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To Put a Smile on the Face of your Brother or Sister | Daily Reminders
We all know that hadith in which Prophet Muhammad ﷺ says, "to smile in the face of your brother or sister is an act of charity". But what's an even bigger act of charity is putting a smile on their face. So how do we put smiles on the faces of others during difficult times like this?
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. So many of us are familiar with the hadith where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, تبسمك في وجه أخيك صدقة To smile in the face of your brother is a form of charity. But what's a greater charity than that is to put a smile on the face of your brother. And the proof of that is a hadith where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, إن خير الناس أنفعهم للناس The best of people are those that are most beneficial to the people. And then he said sallallahu alayhi wasallam that the most beloved of actions to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala إن أحب الأعمال إلى الله أن تدخل على قلب أخيك سرورا That you bring a sense of inner joy to your brother. أو تقضي عنه دينا أو تطعمه خبزا Or that you do away with one of his debts. Or that you feed him a loaf of bread. So I want to speak about this first part. Now obviously when it comes to feeding someone a loaf of bread Or doing away with their debt, That requires you to have money, right? That requires you to have money. And that requires you to be in a position where you can provide for someone else. Now when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam talked about charity And he said تبسمك في وجه أخيك صدقة A smile in the face of your brother is a charity. We often look at smiling in the face of your brother as a form of charity When you have nothing else, meaning it's the lowest form of charity. But that's not necessarily the case if you look at this hadith as well. What this hadith suggests is that a smile in the face of your brother Could actually be a greater form of charity than physically giving your brother something. Why? Because sometimes a smile in the face of your brother or your sister Actually gives them a greater sense of joy, A greater sense of ease than anything that you could physically provide them. And so it's not like, you know, if you have nothing to give but a smile, then give the smile.
It's giving a smile could be the greatest form of charity as well, Especially if it brings a sense of inner joy to your brother or your sister. And so تبسمك في وجه أخيك صدقة Smiling in the face of your brother is a charity. What do we take from that and how do we compare it to this hadith, right? أن تدخل على قلبي أخيك سرورة That you bring a sense of joy to your brother or your sister. That joy سرورة is, you know, it's a type of happiness that puts someone at ease. Okay, and how do we know this? Because Allah سبحانه وتعالى mentions that believer on the day of judgment That spends their life in charity. Okay, إِنَّمَا نُطْعِمُكُمْ لِوَجْهِ اللَّهِ لَا نُرِيدُ مِنكُمْ جِزَاءً وَلَا شُكُورًا That person that spends their life in charity, That feeds people for the sake of Allah, Not wanting any form of compensation, Not wanting any form of gratitude. And Allah سبحانه وتعالى amongst the rewards, Allah سبحانه وتعالى says, فَوَقَاهُمُ اللَّهُ شَرَّ ذَلِكَ الْيَوْمُ وَلَقَّاهُمْ نَضْرَةً وَسُرُورًا That Allah سبحانه وتعالى spares them from the hardship of the day of judgment. And Allah سبحانه وتعالى allows them or meets them on the day of judgment نَضْرَةً وَسُرُورًا And they have a sense of joy that puts them at ease. Okay, so what Allah gives them on the day of judgment Is not just a sense of happiness, Not just a smile, But a smile that puts them at ease, That lets them know that they're okay, right? Now, in our situation, Where we're at right now, When we're unable to maybe do the same acts of service that we were able to do, One of the things that we can do is we can put a smile on someone's face. We can reach out to a brother or a sister. We can check up on someone. Yes, telling a joke can be a form of ibadah, Can be a form of worship as well. If that joke is one that's made, Obviously within the limits of what's allowed, But if that joke is one that is made with the intention of
Giving your brother and sister a moment of happiness, Removing some of their stress, That can be a form of ibadah, That can be a form of worship too. Sending them a message, Hey, I'm just checking up on you. All of that can be a form of worship. And that type of service is not just, You know, a service that you can do, Because you can't relieve someone's debt, Or because you can't feed a poor person right now. That type of service can actually be greater than any other type of service. To put a smile on someone's face, Especially when they're in a moment of stress, And to remove that burden, Even if it's for a short time, right? To where they can feel like, You know what, I'm going to be okay. Everything is okay. Now, of course, to remind of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is good. And to at the same time, Be there for someone for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is good. To just let them know, Hey, I'm thinking about you. I'm checking on you. I know you must be stressed out right now. But I just wanted you to know that I'm making dua for you. I just wanted to check up on you. And whatever it is that can relieve them for a moment insha'Allah ta'ala. The most beloved of deeds to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, An tutkhilha ala qalbi akhika surura. That you enter a sense of inner joy, Into the heart of your brother or your sister. So you smile at them, And the intention is that you put a smile on their face. And in putting a smile on their face, You comfort them on the inside insha'Allah ta'ala. You relieve them of some of the stress and some of the burden of this world. Now, one of my teachers said something very beautiful. He said that, you know, When you look at the smile that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was talking about, There are two things that are going to make that smile rewardable. Or even more rewardable. Number one, who are you smiling at? Okay, who are you smiling at? Because if putting a smile on the face of your brother or sister is sunnah, Or smiling in the face of your brother is a sunnah, Then what about smiling in the face of your parents? What about smiling in the face of your spouse? What about smiling in the face of your children?
Okay, how much more rewardable is that then? And a lot of times, of course, You know, we leave those smiles on the outside of the house, But we don't bring them to the inside of the house. So what does it mean to do that for our parents in particular right now, the elderly? And again, if we are, you know, spouses, children, anyone, our family members, How do we put smiles on their faces? Because that would make it more rewardable, Because serving the parents, those karrimain, those two noble ones, Serving the spouse, serving the children, Is far greater than service to anyone on the outside of your home. So first think about inside of your home, right? Where everyone is very stressed out, And obviously, you know, when people are sort of bunched up together, They can start to drive each other crazy. How do I smile more at the people inside my house? How do I make them smile, bring them some sense of joy? So that's the first thing, is the person that you're smiling at. Think about that, or putting a smile on their face. The second thing is the stress, or the amount of stress that that person is in. The amount of duress that that person is under, the amount of stress that they're in. What that means is that the more mahmum, the more burdened the person is, The more stressed out the person is, the more abandoned that person may be. Maybe it's someone that people are not thinking about. Maybe it's someone that's really going through a hard time. The greater the level of that person's stress, The greater the reward of relieving them of that stress, if that makes sense. So I hope this is making sense. So the first one is the status of the person in regards to who that person is to you. And what right they have upon you. So starting with your parents, spouses, children, family members. The second one is the amount of stress that that person is in. And you playing a role in actually relieving that person of that stress Is especially rewardable inshaAllah ta'ala.
So again, service, this type of service, which is smiling at our brothers and sisters, Causing someone to smile and giving them a sense of relief and joy When they're going through a hard time Is the greatest act of service that we can do inshaAllah ta'ala. And of course, all of that within the etiquette of the sunnah of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. The beautiful example of the Messenger alayhi salatu wa salam. So with that inshaAllah ta'ala, I hope that in the midst of everything that you're going through, I hope inshaAllah ta'ala you're smiling and you're not just Putting a smiley face, let me draw one for you, on your comment box inshaAllah ta'ala. But I hope you're actually smiling. And I pray that you take that inshaAllah ta'ala and you cause someone else to smile as well. And again, especially, let's show those of us that are caring for the elderly right now, A special message to those of us that are caring for the elderly right now, for our parents. You have al-karimain, as the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam called them, Those two noble ones in your presence. They're probably very stressed out by everything that they're hearing right now. There's nothing like putting a smile on the face of a parent. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to carry that to our families, to the outside. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow the smiles that we exchange inshaAllah ta'ala Through these devices to also be rewardable. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to encompass all of those acts of service That we find in the Sunnah of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Allahuma ameen. JazakumAllah khayran everyone. InshaAllah ta'ala I will see you tomorrow night. Wasalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh
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