Allah's Question Identifying The Greatest Losers In Deeds

Jumu'ah Khutbah — The Day of Ashura

My dear respected brothers, respected elders, sisters, students — Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Alhamdulillah, today is the day of Ashura and we have been speaking about this after the Isha Salah the last two nights as well as last Friday. May Allah accept all the brothers and sisters who have made the intention to fast — accept our fasting and allow us to reach the completion of this fast and make it a blessed day of forgiveness for us. Make it equal in the eyes of Allah of Sawm al-Sanatain — a fast of an entire year — and a kaffarah of the sins of an entire year.

And just like Allah saved Nuh alayhi salam — as his ship stopped at the Judi mountain, it anchored and he came out — and Allah gave him najat on this day, and gave najat to Musa and Bani Israel on this day — may Allah grant us all najat from the fire of Jahannam as well.

We seek His protection for ourselves, our parents, our children, our loved ones from the fire of Jahannam. May Allah grant us all najat.

The Question Allah Commands the Prophet to Ask

This ayah that I quoted in the beginning — Allah is instructing Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And all of the Quran from the beginning to the end is revealed upon Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. It is not revealed upon anyone else. So if Allah gave an instruction, by default Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would have been the one being addressed. Allah does not necessarily need to call him out and say, "I am addressing you." The whole Quran in its entirety is revealed upon Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

The Ruh al-Amin — the trustworthy angel — brought the Quran down from Allah, ala qalbika, on your heart, O Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, litakuna minal mundhirin — so you can warn the people. Yet Allah is addressing Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam directly:

Qul — "Say," O Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Go and ask the people, tell them the following question: Hal nunabbiukum bil akhsarina a'mala — Shall we not inform you who are akhsar, in the greatest khasara? It is a superlative form — in the greatest loss with respect to their a'mal. So Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has been asked by Allah: go and instruct the people — "Shall we not inform you who are the greatest losers?"

Allah's Style: Attracting Attention Through Questions

SubhanAllah. Allah could have just directly told us: "These are those who are successful and these are those who are failures." Even beyond that, He could have said, "These are those who are in the greatest loss," and given us that information. But one style we see from Allah that He adopts — when He wants to attract our attention — is that He begins the lesson, the incident, the story, the point He is trying to make, with a question.

Like with Musa alayhi salam — He could have just told us, "This is the story of Musa alayhi salam, chapter one, page one, this is how it goes, let's get started." But Allah actually asks a question:

"Has the story of Musa reached you? Do you know the story of Musa alayhi salam?" This is Allah asking us a question. And Allah says:

In the stories of the Anbiya there is a lesson for those who have intelligence. So the stories of the Prophets are not only for children — they are for all of us. When Allah says Wa hal ataaka hadithu Musa, you are supposed to think, to ponder, to reflect — tadabbur, tafakkur, tadhakkur, ta'aqqul — so you understand. Wow, wait — do I know the story of Musa? Maybe I know some parts of it, maybe I don't know the whole thing. Which part is coming here?

That alone would have been enough. But over here there is a Qul added. So that means Allah could have just said, "Shall I inform you who is the biggest loser?" — that would be similar to Hal ataaka hadithu Musa. But over here is Qul — meaning Allah is telling Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam: "I am not just asking you in the Quran. Rather I am telling you — you go out and ask all the people as well." He has been instructed to go ask the people. And if Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is instructed, then secondarily we are also included in that command.

Just like when there is a command to Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam:

"Remain steadfast as I have commanded you — and those who have repented along with you, they should also remain steadfast." So if Allah is asking Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam — Qul, go and say the following — this instruction is for us. We are supposed to take lesson from this, implement it in our lives, keep it as a guiding principle, and to make amal on the ayah. We should literally go and ask people — start with our loved ones, go ask our wives, our husbands, go ask our children, our parents: "Shall I not inform you — should I tell you something — who are the greatest losers?" If you go and ask the question, then we have actually made amal on the text of the ayah.

The 'Ibaratun-Nass and the Dalalat al-Nass

There is an 'ibaratun-nass and there is a dalalat al-nass — one is what the text indicates, and one is the actual purpose. So the text indicates something, and the mafhum — the implied meaning — may indicate something else.

For example: if you go out and you tell somebody, "I want to give you glad tidings — since you come for Fajr and Isha to the masjid, you will have perfect noor on the Day of Judgment," then you have actually made amal on the hadith. The one who does not go around giving people the glad tidings — he may be coming for Fajr and Isha, but he may not have actually made amal on the text of the hadith. Because the text of the hadith is not just saying, "Oh, those who come in the morning and in the night in the darkness, they will have noor." What is the actual text of the hadith?

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 561; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 223)

The command is: "Give the glad tidings to those who walk to the masjid in the darkness of the night — that they will have perfect noor on the Day of Judgment." So obviously that means we should walk to the masjid — mashayina is from mashay yamshi, mashyan, to walk. So we walk in the parking lot to the masjid; at least we get some walking. Just like you want to carry the dead body to the graveyard — the car takes it as far as it can go, and then from the bier to the grave we carry it. Then we think we have carried it. But originally you are supposed to carry it from where the body died all the way to the grave. Originally we are supposed to walk all the way to the masjid.

So this hadith says: "Give the glad tidings." The mafhum of the hadith says, yes, we should try to come to the masjid and we will get the noor. But what does the actual text tell us? Give the glad tidings. So we are supposed to give glad tidings to each other. The hadith is not saying imshu — "walk to the masjid in the darkness and you will get the light." The hadith is saying: "Give the glad tidings." So if we are coming and we have not given the glad tidings — that is great, inshallah — but we have not made amal on what Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is saying. He is telling us to go around and give the glad tidings.

So over here as well — it is the opposite spectrum — we are talking about the biggest losers. Here Allah is saying Qul, go and say. And so we have to ask a question, and we have to ask the people — most importantly we have to ask ourselves: Shall I not inform you who are the greatest losers with respect to amal?

So there are greatest losers with respect to Prophets, greatest losers with respect to material things, dunya — greatest losers with respect to maybe health and wealth and prosperity and fame and name and all other things — but who is the greatest loser with respect to amal?

The Answer: Those Whose Efforts Are Wasted

Allah answers the question:

Alladhina dalla sa'yuhum fil hayatid dunya — those people who were actually making effort. It is not that they were just relaxed, sitting back and following their desires. They literally were making sacrifices; they were making a lot of mujahada. So they had sa'i — and there are people who don't make effort at all — but these people made the sa'i. But dalla sa'yuhum — their sa'i went to waste; their effort is of no value.

If they didn't make effort, Allah would have said they didn't make effort. Allah is saying they did make effort — but their effort is not beneficial, not fruitful. And they actually had a lot of trust and confidence in their actions, in their sacrifices. And they had a lot of anticipation — eagerly they were anticipating great rewards. They were under this illusion that they are doing great deeds. But when they go there, they will find that there is no reward.

So there is a person who is doing bad deeds and he receives punishment — that is bad. There are those who are not doing any good deeds and they don't get reward — that is bad too. But the greatest tragedy — akhsarina a'mala — are those who were doing what they felt to be good deeds, believed to be good deeds, and were looking forward for the reward. But when they go there — alas, there is nothing. It is all gone. This is a true tragedy.

They are all tragedies, but this is the greatest tragedy. There is somebody who is spending all his money in frivolous pursuits, fulfilling his desires — he is not saving, not depositing in the bank, so he has no money. When he needs to access funds, there are no funds — the cheque is bouncing, he is getting hit with penalties. That is sad. But the one who actually worked hard — the sweat and perspiration of his brow, laboring — and he is depositing his money, and then when he goes to take it out at the ATM it says negative balance. What happened? There was identity theft and somebody wiped out his account. But this tragedy is greater than the one who never deposited anything to begin with. La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah.

This is the situation that Allah is addressing. He says to his Nabi: go ask the people, let them start thinking about this, and then tell them this is the answer.

Who Falls Under This Warning? The Four Categories

So how can we avoid such a situation? Who are the categories of people that fall under the warning in this ayah? There are different categories, and we can cover a few of them in the time left.

First: The Absence of Iman

The first, most obvious category: the one that does not have Iman. We believe Iman is a condition for najat — for salvation. So if a person is devoid of Iman, does not have the kalima — La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulallah — just La ilaha illallah is not sufficient. Believing in the tawhid of Allah is not sufficient for salvation without believing in Muhammadur Rasulallah. So we have to believe in the tawhid, we have to believe in the risala, we have to have the complete Iman.

So without Iman, a person may be doing a lot of sacrifices — maybe a Hindu sadhu standing on one foot for 20 years with the most restricted diet, some priest or some Buddhist monk undergoing extreme rigorous mujahadat. Actually, speaking of monks — when did Umar radiyAllahu anh meet the Christian monks? When he went to accept the key of Jerusalem. As was the condition of the bishop of Jerusalem — that the Amirul Momineen must come to accept the keys of the city, then he will hand it over without a fight. So Umar radiyAllahu anh went to accept the keys, and on that journey to Sham from Madinah al-Munawwarah, he passed by some monasteries where the monks had divorced themselves from all worldly pleasures. They took vows of celibacy; this ascetic way of life was an innovation they came up with on their own.

Allah says in Surah al-Hadid:

"I had not obligated them. I never said it is haram to get married for the monks and the nuns. I never said you have to go live on a mountaintop. I never said any of these things. Why did you create this innovation? I only asked them to seek My pleasure." And then they did not even observe it properly. So when Umar radiyAllahu anh saw them, he said: Allahu Akbar — these people are not enjoying the dunya, and they are not going to be enjoying the akhira. They are the clearest example of loss. Losing all the pleasures of the hereafter is the greater loss, and then the pleasure of this dunya — which is like one millisecond compared to the akhira — they even lost that one.

So without Iman, all efforts are wasted. But alhamdulillah, Allah has blessed us with Iman. However, the fact that we have Iman today does not mean we are going to die with Iman. We have to continue to make du'a for istiqamah.

Second: The Absence of Ikhlas (Sincerity)

The second thing — beyond Iman — that is very important for us to remember: a person has Iman, has the ilm of the deen, and is making amal accordingly, performing the action properly — but does not have ikhlas, does not have sincerity. Then this action will also fall in the same category. They were expecting a great reward, but there will be nothing left. Such actions — Allah speaks about them and says they will bring mountains worth of good deeds, but they will be turned into dust. Dust — meaning they will not have any weight in the scales of justice.

So we have to ensure that the actions we perform, we do with ikhlas — sincerity. We are about to perform the Jumu'ah prayer — we make niyyah that it is with ikhlas. Otherwise, the one who performs the salah with the intention to show others has committed shirk — minor shirk. The one who fasts to show others has committed shirk. So all of these actions, if they are not done sincerely for the sake of Allah, they are rejected.

And if there are few actions done with sincerity, that is sufficient. Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said to Muadh ibn Jabal — and on another occasion he swore: "I swear by Allah, I truly love you." The single Sahabi who has this distinct privilege and honor that Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam swore by Allah and declared his love to him directly — his name is Muadh ibn Jabal. Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told him:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 22030; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, Hadith 7820)

"O Muadh ibn Jabal, develop sincerity in your actions. If you are sincere, a small amount of good deeds will be sufficient for your salvation."

Third: Performing Actions Correctly According to the Sunnah

So we have to ensure that our actions are not cancelled out. Number one: we have Iman. Number two: we have ikhlas. Number three: we are doing it in the correct manner according to the sunnah of Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. If a person has Iman and has ikhlas — sincerely — and he is doing tawaf of a grave and making sajdah with ikhlas, then his action is rejected. In fact he is earning sins, even though sincerity is there. But the performance of the action is not correct.

Fourth: Fulfilling the Rights of Others (Huquq al-'Ibad)

And the fourth thing: we have to ensure that we are fulfilling the huquq ibadillah — the rights of each other. So if there is a person who had Iman, learned the knowledge correctly, is doing the actions properly — external performance of the action is correct (number three, check), sincerity — internal dimension (check), good to go, reward confirmed — but then:

Walakinnahu akala mala hadha, wa daraba hadha, wa shatama hadha, la'ana hadha — he cursed this one, he hit that one, he swore at that one, he beat that one. What happens? Those absolutely beautiful, 100% full-proof deeds — he is worthy of entrance, admittance into eternal jannah — he is going to be lost.

How does it go? In the long hadith, Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam asks:

"Do you know who is the most bankrupt individual?" The Sahabah — typically they say Allahu wa rasulahu a'lam — but here they broke their normal tartib and said: "The one who has no gold and silver coins — man la dinara indahu wa la dirham." Everyone knows this hadith. Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: No, he is not the pauper.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2581)

The most bankrupt individual is the one who brings a mountain of good deeds — good currency, valid, genuine, and sufficient to take to jannah — but he has violated the rights of others. What happens? They will come with their cases against him on the Day of Judgment. Allah will say: "Okay, you wronged so-and-so, you were mean and arrogant to so-and-so — take your good deed, give it to him, give it to him, give it to him." So he keeps distributing all his good deeds, giving them away to the people he has hurt. Then his entire mountain of good deeds is gone. Account balance is zero. But the cases against him are still pending. Then what happens? Reverse transfer — their sins will be put in his account. So he comes in with a mountain of good deeds and ends with a mountain of sins — because he violated other people's rights. And then he is thrown headlong into the fire.

This is a disaster as well. This person did good deeds and was hoping for the reward — but he violated other people's rights and everything was cancelled out. May Allah protect all of us.

Conclusion: Bringing Our Deeds Safe and Sound

The bottom line: remember — we have to have Iman for our good deeds not to be cancelled. We have to perform the action in the correct manner. We have to have sincerity in our practice. And we have to make sure we do not do any such actions that result in habtu al-amal — the cancelling out of good deeds. Amongst them I shared one: violating the rights of others.

May Allah allow us to do good deeds and bring them safe and sound. That is why the scholars say — and Allah says in many places, but in some places He goes further:

Whoever is safe and sound, performs a good deed, and brings the good deed safe and sound through the storm to the Day of Judgment — he will get ten times the reward. So you have to bring it. How do we bring it? By making sure we don't do anything that cancels it out.

Let us stand up inshallah. Fill in all the gaps, shoulder to shoulder, come close together to perform the sunnah inshallah. If you see any gap in front of you, please fill it at this moment so it will make it easier for us to start the iqamah and jama'at time.

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