Sincerity: Allah Weighs Our Deeds, Not Counts Them

The Importance of Ikhlas (Sincerity) in Our Deen

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَكَفَى وَسَلَامٌ عَلَى عِبَادِهِ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَى أَمَّا بَعْدُ

فَقَدْ قَالَ اللهُ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى فِي مُحْكَمِ تَنْزِيلِهِ، بَعْدَ أَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ، بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ:

My dear respected brothers and sisters, respected elders and youngsters in Islam, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

In all different aspects of our deen, the ultimate pinnacle for which we have to all strive — and the goal and objective that we have to keep in front of us at all times — is to have ikhlas and sincerity in all of our acts.

This is much more easily said than done. Allah, when He uses the term of exclusivity and says that the bottom line — what you have been ordered by Allah to do in one word, if it can be mentioned — then Allah says: there is no other command that I have given, there is no other order from Me. To summarize the entire deen, Allah says there is no other command except that His ibadah should be done with ikhlas:

The Advice of the Prophet to Mu'adh ibn Jabal

And Rasulullah ﷺ, when he was advising Mu'adh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه, and he was asked to give a brief advice — if you have opportunity only to say one or two words, what would that command be? Rasulullah ﷺ said to Mu'adh ibn Jabal:

(Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah; also referenced in similar wording in various hadith collections)

"O Mu'adh, inculcate ikhlas and sincerity in your deen, then even a small amount of ibadah — عَمَلُ الْقَلِيلُ — quantity-wise the ibadah may be less, yet يَكْفِيكَ, it will still be sufficient for you."

So Allah, on the Day of Judgment, He will not be looking at the quantity of our deeds — how many there are. Rather, Allah will be judging us based on the quality of our deeds — how sincere we are.

Deeds Will Be Weighed, Not Counted

And that is why, as our scholars always remind us, on the Day of Judgment the deeds will not be counted by Allah — rather, the deeds on the Day of Judgment will be weighed by Allah. Allah refers to this in the Quran:

There are many different terms that are used for measuring quantities. But here, Allah uses the term مَوَازِين, which comes from the word وَزَن, and وَزَن of course means weight. So the scales of justice on the Day of Judgment will be weighing the deeds. That is why we talk about وَزْنُ الْأَعْمَالِ — the weighing of the deeds — and we do not hear about عَدُّ الْأَعْمَالِ — the counting of the deeds.

And that is why, from the quantity perspective, it is possible that someone has a huge quantity of deeds. If you want to compare, for example, charity — somebody may donate thousands, may donate hundreds of thousands, even millions perhaps. Whereas someone else may donate much less. However, the one who donated less but has sincerity — he truly hides his good deed and he only seeks the pleasure of Allah. He has no ulterior objective. He does not want to be recognized. He's not doing it to have his name posted on a plaque or to receive any recognition whatsoever. Then that five dollars, ten dollars, hundred dollars may be far more weight in the court of Allah than the hundreds of thousands, than the millions.

The Purpose of Life and Death: Quality, Not Quantity

And Allah in the beginning of Surah al-Mulk mentions:

How blessed is that Being — Allah — and in His بِيَدِهِ, which means in His hand, means in His control, in His grasp, is the dominion, is the مُلْك, is the kingdom. And وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ — He has the قُدْرَة and the ability to do whatever He wants.

الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَالْحَيَاةَ — He is the one who has created life and death. This system that we have of life and death — why is it? What is the purpose of this entire cycle? لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ — the purpose of life and death is a test. أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا — whose actions are the best.

Again the scholars here mention: Allah does not say لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَكْثَرُ عَمَلًا — to test you as to who has the most actions — rather who has the best.

The Hajj of Rasulullah ﷺ and the Power of Ikhlas

For example, Rasulullah ﷺ — there are so many different ibadat, and this may seem very odd to say, but just to drive home the point — it's not only possible, it's the actual reality, that those who came after him did more of some acts of worship in terms of quantity than him.

How many hajj did Rasulullah ﷺ perform? When Rasulullah ﷺ was in Makkah al-Mukarramah, the Ka'bah and the Haram was under the control of the Mushrikeen, and they would not allow an Islamic hajj to take place. Then after the Hijrah, when Rasulullah ﷺ was in Madinah al-Munawwarah, still Makkah was under the control of the Quraish.

In fact, in the sixth year, when Rasulullah ﷺ wanted to perform even a minor pilgrimage — just the Umrah — they refused him entry. This is the very famous incident. Rasulullah ﷺ saw this dream of performing Umrah, he was so excited, and he traveled all the way. He was a stone's throw from Makkah, a few miles outside, at the place known as Hudaybiyyah. And subhanAllah, he was sent back.

It's like if a person purchases a ticket, gets the visa, travels all the way to the airport of his destination, and for whatever irregularity in his paperwork — or with or without cause, they don't need to mention any cause — despite the fact that he has a visa, the immigration officers do have the right and the authority to send him back. Imagine somebody travels all the way to another country and right at the airport he's sent back. But it was far worse than that — it was not a few hours flight, it was several days of journey. That was Hudaybiyyah.

Now if he could not perform Umrah, how could he perform Hajj? This continued all the way to the eighth year of Hijrah. And then after the eighth year, the Mushrikeen were still coming. So Rasulullah ﷺ in the ninth year did not go for hajj either. He sent Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه to be the emir of the hajj, and he sent Ali رضي الله عنه to announce on his behalf, as Ali رضي الله عنه was his cousin from the Banu Hashim.

And the ayah was revealed — that Allah mentioned in Surah at-Tawbah:

O those who believe — verily those who are the Mushrikeen, the polytheists — their aqeedah, not the physical body, but their aqeedah and their belief of shirk is najas, is impure. Nothing could be more impure than that — believing in partners unto Allah.

The reason I'm clarifying that physically they're not impure is that if — not that you should go out of your way, but if it so happens — there's water in a water bottle, and a mushrik drinks from it, can a Muslim drink from that water? Or is it najas? Because the Quran says إِنَّمَا الْمُشْرِكُونَ نَجَسٌ. Unless a person has just drunk something impure or ate something haram — with wine or swine in the mouth — if that is not the case, it is permissible to drink that water. In fact, you can make wudu with that water, because the saliva of the human being is pure, irrespective of whether he's a Muslim or mushrik. So إِنَّمَا الْمُشْرِكُونَ نَجَسٌ means their aqeedah is impure.

So the ruling, the announcement is: فَلَا يَقْرَبُوا الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَامَ بَعْدَ عَامِهِمْ هَٰذَا — after this year, they will not be granted admittance into the Masjid al-Haram in Makkah. This is the last year they can come and perform their hajj — the mushrik hajj.

So that was a very unique hajj in Islam — unique in the sense that it was a hybrid hajj. You had two parallel hajj taking place: one was the hajj of the Muwahidoon, the Muslims, under the leadership of Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه, and side by side, the Mushrikeen were performing their hajj. That would be like the ultimate example of an interfaith hajj. That took place in the ninth year, and Rasulullah ﷺ did not participate in that one.

The announcement was made and everyone knew — they had a one-year notice. Next year you want to come? Welcome — how so? Accept Islam, then join the Muslim hajj. But the Mushrikeen would not be allowed. And there were hardly any Mushrikeen around anymore. Because what happened:

And you will see multitudes of people — nations upon nations, tribes upon tribes — within the Arabian Peninsula, they quickly accepted Islam after the conquest of Makkah. So hardly any mushrik tribe remained in the Arabian Peninsula. And in the tenth year, Rasulullah ﷺ performed Hajj.

Now, after performing the Hajj — which takes place in Dhul Hijjah — this was the tenth year. Then came Muharram, Safar, Rabiul Awwal. And then the greatest tragedy of this Ummah: Rasulullah ﷺ returned to his Lord, just a few months after returning from Hajj.

So, going back to the actual point — if you ask: how many hajj did Rasulullah ﷺ perform? He only performed one. And if somebody says, "SubhanAllah, I did 20 hajj, 30 hajj, 40, 50 hajj" — because for those living there, it is much easier. Some do the hajj in a minimal way, skipping Mina and going straight to Arafah on the 9th, with very minimal change to their usual schedule. The Saudi authorities try to clamp down on this, putting up signs everywhere and setting up roadblocks and checkpoints to prevent locals from performing hajj without official permission. But there are, from the legal perspective, unofficial local hujjaj who join in huge numbers.

Now, if you were to measure by quantity, someone could say they have 50 hajj. But there can be no doubt — any Muslim who recites the Kalimah لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللهِ — that one Hajj of Rasulullah ﷺ will outweigh 50 hajj, 500 hajj, 5 million hajj, 50 billion, a trillion, a zillion hajj — of anyone and everyone all together. All the Anbiya's hajj combined cannot equal the one Hajj of Rasulullah ﷺ.

Why? Because the ikhlas that he had, and the iman that he had — it was that inner dimension of that one Hajj which will completely overcome and outweigh all the hajj of the entire creation put together.

Bayt al-Ma'mur and the Tawaf of the Angels

All the hajj of all the millions, trillions and zillions of Malaika as well. Because on the fourth sky, there is Bayt al-Ma'mur. Consider this universe that we know — this whole town of Lombard, the county of DuPage, the state of Illinois, the United States, North America, the planet Earth, the planets around this solar system, the entire Milky Way galaxy, the local cluster of galaxies, the supercluster of galaxies, and the whole entire known universe and beyond — after all of that comes سَمَاءُ الدُّنْيَا, the sky over this earth.

Rasulullah ﷺ said: it is like a small ring thrown in a huge field — كَالْخَاتَمِ فِي الْمَيْدَانِ. The proportionate size of this compared to the first sky — and the first sky is like a small ring in an entire field compared to the second — and that same proportion from second to third, third to fourth, fourth to fifth, fifth to sixth, sixth to seventh. Then on top of that is the Kursi, and on top of that is the Arsh.

So on the fourth sky — how many light years away we cannot even begin to count — there is Bayt al-Ma'mur, the Ka'bah of the angels. And there, just as Rasulullah ﷺ performed one Hajj, the Malaika also have the opportunity to perform one Tawaf. Every single day, 70,000 Malaika are granted admittance to come and perform one Tawaf. It is the first Tawaf of their existence and the last Tawaf of their existence — they never get a chance to come back again. This comes in a Sahih hadith.

So every single day, 70,000 Malaika, from the beginning of creation, have been doing Tawaf and will continue to make Tawaf every single day — until:

When the trumpet will be blown and all the skies — including all seven heavens, the Bayt al-Ma'mur on the fourth sky, and this earth, and the Baytullah here — everything will be destroyed. Until then, 70,000 angels every day are doing Tawaf. SubhanAllah. If you put all of that together, it cannot equal the one Hajj of Rasulullah ﷺ. That is the power of iman and ikhlas.

Focus on Quality, Not Quantity

And that is أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا — Allah wants to see whose actions are the best. Let us not worry about the quantity to such an extent at the cost of the quality. We have to focus on the quality. We have to focus on the inner dimension. We have to work on improving our ibadah. And what gives the weight to the ibadah? The weight comes from ikhlas.

As Rasulullah ﷺ said:

(Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah; referenced in similar wording in various hadith collections)

"O Mu'adh, have ikhlas and sincerity in your actions — a small amount of good deeds will be sufficient for your salvation."

The Words of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud

And that is why Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه said:

(Attributed to Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه, addressing the Tabi'in)

He was addressing the Tabi'in — the second generation. He was not addressing the sinful and corrupt of today; he was addressing the Tabi'in, saying: "My companions — the companions of Rasulullah ﷺ — their ibadah for a few moments, a few seconds, is better than your entire life's worth of good deeds." SubhanAllah.

So may Allah give us the tawfiq and guidance to work on improving the inner dimension of our ibadah and to infuse our ibadah with sincerity — لِوَجْهِ اللهِ — so that Allah grants it acceptance and grants it weight on that Day when we will need our good deeds to be heavy in the scales of justice. Insha'Allah.

Announcements

A few important announcements. Please stand up, please move forward, and please do not leave gaps — make space for others. Please pass the donation boxes from left to right and donate generously. Sadaqah in times of calamity draws the mercy of Allah. There is a hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ in Musannaf Abd al-Razzaq that sadaqah given on the day of Jumu'ah is greater in reward than on any other day. So there is a specific hadith about giving charity on Jumu'ah, so let us not miss out on that great reward and opportunity.

There is a very important Tafheem weekend program — a weekend program for adults for Islamic education, covering various subjects. It is now open, starting not this coming weekend but the following weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Three hours on Saturday and three hours on Sunday, for brothers and sisters, both on-site and online. For those who cannot take off a year for the Tanweer program or the summer intensives — those who are working individuals or studying full-time — please take benefit from these class offerings.

Those who can, please note the Tanweer intensive is starting this Monday for one year. The high school program is also starting from Monday, August 15th.

We have a basketball camp at Dar es-Salaam for the youth — a three-day exclusive camp for boys ages 7 to 18, featuring a well-known basketball player. Free camp t-shirts, Islamic talks, an all-star game, award ceremony, and pizza party.

For the sisters: young sisters have a Soulful Chat — a weekly gathering from 5:30 to 7:30, conducted by our alimaat — graduating students from the sixth-year Dawrah Hadith class — geared toward young girls. For our teenage girls, many people ask about programs catered for them, their questions, and their concerns. They have an opportunity to ask questions in a comfortable environment with a female young scholar. That is a weekly program for young girls.

Please note that we are still looking for male math and science teachers. We are very much in need of middle and high school math and science teachers — if anyone knows of candidates, please do reach out.

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The Tuesday night tafsir programs are continuing after Maghrib — Surah Taha is being covered by Mufti Ali Mudeen. Saturdays, Team Fajr talks after Fajr at 5:15 a.m., followed by community breakfast.

May Allah grant everyone who is sick shifa, and maghfirah to the marhumeen. Jazakum Allah.