Famous in the Heavens - Shaykh Aqeel Mahmood

Famous in the Heavens

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, ask for His help, and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the evils of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whosoever He misguides, none can guide him.

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

O you who have believed, fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul, and created from it a wife, and spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah, to whom you ask for help and mercy. Indeed, Allah is ever watching over you.

O you who have believed, fear Allah, and speak the truth, that He may amend your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great triumph.

As for what follows — the best speech is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And the worst of things are newly invented matters. Every newly invented matter is a innovation, every innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance leads to the Fire.

The Desire for Recognition

Good deeds, righteous deeds — people benefit from them as a result of others viewing them, seeing them, watching their videos, and sharing their posts. And sometimes you'll see individuals Allah has blessed with the ability to post, to make videos, and to write things on social media. Their messages are shared. And when we see this, it encourages us. When we see this, we start to think to ourselves, I wish that I was given that same recognition.

And sometimes we start to post. And we start to do things — even if it's not based on social media, maybe we do things in our own communities, in our own centers, our own masajids. We do some things for the sake of da'wah, for the sake of Allah. And when we post or when we do those things that we see others doing and we want that same recognition, sometimes we don't get that same recognition. Sometimes our posts and our activities and our efforts aren't shared or viewed as much as the efforts of other people.

And when this happens, it can sometimes dishearten us. We can become disappointed. We can become disheartened. Sometimes we start to think to ourselves, why is it that others can post and do things and immediately they'll get that recognition — their messages will start to be shared left, right and center — but when I do those same things, I'm not doing anything different, those things that I'm doing aren't getting the same recognition?

The Value of Deeds Done in Private

When we reflect, brothers and sisters, on this dilemma that sometimes we fall into, we have to remember that sometimes Allah blesses us with the opportunity of being able to do righteous and good deeds that nobody else knows about. And in fact, it may be the case that our deeds — the acts of righteousness that we do — are more beloved to Allah than possibly those individuals who do righteous deeds and good deeds in public. Our deeds which are done privately could be more beloved to Allah, even though maybe we're disappointed about the recognition that we're getting from others.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us about those who are most beloved to Allah. He said: he is the one who is pious, he is righteous, he is self-sufficient, he is hidden away from the people — he is a private person. Because when a person does deeds in private, his sincerity isn't going to be called into question as much as somebody who does righteous deeds in public, when everyone is watching, when everyone is listening, when everyone is viewing, and his deeds are being shared. Because his deeds could, at one point, not be shared — and then he may start to question and think, why aren't people accepting whatever it is that I'm doing? Whereas a person who does things in private, his sincerity is clearer. It could be purer for his heart and for his ikhlas.

And even though others don't recognize the actions that he's doing, even though others don't recognize the good deeds that he's doing, Allah recognizes them. That's why Allah talks about those who give charity in the Quran, and the different types of people who give charity. Allah says — those who openly give charity, publicly give charity, that is a good thing because it encourages other people. But:

But if you hide it and you give to the poor and the needy, then that is something which is better for you. And as a result, He will remove and expiate your sins and wipe them away. And Allah is all aware of what you do. If others aren't aware of what you do, if you don't get the recognition from others regarding the righteous deeds that you're doing and the efforts that you're making, Allah will know.

And this is why in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when he talked about the one who gives sadaqah being from those who will be in the shade of Allah:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1423; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1031)

The man who gives charity and hides it — to the extent that his left hand doesn't know what his right hand is giving. People don't know how much he's giving, how often he's giving, what he's giving. Because it is something which is private between him and Allah.

But nowadays, when we live in this age of technology and social media and wanting recognition from others — even related to our acts of worship — wanting this publicity, wanting to be popular, when a person falls into this trap of wanting to be popular and getting recognition for his good deeds, when he doesn't get that recognition, maybe he'll stop doing those good deeds. Maybe he won't continue them. Because in his eyes, if people aren't accepting his good deeds, if people aren't recognizing and praising him for his righteous deeds, then maybe Allah isn't accepting them. Or even worse — his sincerity wasn't there in the first place. Maybe he wasn't doing it for the sake of Allah.

And so that's why the most beloved people to Allah are those who do things in private. Because their sincerity is purer. Their ikhlas is there purely to please Allah.

Unknown on Earth, Famous in the Heavens

There are many examples in the past of individuals who we didn't know about, and we only know about them because of the righteous deeds that they did. They weren't famous people or popular people. They never changed the face of history, or affected hundreds and thousands of people's lives. But simply because of some good deeds that they did, Allah blessed them.

Even the messengers that we know of are just a small number of the messengers that Allah has told us about in the Quran. Allah says:

Messengers that We haven't even told you about. There are messengers we don't even know about. We don't know who they were. Yet they were messengers of Allah. When they would call people to the worship of Allah, nobody would follow them. But they were persistent, and they continued to call people to the worship of Allah — not because of the recognition they might be given, because there was no recognition given to them — but because of their ikhlas and their sincerity, and their obedience to Allah. So much so that on the Day of Judgment, some messengers will be raised up with no one behind them, no one following them, because nobody listened to their message. But they were still messengers.

There are even individuals who we would consider today to be disgraced, dishonored people — people who we wouldn't even respect because of their professions. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us about a woman who was a prostitute who had been forgiven by Allah. She was walking and she saw a dog that was dying of thirst by a well. And so she went down the well, took out some water, and gave it to this dog. And as a result of this, Allah forgave her — for her profession, for the things that she would do.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3321; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2245)

She wasn't somebody who was well known in the right kind of way. She wasn't praised, she wasn't respected, she wasn't honored. But Allah honored her because of the righteous deed that she did purely as a result of her sincerity.

There are these kinds of individuals, brothers and sisters, who are:

Unknown to the people on earth, but famous with those who are in the heavens — with Allah and the angels.

The Story of Musa and Khidr

The case of Musa (peace be upon him) — when he was asked by his people, Bani Israel, who was the most knowledgeable person on earth. They were amazed by him. He was their messenger. And so he replied, "I am," because as far as he knew, he was the most knowledgeable person — he was the messenger of Allah. And so Allah revealed to him: there is somebody who is even more knowledgeable than you — Khidr. So go and seek him out. And Musa never gave up until he met Khidr.

Allah talks about Khidr and says:

They found a slave from one of Our slaves. He doesn't even call him a prophet or a messenger or by any other name — a slave from one of Our slaves. We gave him mercy from Ourselves, and We taught him knowledge from Ourselves. So Musa (peace be upon him), one of the greatest messengers who ever lived, is going and learning from an individual that nobody knew about. He wasn't somebody who was well-known or famous. He was a worshipper of Allah, a slave of Allah. And this shows us, brothers and sisters, that individuals like this are unknown to us on earth, but they could be famous with those in the heavens.

Allah's Love Descends to Earth

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: if Allah loves a person, He tells Jibreel (peace be upon him), "Allah loves this person, so love him." And so Jibreel would tell the rest of the inhabitants of the heavens from the angels, "Allah loves so-and-so, so love him." And so everyone in the heavens would end up loving this individual.

The Man of Paradise: The Story of Abdullah ibn Amr

We have the story of Abdullah ibn Amr (may Allah be pleased with him), one of the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said: we were in the masjid with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when he told us:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 12697; reported by al-Haythami in Majma' al-Zawa'id)

A man is going to come into the masjid right now from the people of paradise. And so they were waiting, thinking — who is it going to be? Who is this man who is guaranteed paradise? And you would think it would be someone known to them — Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, or someone else. And so Abdullah ibn Amr says: a man entered, and his beard was all scruffy because he had just done wudu. His beard was a mess. He had his sandals under his armpit. He came, offered the salah, gave salam, and left.

The next day, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said the same thing, and the same man entered and did the same thing. The third day, he came in and did the same thing. So Abdullah ibn Amr followed him and said, when he caught up with him: I have had a dispute with my father — and his father Amr ibn al-'As wasn't a Muslim at the time — so can I stay with you for three days? And the man agreed.

So Abdullah ibn Amr said: I stayed with him to see what it is that he does that makes him from the people of paradise. In the daytime, he would go about his day doing whatever a man does around the house — bits and bobs here and there. Nothing noteworthy. Nothing special in terms of ibadah or acts of worship or deeds of righteousness. When nighttime came, Abdullah ibn Amr forced himself to stay awake to see — maybe he prays during the night. This is probably what he does. This is how he has been given the status of being from the people of paradise. But when nighttime came, he slept the whole night. He didn't even wake up for qiyam until the fajr prayer came. Then after the fajr prayer, he went on his normal day. The second day, the same thing occurred. The third day, the same thing.

After three days, Abdullah ibn Amr went to the man and said to him: I haven't had a dispute with my father. The only reason I came is because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to us that a man will come into the masjid from the people of paradise — and you came in, and the same thing happened on the second day, and the same thing on the third day. I've been with you for these three days and I haven't noticed anything special that you've done. So tell me, what is it that you do?

And so the man replied and said: I am as you have seen. This is what I do. This is my routine, my day-to-day. And so Abdullah ibn Amr, confused, started walking away. And the man called him back and said: I am as you have seen — this is what I do on a day-to-day basis — except for one thing. I never have any dishonesty in my heart towards another Muslim. And I never envy anyone who has been given something good by Allah. I never have envy or hatred or animosity or jealousy in my heart as a result of something good which Allah has given.

And so Abdullah ibn Amr replied and said: this is the thing that Allah has given you that you're able to do that others aren't able to do — to be able to sleep with a clean and pure heart, with no hatred or animosity towards any individual.

Named by Allah: The Story of Ubay ibn Ka'b

We want to be like the example of Ubay ibn Ka'b, the companion of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who was approached by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ one day. And he said to him: Verily Allah has ordered me to recite to you, O Ubay, this surah. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ is reciting to Ubay ibn Ka'b a surah from the Quran which he has been commanded by Allah to do. Ubay ibn Ka'b said: did He mention me by name? And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: yes, He mentioned you by name. And so Ubay ibn Ka'b started to cry and started to weep.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3809; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 799)

These are individuals, brothers and sisters, whom Allah gave recognition before anyone else gave them recognition on earth.

Uwais al-Qarni: The Greatest of the Tabi'een

There is a story of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) who, when he was the leader of the Muslims, every hajj season he would stand up asking the people of Yemen if a man by the name of Uwais al-Qarni was with them. Each year they would say no. Until eventually they said: he has come, but he's not performing hajj — he's just taking care of our animals and our camels as we are doing hajj.

So Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) went to him. He was a small, thin man — weak. He never had expensive garments. In fact, they say he was wearing a cloak, and that was his only piece of clothing. And he was praying under the shade of a tree with camels around him grazing. Nothing special about this individual. And so Umar asked him: are you Uwais al-Qarni? He said: yes. He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, verily the greatest from the tabi'een is a man by the name of Uwais al-Qarni. Every time he would make an oath by Allah that something would happen, it would happen — Allah would make it happen. And if you ever see this person, ask him to ask Allah to forgive you.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2542)

So Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), the leader of the Muslims, asked somebody nobody knew about to make du'a for him. And so Uwais made du'a for him. Umar then asked him if he needed anything — anything at all, I'll give it to you. He said: nobody knows about me, no one knows who I am. And up till today, there are only a few ahadith — only two or three of them authentic — that we know of about Uwais al-Qarni. And even with regards to his death, we don't know exactly when he died or where he died. They say he was a shaheed in one of the battles, but we don't know his exact state or situation.

The Unknown Martyrs of Nahawand

Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), in another instance, was standing outside of Medina waiting for news about a battle that the Muslims had participated in — the Battle of Nahawand. A messenger finally came racing towards him on his horse and told him: the Muslims have been victorious. And so Umar asked him: who passed away, who was killed, who was a shaheed in battle? And he mentioned names. Such and such person passed away, this person passed away, that person passed away. And then others passed away — مِنْ أَفْنَادِ النَّاسِ — from the unknown people. You don't know who they were.

So Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) replied and said:

And how did it harm them that Amir al-Mu'mineen didn't know who they were? But Allah knew them. Allah honored them by them being shuhada — martyrs. And how would it have benefited them if Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) knew them?

The Scholars and Secret Deeds

The stories of the scholars of the past also tell us about how they would try their best to make sure that they would do righteous deeds in private, not in public. Even though they were known, they would try their best to make sure they did deeds that people didn't know about. There are stories of some scholars who would sleep and cry on their pillows until the pillows became wet out of the fear of Allah — and their wives wouldn't even know that was happening, because they kept it secret.

A scholar by the name of Dawud ibn Abi Hind fasted for 40 years without his family even knowing he was fasting. They would give him food in the morning, and he would take the food with him when he went out and give it to the poor. He would come back in the evening and eat with his family — unbeknownst to them that he had been fasting.

These are examples, brothers and sisters, of the importance of recognizing and understanding how valuable deeds in private actually are. And how in fact it is a blessing from Allah when a person is given this privacy and is not known by the people — so that when he does righteous deeds, maybe his deeds are accepted by Allah because he has more sincerity.

The Scholar Who Gave in Secret

One man mentioned a story about how he had heard about somebody who was in need — a very poor person. So he made his way to that individual's house and knocked on the door. When the man opened it, he said to him: I've heard that you're somebody in need, I want to help you — anything you need. And the man replied: I have no need for anything now. Everything's been sorted out. He said: what do you mean? He said: somebody comes during the night when I'm asleep — I don't know who it is — and he leaves something by the door. He leaves food and things for the household, appliances and accessories for the house. Every morning I open the door and see some things there that he's left for me. So I don't need anything anymore.

And so the man was asked: who is this person? He said: I don't know who it is. And so the man who had the intention of helping this individual thought to himself: I'm going to stay outside his house and wait and see who it is. He waited the whole day — no one came. In the last part of the night, an old man came in a car and left some bags at the front of his house. When this man left his car and walked past, he noticed it was one of the scholars of Saudi Arabia — Sheikh Abdullah al-Jibreel. One of the famous scholars of Saudi Arabia. Even though they had reached the level that they had reached, they understood the importance of doing deeds in private.

Conclusion: Flee the Dunya, and the Dunya Will Chase You

It may be the case that those individuals whose messages, posts, videos, and pictures are getting shared numerous times online and who have been given this recognition — their sincerity may have been tainted. And so these scholars understood the importance of doing things in private, because their sincerity won't be called into question as much.

The hadith I mentioned earlier about Allah loving individuals and mentioning that to the angels — this hadith continues. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: all the dwellers of the heavens end up loving that person, and then he is granted the pleasure and the love of the people on the earth. Meaning: when a person does righteous deeds, when a person is obedient to Allah, then and only then will a person be given that gratitude, that recognition, that acceptance, that love by the people on earth. But when a person tries to chase the dunya, the dunya will just flee. But when you flee from the dunya, the dunya will try to chase you — as the scholars said.

We ask Allah that He gives us the ability to do righteous deeds in private, so that Allah will accept our deeds as a result of our sincerity.