for the good deeds that you have performed doesn't come in your own life, it might be given to your children after you die. In Chapter Al Kahf [cave] Allah (S.W.T.) says: "As for the wall, it belonged to two youths, orphans, in the town; there was, beneath it, a buried treasure, to which they were entitled; their father had been a righteous man: so thy Lord desired that they should attain their age of full strength and get out their treasure a mercy (and favour) from thy Lord. I did it not of my own accord. Such is the interpretation of (those things) over which thou wast unable to hold patience."
Since the man was good and lived a life devoted to performing good deeds, after he died Allah (S.W.T.) saved his treasure under the wall of the house for his children. Allah (S.W.T.) then sent two of his Messengers; Prophet Musa and Al Khidr, to rebuild the wall. This is so that his children would notice that their house was being renovated and would in turn come to find their treasure.
Seeking the chance to perform good deeds is just like seeking the means to live. Some people wake up early, asking Allah (S.W.T.) to help them earn some money, or any other means of living! Whereas others ask him to provide them with many good deeds that they can perform during the day. Is there is anyone who thinks like that nowadays?
Another story is that of Om Salamah. As she was migrating from Makkah to Madinah with her husband and son they were stopped by the disbelievers. They only allowed her husband to migrate and forced her and her son to return to Makkah. She kept asking for their permission to migrate for almost one year until they finally give her permission. She was to travel alone from Makkah to Madinah.
Let's look at several obstacles she faced:
• The distance between Makkah and Madinah (approximately 450 km).
• Her age (she was an old woman).
• She had nothing to travel on meant that she had to go there by foot.
Thus it was considered to be a very heavy task.
As she was starting her journey from Makkah she met one of the disbelievers called Othman Abu Talha. He asked her about her destination and she replied that she was making her way to the city of Madinah to accompany her husband and the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.). When he knew that she was to travel there alone on foot, he instantly offered her a ride on his camel and took her Madinah. He took her there without any intention to harm her or to ask her to pay him back one way or the other. His only intention was to do a good deed by safely taking the old woman to her destination. When they reached Madinah he asked her to dismount from the back of the camel and he went directly back to Makkah again. What was his reward from Allah for doing this? His reward is much bigger than his deed. Allah blessed him and guided him to the light of Islam. A few months later Othman Abu Talha made the same journey from Makkah to Madinah, but this time he made it to join Islam and the Muslims in Madinah.
Another story is that of a man who had a three year old son suffering from cancer. He was sad and worried about his son's condition. One day as he was walking in the street he saw an old woman searching in the garbage trying to find something to eat. He was surprised and he approached the woman trying to ask her why she was doing so. She answered him that she is responsible for an orphanages and she had no money to buy them food so she had to find something in the garbage to feed them. The man felt sympathy for the woman and he asked her about the number of people in her family. After counting the amount of food that would be needed for such a family in a week he took her to a grocery shop and he made an agreement with owner of the shop that this woman will come to him every week to take a certain amount of food without paying any money. He made an agreement with the owner that he will pay the price of the food. Just one week later he noticed that his son’s health was getting better, surprisingly he took him to the hospital to check. When they started examining him all the people working in the hospital were astonished; they didn't believe that this is the same child they examined before as the child was totally cured and nothing was wrong with him. The man goes back home thinking again and again about this and how could it happen. He couldn't find an answer to the miracle just happened to his son. Until he was reading one of the books which included the hadith of Prophet Muhammad which says "Cure your illness by giving charity". He finally knew what cured his son from cancer; indeed it was doing the good deed he did.
We should all be looking for good deeds to do; we should try to ask about the poor people in our families, the sick people, the orphanages, and the widows. Sustenance is not only some food or money that Allah offers us to support our life. It is much more than that; it is the benevolence or the good deeds that Allah puts in our ways. Doing the good deeds is our safe passage to solve our problems, to restore our lives and remove our sorrow and sadness.
Let's take a look at the story of Ahmed Ben Meskeen one of the great followers of Islam. Once he was very poor that he couldn't afford to feed his own wife and child and his child was crying from hunger to the extent that he couldn't bear it anymore. So he decided to go out trying to find something to feed his family and he met a man who gave him some bread with meat and sweets. He was very happy with the man's charity and he was running back home to feed his wife and child. On his way back home he met a woman with her child weeping from hunger and he started comparing between the need of this woman and her child and the need of his own wife and child. After some thoughts he decided that this woman and her child needed the food that he had, more than his own family and he gave it to them. He continued going on his way sadly thinking about his wife and child and how to feed them. Suddenly he heard a man shouting in a very loud voice asking "Does anyone know where I can find Ahmed Ben Meskeen?" he approached the man telling him that he was Ahmed Ben Meskeen. The man told him that he borrowed some money from his father ten years ago and that he left to do some trading and now he was back to give the money to him. Ahmed asked him, "How much was the money that you borrowed from my father?" The man answered "Twenty thousand dirham". Allah rewarded him with twenty thousand dirham just for giving up some food.
Everyone is now claiming that there is no time to do good deeds and that life is becoming too materialistic, they say that it is better to be isolated from the society and to concentrate only on our small family and ourselves. It is a totally wrong notion. If we really care about getting the reward of Allah and getting away from hell we should not be isolated from society and we should seek every possible way to do good deeds in our life. Prophet Muhammad in one of his Hadith says, "Doing good deeds protects you from having a bad end". It means that when you do a lot of good deeds in your life Allah guarantees for you that will not have a bad ending and that you will die a good death which hopefully will lead you to heaven in the afterlife.
Another story that shows how people in the past used to love and dedicate themselves for doing good deeds is the story of Zen Al Abideen ben Ali. The good man was living in Madinah and he used to wake up everyday and carry some food and basic needs to deliver to the poor people living in Madinah. The people never knew who put food in front of their doors for twenty years. Until he died and there no food was put in front of their doors no more. Only then did they know that he was the one delivering this food for them everyday. When they were preparing him to be buried they noticed that he had a blue spot in his shoulders from the many times he used to carry the goods for the poor people.
Again we should all be looking for good deeds to do; we should call the people in our family to check on them if they need anything. We should be looking for orphanages, and widows to take care of their needs. Just put yourself in a situation where no one knocks on your door for ten years because no one needs you or needs anything from you; is this is what you are really after? Isn't it better, though sometimes disturbing, to have lots of people knocking on your door everyday because you are valued and needed?
In Chapter Al Balad Allah says: "But he hath made no haste on the path that is steep. And what will explain to thee the path that is steep? (It is
freeing the bondman; or the giving of food in a day of privation. To the orphan with claims of relationship, Or to the indigent (down) in the dust." It means that the only obstacle blocking our way to heaven is to do good deeds, such as taking care of an orphan or a poor man. That is all what we are asked to do to guarantee a safe passage to heaven. It is more or less a way to judge our life and our destination. If you find that Allah provides you with a lot of good deeds that you can do in your daily life, it means that you are in the right way and that Allah is blessing you and he is accepting the way that you are performing. Otherwise if you find yourself living a selfish life, taking care of yourself only and not doing any good deeds for the others, it means that you are in the wrong way and that you have stop immediately to take a serious look at your life and your destination and try to correct your path.
One man while he was dying said to his daughter to comfort her, "I am not afraid of death anymore. I took a lot from this life when I gave a lot. I can no longer distinguish between taking and giving as they both make me feel the same pleasure."
Concluding Thought
Finally, I would like to end with a story that shows to what extent some people love to do good deeds and to sacrifice their own needs and benefits to help others in need. During the war between Bosnia and Serbia, some donations were being collected in one of the mosques of Egypt and we were donating every possible thing to help our brothers in Bosnia including money, jewellery and lots of things. Suddenly one paralysed man entered the mosque in wheel chair and approached the man collecting the donations. He asked the people to take his wheel chair as he would like to donate it, he insisted and the wheel chair was taken and accepted from the man as a donation.
I hope it is clear by now how we should all be looking for good deeds to do not only doing it when it comes in our way.
"O ye who believe! Bow down, prostrate yourselves, and adore your Lord; and do good; that ye may prosper."
