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Allah Appreciates Your Smallest Deeds | Khutbah
You might take some of your good deeds lightly and even forget that you did them, but Allah is al-Shakur, the Most Appreciative, and He appreciates even the smallest acts of good that you do.
Listen to Sh. Ibrahim Hindy, Religious Director of Yaqeen Canada, in this week’s Friday khutbah.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Malik ibn Dinar, rahmahullahu ta'ala, was once walking by a graveyard. And as he walked by the graveyard, he remarked and he said, مساكين أهل الدنيا خرجوا منها وما ذاقوا أطيب ما فيها He said, how unfortunate are these people of the dunya that they left this dunya, they left this world and they didn't get to taste the best of it. So those who were with him, they asked him, قالوا وما أطيب فيها, what is the best of this world? So he said to them, معرفة الله عز وجل ومحبته He said, it is knowing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and having love for Allah عز وجل. This is the greatest of the dunya. How difficult is life when a person does not know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? How difficult is it for them to know how to react to the events happening in their life? How difficult is it for them to know what their role, their responsibility is in this world? How difficult is it to live when you don't know who the human being is to begin with? What the human being is to begin with? What your role is in life? What your purpose is in this world? So what he said is eminently true. That those who do not have the relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, those who don't know Allah عز وجل, they live a very difficult life. And those who know Allah عز وجل, they've tasted the best of what there is in this world.
And so in today's khutbah I want to speak shortly about one of the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Just so that we can develop some knowledge of Allah عز وجل. So that we can know how to have some form of relationship with our Creator subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah gives us His names and attributes so that we develop a relationship with Him. So that we understand who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is. Allah عز وجل says in the Qur'an, لِيَوَفِّيَهُمْ أُجُورَهُمْ وَيَزِيدَهُمْ مِنْ فَضْرِهِ إِنَّهُ غَفُورٌ شَكُورٌ He says that He may give them in full their reward. And that He may increase for them their bounty. And that He is غفور, forgiving, and شكور, the one who is appreciative. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives Himself these names as شاكر, an attribute. An innate attribute of being appreciative. And الشكر subhanahu wa ta'ala, the one whom by His will and His generosity, He always increases. He increases for the one who gives Him. شكر literally is to increase something. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is الشكر, and that when you give Him something subhanahu wa ta'ala, He increases it. Linguistically the Arabs would say, الدرب الشكر The animal, the beast, that is شكر, the horse, the camel. What did they mean by that? They meant you would give it a little bit of food, a little bit of water, and it would go a long distance. It would give you a great amount of output, even though you gave it a small amount of input. A small amount of water and food and it gave you a lot of energy.
So they would say, this animal is شكر. They would also say الأرض الشكر, the land that is شكر. You would give it very little water, and yet somehow it would give you a lot of produce. It would give you a lot of fruits. What you gave was a little, and yet the reward was multiplied. So they would call it شكر. And this is the reality of understanding Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, with this name of being a شكر, is that He is the one who appreciates and increases the very little that you present Allah azzawajal. You gave Him very little in عبادة. You gave Him very little in devotion. Yet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala took it, and He multiplied its reward. He increased its reward. And He gave you in this dunya, and He gives you in the next. But the key is, for you to have a relationship with Allah azzawajal, through this name of being a شكر, the key is you have to give Him something. You have to present something. You can't go with nothing. Allah gives, He takes what is little from you, and He multiplies, He gives you more back. But you have to give something. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, وَمَا يَقْتَرِفْ حَسَنَةً نُزِدْ لَهُ فِيهَا حُسْنًا Whoever commits a good deed, we will increase for him the good. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give you an increase in it. إِنَّهُ غَفُورٌ شَكُورٌ Indeed, He is forgiving and appreciative. Any good deed, even the small good deeds, are glorified in this religion. Not because of the smallness of the deed, but because of the greatness of the one who appreciates the good that we do. We know our religion. The Prophet ﷺ told us, if you remove something harmful from the street,
this is a sadaqah. If you smile in the face of your brother, this is a sadaqah. The smallest of deeds, kissing the hand of your mother, taking care of an animal, these small deeds are ones that are appreciated by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because you are dealing with a shakoor. You're dealing with the one who is the most appreciative. You may forget these deeds. You pick up some litter and you throw it in the garbage. You forget that you did it. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not forget. A shakoor does not forget them. A shakoor rewards them and increases its good. Our Prophet ﷺ tells us, اتقِ النَّارُ وَلَوْ بِشِقِّ ثَمْرًا He said, protect yourself, guard yourself against the hellfire, even if it is with half of a date. And you think about this statement of our Prophet ﷺ. You may be above receiving half of a date. If someone took a date and broke it in half, and gave you half, you may say, I don't want it. I'll take the one that's untouched. Yet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, if someone gave even that small amount in sadaqah, with sincerity, the Prophet ﷺ says, this may protect the person from the hellfire. So he tells you, guard yourself against the hellfire, even if all you're giving is half of a date. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is a shakoor. And He will give you, when you give to Allah عز و جل. The Prophet ﷺ tells us, لا يحقرن أحدكم من المعروف شيئا He said, do not let anyone of you belittle anything that is good. Do not belittle any good deed. Do not ever be the person who says, you know, this is too small of a deed. This is too small of a good deed. I'm gonna do something else. Never do that. He said, even if it is meeting your brother
with a cheerful face. Even if the good deed is that when you see a Muslim brother, you smile, you're cheerful. He said, never, never belittle it. Why? Because you are dealing with a shakoor subhanahu wa ta'ala. You're dealing with the one subhanahu wa ta'ala can take that good deed and give you multiples in reward and return. The Prophet ﷺ, once he said, مَنْ فَطَرَ صَائِمًا كَانَ عِتْقًا لِرَقْبَتِهِ مِنَ النَّارِ Whoever feeds someone who is fasting, it may be what frees their neck from the hellfire. Some of the companions, they came to the Prophet ﷺ. They said, Ya Rasulullah, this, what you said, prefers the wealthy over us. He said, the wealthy sahaba, they can buy a meal and they can feed the person who's fasting. They said, we're poor, we don't have anything. So we don't get the reward. The Prophet ﷺ, he said, this reward is even for the one who fetches a cup of water and gives it to the one who's fasting. Just go get the water and give it to the one who's fasting. You'll get the same reward. Because it's not about the deed, it's about the one subhanahu wa ta'ala who appreciates the good deed that we do. The Prophet ﷺ tells us, مَنْ قَرَأَ حَرْفًا مِنْ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ فَلَهُ بِهِ حَسَنًا Whoever recites a single letter from the Book of Allah, will receive a good deed. And the good deed is multiplied by ten. And then he said, لَا أَقُولْ أَلِفْ لَا مِمْ حَرْفْ وَلَكِنْ أَلِفٌ حَرْفٌ وَلَا مُنْ حَرْفٌ وَمِمٌ حَرْفٌ And the Prophet ﷺ said, I'm not saying أَلِفْ لَا مِمْ is a حَرْف, is a letter, is a word. He said, no, I'm saying أَلِفْ is a letter, that you'll be rewarded one reward multiplied by ten.
And لَمْ is a letter, you'll be rewarded one reward multiplied by ten. And مِمْ is a letter, one reward multiplied by ten. All of this reward, I remember sometimes when I'm younger, and our teachers would tell us, read the Qur'an, each letter is a reward, and each reward is multiplied by ten. I'd say, why? Like, why all these numbers? But you realize, the Prophet ﷺ is teaching us this, for us to understand, who is it you are dealing with? You're dealing with Allah ﷻ. And just the small effort you present, Allah ﷻ will give you a reward and multiply the reward on top of it. To tell you, give an effort. To tell you, take a step towards Allah ﷻ. To tell you, present something with sincerity to Allah ﷻ. We know the hadith of our Prophet ﷺ, that a man was in the desert, and he was thirsty, and he finally comes across a well, and he gets himself some water, and he quenches his thirst. And then he looks to see a dog, and the dog is also thirsty. And he says, this dog is in the same situation I was in. So he goes down into the well again, and he fills his slipper with water, and he comes out and he gives it to the dog. And the Prophet ﷺ says, فَشَكَرَ اللَّهُ لَهُ فَغُفِرَ لَهُ فَأَدْخَلَهُ الْجَنَّةِ Allah ﷻ appreciated, فَشَكَرَ اللَّهُ لَهُ Allah appreciated what he did, and forgave his sins, and entered him into Jannah. Just for giving water to a dog. Why? Because of his sincerity, and because he is dealing with a Lord ﷻ, who appreciates the good that we put forward. We know the hadith of our Prophet ﷺ. All of these hadith are telling you what?
Don't give up on the good deeds. Even more than this, the Prophet ﷺ tells us, this world is for four people. He said, the first is a man whom Allah has given him knowledge, and Allah has given him wealth, so he gives for the sake of Allah ﷻ. He said, and it is for a second person, who sees the first man. Allah has given him knowledge but has not given him wealth. So he sees the first person, and he says, if only I had the money he had, I would give just like him. He says, They are equal in the sight of Allah ﷻ. The generosity of your Lord ﷻ is just having the sincere, truly sincere intention to do something good. Even if you are not capable of doing that good deed, Allah will reward you as if you did that good deed. Why? Because he is shakur ﷻ. Even the pure sincere intention to do good, and Allah will reward you as if you did the good. Because this is how he appreciates his servants and the good that they bring forward. And look at how Allah ﷻ points our eyes to this reality throughout the Qur'an. Allah ﷻ says, لِيَوَفِّيَهُمْ أُجُورَهُمْ وَيَزِيدَهُمْ مِنْ فَضْلٍ That he may give them, compensate them for their good, وَيَزِيدَهُمْ And to increase from his bounty, subhanahu wa ta'ala. He doesn't just compensate your good. You do something good, he says, okay, I give you back good in return. Equal for equal, no. He gives you in return, وَيَزِيدَهُمْ مِنْ فَضْلٍ And he increases for them out of his bounty. إِنَّهُ غَفُورٌ شَكُورٌ He is forgiving and he is appreciative. وَمَنْ يَقْتَرِفْ حَسَنَةً نُزِدْ لَهُ فِيهَا حُسْنًا Whoever commits a good deed, we will increase for them what is good. إِنَّهُ غَفُورٌ شَكُورٌ
He is forgiving and he is appreciative. Allah says, لَهُمْ مَا يَشَاءُونَ فِيهَا وَلَدَيْنَا مَزِيدٌ They will have in paradise whatever they desire, whatever they want. That's it? No. وَلَدَيْنَا مَزِيدٌ And we will give them even more than what they desire. Things that you cannot even desire, you don't even know them. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give you of them. لَلَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُوا الْحُسْنَ وَزِيَادَةً Allah says to those who do good, they will have good. وَزِيَادَةً And an increase and more. Even more they will have. All of these verses are telling you you are dealing with a Lord subhanahu wa ta'ala. He's not gonna give you back equal to what you give Him. He's gonna give you far more than what you give Him subhanahu wa ta'ala. إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَظْلِمُ مِثْخَالَ ذَرَةٍ Allah does not cause injustice even in Adam's weight. وَإِنْ تَكُ حَسَنَةً يُضَعِفُهَا And if it is a good deed, He will increase and multiply it. If you do the smallest of wrong, Allah will not punish you more than what you have done. But if you do good, He will multiply your good. If you do good, it will be multiples of good that you will see in return subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's why our Prophet ﷺ said, مَنْ تَصَدَّقْ بِعَدْرِ ثَمَرًا Whoever gives sadaqa that is equal to a date, just one date of sadaqa. من كَسْبٍ طَيِّبٍ From pure wealth, halal wealth. He said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will take this and He will grow it just like any of you raises a horse. When the horse is first born, it is weak, it can barely stand, but they raise it, and they feed it, and they train it until the horse is strong. He said, just like you do this, Allah will raise the sadaqa that you give until you come on the Day of Judgment,
and it is like the mountain of Uhud. The person gave one date of sadaqa, sincerely, from pure halal wealth, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will grow it until it is like the mountain of Uhud. And you look throughout the Qur'an and the sunnah, you see this theme over and over again. Yusuf a.s. gives up, sacrifices being a servant in the home of a wealthy person, where he's living in the luxury of his house. He gives it up for the sake of Allah. What does Allah do? Allah brings him out of prison as a king. Ja'far ibn Abi Talib r.a. goes and he fights in battle until both of his arms are cut off and he is killed. What does our Prophet say? He says, أَرَاهُ الْآنَ فِي الْجَنَّةِ أَدَّلَهُ اللَّهُ بِذَرَاعِهِ جَنَاحِينِ مِنْ يَاقُودٍ He says, I can see him in paradise right now, Allah has replaced his two arms with two wings that are made of gems, made of rubies and gems. يَطِيرُ فِي الْجَنَّةِ يَأْكُلُ مِنْ فَمَرِهَا وَيَشْرَبُ مِنْ أَنْهَارِهَا He said, the Prophet s.a.w. said, he is flying in paradise, he is eating from its fruits, and he is drinking from his rivers. He gave up his arms for the sake of Allah, Allah replaced it with wings that are made of jewels. The Prophet s.a.w. said, we know the hadith of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh r.a, of the ten who were given glad tidings of Jannah, this young man was going to be one of the leaders, if not the leader of Yathrib, of the city that would become Medina. Yet he met the Prophet s.a.w. and he accepted Islam, and he followed the Prophet, the power that would have been his, he gave it to the Prophet s.a.w. and followed him until he died.
What did the Prophet s.a.w. say? أَرَى سَبْعِينَ أَلْفَ مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ يَحْمِلُونَ جَنَازَةِ سَعْدَ بِالْمُعَاذِ رضي الله عنه. He said, 70,000 of the angels came down to carry the funeral procession of Sa'ad رضي الله عنه. He gave up something for the sake of Allah. Look at how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala rewarded him. Look at how Allah عز و جل took care of him. And we see this again throughout the seerah. We see the story of Umm Salama رضي الله عنها who was kept prisoner in Mecca, torn away from her husband. Her husband was going for hijrah, she was going for hijrah with him. They prevented her. They said, if you go, you can't take your child. And so they were pulling on the child until they dislocated his arm. She saw this, she started to cry and she said, I'm staying in Mecca with my child. But every day she wanted to go to Medina to perform the hijrah. They said she would walk to the boundary of Mecca looking towards Medina. Because she wanted to go but she couldn't go. Then finally, her family felt sympathy for her and they told her, you can go. And she didn't want to wait an extra minute afraid that they might change their mind. So she took whatever she had, started walking towards Medina. Uthman ibn Talha رضي الله عنه at this time he's not Muslim. He comes and he sees a woman with a child walking by themselves on the path to Medina. He said, where are you going? She said, I'm going to Medina. He said, by yourself walking? She said, yes. So he said, no. He was not Muslim but he had chivalry. He had generosity. He said, no, you're going to go on my camel. And he got off his camel and she got on and he walked. And he led her all the way from Mecca to Medina. Until he got to the outskirts of Medina, she came down, he took his camel, he left.
And she remarked, she said, I know Allah will appreciate what he did. And when the Prophet ﷺ conquered Mecca and he accepted Islam, the Prophet ﷺ, the people of Mecca, people like Uthman ibn Talha, they were afraid the Prophet ﷺ is going to take revenge against them. Instead the Prophet ﷺ said, where is Uthman ibn Talha? And he came forward. And the Prophet ﷺ said, take this. These are the keys of the Ka'bah. Take them. لا ينزعها منكم إلا ظالم No one will take this from you except that they are a tyrant. And he gave it to Uthman رضي الله عنه the keys of the Ka'bah. And until today, the offspring of Uthman ibn Talha have the keys to the Ka'bah. The Prophet ﷺ honored him for the good that he did. We see this throughout our religion. You give up something for the sake of Allah عز و جل and Allah عز و جل will always appreciate the good that we give for the sake of Allah سبحانه وتعالى فَأَقُولُ قَوْلِ هَذَا وَالصَّغْفَرُونَ إِنَّهُ الْغَفُورُ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَاةِ وَالسَّلَامُ وَعَلَىٰ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ وَعَلَىٰ آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَمِنْ وَلَا Throughout the Qur'an, Allah سبحانه وتعالى, when he speaks about his attribute of being a shakoor, he pairs it with two other attributes. وَكَانَ اللَّهُ شَاكِرًا عَلِيمًا Allah is appreciative and he is alimah, he is knowledgeable. Why does Allah pair his appreciative nature with his knowledge? Because subhanAllah, sometimes in life, we help people, we help other people. We do them a favor, we help them out here and there. And they don't thank you, they don't appreciate it.
Why? Because they don't understand what you did for them. Maybe they don't know you did it behind their backs. Or maybe even if they do know, they don't understand how you did them a good favor. So they don't thank you and they don't appreciate you for it. But Allah is appreciative and he is also alimah, he is all-knowing. So any good you do, Allah عز و جل knows it. And he سبحانه وتعالى will appreciate it. The other name of Allah that he pairs with being shakoor is ghafoor, forgiving. And the scholars say, why does Allah pair these two together? إِنَّ رَبَّنَا لَغَفُورٌ شَكُورٌ Indeed, our Lord is forgiving and he is appreciative. And they said this is because the greatest form of appreciation is Allah forgiving your sins. And so if you want Allah سبحانه وتعالى to forgive your sins, do good deeds. Allah will appreciate it and he will forgive our sins. Now there's three other points before we conclude. Number one, in order to have a relationship with a shakoor سبحانه وتعالى, in order to receive his appreciation, you have to give. من نفس عن مؤمن كربة من كربة الدنيا نفس الله عنه كربة من كربة يوم القيامة Whoever removes the difficulty from a believer in this dunya, Allah will remove the difficulty for them on the day of judgment. Whoever makes easy something for another Muslim in this world, Allah will make easy for them something in the next world. You do something, Allah will give you something even more, something even better. But you have to do something for the sake of Allah. The second is to worship Allah often. If you truly believe in the depth of your heart that Allah is appreciative, if you really believe this, that Allah will appreciate your good, then you will take advantage by doing good deeds. Big and small. You will not see them as being insignificant.
You will try your best to do. As our Prophet ﷺ said, إذا قامت الساعة وفي يدي أحدكم فصيلة فليغرسها If you see the day of judgment happening and in your hand there is a seed, then let them plant that seed. Why? Because you know Allah is appreciative. You know that Allah will reward you for that good deed. But to have that ability, you do the good deeds. And you take advantage of them. And you don't be lazy because you believe that Allah will appreciate the good. And the final point is to be sincere. Allah is a shakoor, He appreciates the good, but only if it comes with sincerity. Only if we do it only for the sake of Allah. We don't do it so that people appreciate us and praise us, but only that Allah appreciates us. And so if we keep these three together, we will have a relationship with Allah through His name as shakoor. May Allah appreciate our good and inspire us to do more good.
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