Golden Advice: The Reward Within The Effort | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Golden Advice: The Reward Within The Effort

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

We praise Allah and send salutations upon His noble Prophet. My dear brothers and sisters, welcome back to our third episode of the Golden Advice series.

We apologize for the inconvenience and the delay in coming back online. The Wi-Fi is rather weak where we are right now. Nonetheless, insha'Allah this week I will share an advice with you that I have been reflecting upon the entire week — an idea, a theme that we derive from the entire gems of the Qur'an and Hadith.

Holding On to Your Deen Like a Hot Coal

The Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2260)

That there will come a time where people holding on to their deen, it will be as if they are holding on to a hot coal and charcoal — something which is very difficult to hold and grasp upon.

From this, many muhaddithūn derive many lessons and wisdoms. But one of the wisdoms that truly left a mark in my heart — and hopefully it can benefit all of us today as well — is understanding how Allah rewards us for our deeds. And how Allah gives us our ajr for the actions that we fulfill in this life.

The Weight of a Dust Particle

We believe that Allah gives us the reward of every single good deed that we fulfill. Allah says:

Whosoever does a dharrah of good deeds — I was sitting with our seminary students of the associate program and we were dissecting this word dharrah. What does dharrah really mean? Imam al-Naḍr and others say that the word dharrah is when the sun's rays hit against the window, and by those rays hitting against the window, you look outside and you see a few dust particles rising and going up in the air. Those dust particles that you see — that are so small, minute, and so difficult to see — that's what dharrah is. Allah rewards us for every single thing that we do.

And Allah says that He will reward us far better than that which we perceive of Him. This is how Allah will reward us.

The Reward of an Deed Increases with Difficulty

But now the question is: does the reward of my amal change? Or is every amal that I do within that same group, within that same field, always the same reward based on my khushū'? Or are there also other variances that can allow the reward of my amal to increase or decrease?

From this hadith we find a wisdom: the reward of an amal is not only dependent and contingent upon us doing it, but rather the reward of an amal can increase based upon how difficult it is for you and I. If the act is difficult for me to fulfill, Allah gives me a different reward — because there was a different struggle behind it, a different work that was behind it.

And that is the idea of:

Those who continue to exert themselves and struggle to do the acts of goodness — lanahdiyannhum — We will surely guide them towards the pathways of Jannah.

And this is the theme that I want to focus on today: understanding that despite our situation, or wherever we may be in the present time or in the future, the reward of an amal is different for every single person, and it depends upon how difficult it is for us.

The Sahabah Who Strove Before Fath Makkah

Allah says:

The people that became Muslims, that spent in the path of Allah and exerted efforts in the path of Allah before Fath Makkah — the Sahabah of Badr, the Sahabah of the Muhajirun, the Sahabah of Bay'at al-Ridwan and Hudaybiyyah — their reward is different. Even though كُلًّا وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْحُسْنَىٰ — all the Sahabah will be given Jannah. But there is a different reward for those people because they made an effort when it was more difficult to perform Salah. They read the Qur'an when it was more difficult to recite it. They fasted when it was more difficult to fast.

So through the ayat of the Qur'an and the prophetic traditions, we are able to derive this idea that when an amal is more difficult for me, Allah will give me a double reward: the reward of doing it, and the reward of the difficulty behind it.

Double Reward for the One Who Struggles with Qur'an

The Prophet ﷺ says:

(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadith 4937; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Hadith 798)

A person who is eloquent and who has mastered the art of reciting the Qur'an — they have a reward in being with the angels, مَعَ الْكِرَامِ الْبَرَرَةِ. They're special. But that person who struggles to learn it — it is hard for them to recite it, it is difficult for them to memorize the Qur'an — but they still continue exerting effort and persevering and working through it, and they continue to recite and learn the Qur'an — فَلَهُ أَجْرَانِ — that person gets double the reward. They get double the reward in comparison to the person who is a master of that field. Because Allah gives us the reward based upon how hard it is for the individual to perform the deed.

The Best Form of Charity

Once the Sahabah asked the Prophet ﷺ: أَيُّ صَدَقَةٍ أَفْضَلُ؟ — What is the best form of charity? And the Prophet ﷺ replied and gave a maxim of life that we can benefit from. He said:

(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadith 1419; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Hadith 1032)

The best type of charity is when an individual is healthy, shaḥīḥ — and they desire that wealth, they want it, they enjoy it, they need it — but yet they give it away in the path of Allah. وَتَخْشَى الْفَقْرَ — and they're afraid that if they give that wealth, perhaps their money will get less. They still continue spending it.

This is the greatest type of charity because it's more difficult to give. It's not the easiest charity to give. You're afraid that perhaps if I spend this money, I may not have any money left for myself and my family.

The Story of Abu Talha and His Family

There is a narration that Imam al-Tirmidhī has narrated — that one day a man came to the Prophet ﷺ and he said: إِنِّي مَجْهُودٌ — I am struggling. I am in a state of need. Please help me. Give me something to eat, something to drink, a place to stay.

The Prophet ﷺ sent word to ask his blessed and beloved wives if there was any food in their homes. And each and every wife responded by saying: We don't have anything. All we have is water. The Prophet's house was always empty — all we have is water.

And finally, the Prophet ﷺ turned towards the companions. It was the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ that if he himself could not help or assist, he would turn towards his companions and make sure that someone helps the person. He turned towards his companions and asked: Is there anyone amongst you that can take care of our guest?

And a man stood up — Abu Talha — and said: أَنَا يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ. He took the guest to his house and asked his wife: هَلْ عِنْدَكِ شَيْءٌ؟ — Do you have any food at home? Is there anything in our house?

And the wife responded: We have nothing, إِلَّا قُوتَ الصِّبْيَانِ — all we have left in our house is a provision for my children. We don't even have food for ourselves.

And the Sahabah responded to his wife: We have the guest of the Prophet with us. We have to take care of him. فَعَلِّلِيهِمْ — make the children go to sleep. Put the pot on top of the stove with some water, so they think that something is being cooked and they will fall asleep. Perhaps they will cry themselves to sleep.

It was easy to give food when they had extra food. But now they didn't even have enough food for their children. And yet the husband was saying: Let them go to sleep. We have a guest with us. And he instructed his wife to dim the lights so the guest could not see whether or not he was eating alongside him. And they passed the night that way.

The next morning, the Prophet ﷺ turned towards the companions and asked: Where is Abu Talha? And he stood up. The Prophet ﷺ said: Tell us what happened last night. What took place with you and your house and your family and your children?

They were not people who wanted to flaunt their deeds and show off. They were quiet. The man said: Ya Rasulallah, it was not a big deal.

The Prophet ﷺ said: No — because of what you did last night, because of how you showed love to your guest, Allah sent down Wahy with Jibreel ﷺ, and an ayah was revealed:

Those are individuals that spend in the path of Allah despite the fact that they have a need for it — they need it for their own families, for their own children — but despite that, they still spend it in the path of Allah. And these are the individuals who are truly successful.

Difficulty Makes the Reward Different

There are many examples from our prophetic tradition where we find this concept to be true and proven. That our reward in this difficult time — it's perhaps making us think: I was reciting the Qur'an in the masjid, it was easy for me. I was praying in the masjid, it was easy for me. I was sitting with our teacher or our sheikh in the masjid, it was easy to be spiritually motivated and inspired. How do I get that now?

Dear brothers, dear sisters — that same Fajr Salah that was easier for me to pray before: now if I'm praying it, the reward is different. That same recitation I was doing in the masjid or in a ḥalaqah with the teacher — so it was easier because the environment was created, there was an aura of people inspired to recite Qur'an together — now it's not there. Now if I recite it, it is double the reward.

It was easy before to give charity because I knew I had a secure job and a secure income. Now if I spend, the reward, the sweetness, the feeling is different — because we get double the reward. And there are many more hadith where the Prophet ﷺ explains to us how the reward of an amal differs based upon that level of difficulty.

What is the best nafl prayer? The greatest nafl prayer is the optional prayer of Tahajjud, because it is the most difficult one to stand up for.

Now, I'm not saying that we look for difficulty. I'm not saying that we put ourselves into difficulty. What I am saying — and what we understand from the theme of these stories — is: even if it gets difficult and we continue doing it, the reward of that amal, after it becoming difficult, will double for us. Because there is a double reward for those amal that we struggle with.

So we don't stop. Rather we tell ourselves: SubḥānAllah, I'm getting more reward for reciting that same Qur'an. Why should I not recite it? I was praying Tarawih in the masjid — perhaps there is no Tarawih in the masjid. If I'm praying Tarawih at home, I'm getting double the reward. Why should I not pray Tarawih? I was praying Fajr in the masjid. Now I'm praying at home. I'm getting double the reward — if it's more difficult for me.

Staying Away from Haram is Worship Too

Let's figure out and identify something that we struggle with. Whatever we struggle with, let's see if we can own up to that act. If we struggle with staying away from sins — sometimes we think to ourselves that doing good is the only way of earning the pleasure of Allah. But contrary to that, there is a hadith where a Sahabah asked the Prophet ﷺ:

How can I become the greatest worshipper of Allah? Like there is no one better than me — how do I become the best of the best? You would think the Prophet would say: Pray Salah every single night in Tahajjud. Fast every single day. Or fast every other day.

The Prophet ﷺ tells him:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2305)

Stay away from things that are haram — you will become the greatest worshipper.

Now we have more free time at home. And sometimes it's easier to gossip. It's easier to look at haram. It's easier to listen to haram. In these difficult times, if we are able to protect ourselves from those sins, the reward of protecting ourselves from those same sins during a normal time or situation would have been less. The reward is more now — because it's harder to do.

What is a Salah that, if we don't pray it, is a sign of a munafiq? Salat al-Fajr and Salat al-Isha were the most difficult prayers upon the munafiqoon, because they are the more difficult prayers to stand up for before Allah. The reward for them is different.

The Muttaqin Who Spend in Ease and in Difficulty

Allah tells us about Jannah — وَعْدَةً لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ — it is prepared for those that have taqwa. Who are those that have taqwa?

Those that don't only spend in times of ease, but they also spend in times of difficulty. وَالْكَاظِمِينَ الْغَيْظَ — they swallow their anger when they are at the epitome of anger. Allah didn't say الْغَضَب — that they swallow their anger. الْغَيْظ is the highest form of anger that one can be at. The reward of that is different than the reward of swallowing your words when it's easier to do so.

We have to learn how to perform those deeds that are difficult for us, and them being difficult for us gives us more reward than those who find it easy to do so.

Bilal, Abu Bakr, and Umar — The Weight of Sacrifice

Do we think the reward of saying Aḥad for us is the same as Bilal saying Aḥad when he was under the rock of Umayyah ibn Khalaf? The reward was different.

Do we think the expenditure that we do in the path of Allah will be the same as Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu when he spent his money in the Hijrah of the Prophet ﷺ? And during the Battle of Tabuk — the journey of Tabuk — when the Prophet ﷺ asked the Sahabah to spend money for the sake of Allah, Umar radiallahu anhu came with half of his wealth and said: Today I will pass Abu Bakr and surpass him, because I'm giving half of my money at a time when he had extra money and was doing well in business.

And then Abu Bakr walked up. When Abu Bakr came, the Prophet ﷺ asked him: مَا أَبْقَيْتَ لِأَهْلِكَ؟ And Umar says, radiallahu anhu, that I knew I had lost just by how the Prophet ﷺ asked him the question. مَا أَبْقَيْتَ لِأَهْلِكَ؟ — What have you left for your family? And Abu Bakr said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 3675; Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Hadith 1678)

I left for them Allah and His Prophet ﷺ. This was difficult for him — to take every single penny out — but he did it. And that is what earned him the title and the rank of being the greatest after the Prophet ﷺ.

Holding on to the Sunnah in Times of Strangeness

The stories continue where the Prophet ﷺ describes the best fast — the best fast is, of course, one in which we don't gossip or backbite, but also a fast which is a little longer, because the struggle continues a little more.

So dear brothers and sisters, in this time — in this juncture of our life, while many of us may be quarantined, and for the future as well because these are advices that are not limited to this time — we should figure out all of those things that we struggle with and learn how to master them. And when we master them and they become easier for us, we say Alḥamdulillāh and move on to the next thing.

And we understand — muḥtasibān — we recognize that while we are doing something which is difficult for us, the reward of that is better than those that find it easy, perhaps in the eyes of Allah. The Salah that we pray is different than the Salah that people pray when there are no stares at them and no one is gawking at them.

The Prophet ﷺ says:

(al-Bayhaqī, Shu'ab al-Īmān; al-Mundhirī, al-Targhīb wa al-Tarhīb)

An individual who holds on very tightly and grasps onto my sunnah in a time where my sunnahs are not being practiced upon — a time like this — a person who performs a sunnah of mine in a time where it is strange: their reward is that they will have the same reward as a shaheed. Because it was difficult for them to do it.

So let's not back down from something that we struggle with. Rather, let's rise up to the occasion and figure out how to continue doing those same actions that we were doing before while everything was normal — and actually adding on to them, because we have free time in our life.

Five Before Five

The Prophet ﷺ gives us five things and tells us to take care of them and recognize the blessing of where he says:

(Shu'ab al-Īmān lil-Bayhaqī, Hadith 10248; al-Mustadrak lil-Ḥākim, Hadith 7846)

Recognize the blessing and take charge of five things before five things happen to you:

• Take advantage of your youth before one becomes old.
• Take advantage of your health before you become sick.
• Take advantage of your wealth before you become poor.
• Take advantage of your free time — فَرَاغَكَ — the free time that we have right now — before we become busy.
• Take advantage of your life before it becomes too late.

Imam al-Shāfi'ī would say:

He would say: Rush towards doing the acts of goodness that you can do. Because how many sick people have lived on for a very long time — and how many of us that were so healthy can become sick and perhaps lose our life.

Master Your Struggles — This is Iḥsān

So this is the time for us to identify the easy things that we are doing — to continue doing them — and the difficult things that are hard for us — to learn how to own them and master them.

People become great not because they had one skill and they continued using that one skill. They become great because they recognized what they were good at and they also recognized what they struggled with — and they worked on what they struggled with until they became the best at what they did. The examples we can use from sports, from our businesses. We learn one thing and we get better at it, then we move on to the next thing.

If we're struggling with Tahajjud, we work on that. If we're struggling with making just du'a, we work on that. Our du'a is different if we're struggling with it. If it's hard for me to say subḥānAllāh, alḥamdulillāh — if I can't say it 33 times, say it 10 times — insha'Allah we'll get the reward of saying it 33 times, because it's hard for us. And we continue working on it and we continue pushing it.

Don't feel like we're not doing enough. If it's hard for me, even the minimal that I do, Allah gives me double the reward for it. And I keep pushing at it until it becomes easy for me, and then I move on to my next challenge and I continue working on that challenge. And this, my dear brothers and sisters, is what Abdullah ibn Mubarak and Sufyan al-Thawri, rahimahumAllah, would call iḥsān. They would call this continual effort and exertion iḥsān. We move towards one thing and we make it easy for ourselves, then we move on to the next one.

The Sābiqūn — Those Who Lead in Times of Difficulty

May Allah make us amongst those that don't cave in when an amal is difficult for us, but rather we find spirituality and inspiration in understanding that whatever I do — if it's difficult for me — my reward is more than those that do it with ease. And that's what the Prophet ﷺ has taught us in al-qābiḍ 'alā al-jamr — the people that hold on to their deen in a difficult time. They have a separate ranking in the eyes of Allah.

In the tafsir of:

The mufassirūn have narrated many opinions on who the sābiqūn are. But one opinion that is truly profound is that the sābiqūn are all those people who, in times of difficulty, learn how to continue worshipping Allah. And that's what the Muhajirun did — and that's why they are known as the sābiqūn.

In our time — if it's difficult for us right now to do the things that we were normally doing — if we start doing them again, that's what makes us sābiqūn. And if we weren't doing it before, start learning how to do them — that also would put us in the category of sābiqūn bi-faḍlillāhi ta'ālā.

May Allah bless you all. JazakAllah khayr for tuning in, and hopefully we continue learning and benefiting from these lessons that we have on a weekly basis from the classes that we have in Miftah and other institutions. May Allah bless you all. JazakAllah khayr.

And I will also say at the end: please support whatever organization you can in supporting the people that are struggling with COVID-19. Helping Hand is one of those organizations. Please support them and help them as well.