Rushing to Perform Good Deeds - Shaykh Hafeezullah Khan

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنُؤْمِنُ بِهِ وَنَتَوَكَّلُ عَلَيْهِ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ سَيِّدَنَا مَوْلَانَا مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

أَمَّا بَعْدُ فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ

Rushing Towards Good — A Teaching of Islam

Brothers and sisters, Allah says: "And march forward in the way which leads to forgiveness from your Lord and for paradise as wide as the heavens and the earth, prepared for the al-muttaqoon."

Rushing to do things is often seen as bad, but rushing to do good deeds and trying to beat others to them — that is a teaching of Islam. Going forward in good deeds indicates our want for good. But we see people try to delay and leave out things when doing good, yet they rush when it is leading to a bad deed. We should rush and hurry in doing good deeds because we do not know when the situation may change. We may become ill, we may become homeless, we may become poor, and then we are not in a position to do what we intended.

As the Prophet ﷺ says: "Try to be ahead of each other in good deeds, because the good deeds will save you from the fitnas which are like the darkness of the night."

Your Personal Hour — The Individual Qiyamah

Brothers and sisters, every one of us knows about the Day of Judgment, which is called in Arabic al-Qiyamah. There is another name for al-Qiyamah: as-Sa'ah — in English, "the Hour." But there is another hour that will come upon every individual — another qiyamah which comes upon every individual.

This hour is described in a hadith of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, narrated by Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). When a Bedouin companion came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him: "When will the Hour come, O Muhammad?" — his intention was to ask about the Day of Judgment, about the Qiyamah. So Muhammad ﷺ pointed to a young boy and said: "If this boy lives, by the time he is very old, your hour would have already taken place." Your hour. Your qiyamah.

Brothers and sisters, this is the hour that each and every one of us will experience and must be aware of. This is the hour that is approaching us every second of our lives. This will be the deciding time for us, as our actions will come to an end. This is in fact our hour, our qiyamah. And after that, we can only look towards our reckoning.

Good Deeds in the Grave

So if a person is one of those who used to rush to perform good deeds in this life, his good deeds will be with him in his grave. This is mentioned in a well-known hadith of the Prophet ﷺ: after the three questions in the grave, the one who is going to Jannah will see his good deeds in the form of a beautiful person who will say to him: "Do you not recognize me? I am your good deeds." And after that, these good deeds say to him: "By Allah, since I have known you, you always made haste to do good deeds and be obedient to Allah, and you were always hesitant to commit bad deeds. So I will be with you, insha'Allah, in your grave."

And the one who has been assigned to the Hellfire — he will be approached by his bad deeds in the form of a very unpleasant man, who will say to him: "Since I have known you, you were always in a rush to commit sin, to commit bad deeds, and were very slow to do good deeds."

So brothers and sisters, the question we must ask ourselves — before it is too late — is: what have we prepared for that moment? We need to prepare the answer as well before our hour comes upon us. As the Prophet ﷺ says: "Take advantage of this life before your death." In another hadith, Muhammad ﷺ said:

"Act fast, act fast to do good deeds before trials come which are like the darkness of the night — then you will not be able to differentiate between good and bad." (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 118)

Examples of Good Deeds to Rush Towards

1. Tawbah — Seeking Forgiveness

Brothers and sisters, there are many good deeds that we need to do — rush to act upon them. For example, one of them is doing tawbah, seeking forgiveness of Allah from our bad deeds, from our wrongdoings, from our negligence, from our mistakes. We do not have to delay it. If we delay, then the time may escape from us and we will be in a situation where our tawbah will be rejected.

As Allah says:

The repentance accepted by Allah is only for those who do wrong in ignorance or in carelessness and then repent soon after — they do not delay. They do not think, "Insha'Allah I will repent in Ramadan or after Hajj." Those who do wrong and repent very soon — it is those to whom Allah will turn in forgiveness. But repentance is not accepted of those who continue to do evil deeds until their death, and when death comes to one of them he says: "Indeed I have repented now."

2. Rushing to Prayer at Its Fixed Time

Likewise, rushing towards prayer at its fixed time. Because the Prophet ﷺ considered the one who prays but does not pray at the fixed time — who always prays late — and Muhammad ﷺ called that the prayer of the hypocrite.

3. Rushing to Spend in the Way of Allah

As well as rushing to spend in the way of Allah from the wealth given to us by Allah — this is also something that should be done in haste. Once the Prophet ﷺ was asked: "What sadaqah is liked most by Allah?" The Prophet ﷺ replied: "When you are healthy, you have wealth, you fear poverty, and you wish to increase your wealth — the sadaqah you give at that time is more beneficial than giving it when you are on your deathbed saying, 'Give my wealth to so-and-so,' because after your death someone else will take your wealth anyway."

4. Rushing to Give People Their Rights

It is also good to rush to give other people their rights — in the form of money, in the form of wealth, in the form of any other thing. Once, just after leading the 'Asr prayer, the Prophet ﷺ finished the prayer and rushed towards his house. After a while he came out and said to his companions: "One piece of silver of sadaqah that needed to be distributed to the needy was left at my house — this is why I was rushing."

5. Rushing to Perform Hajj

It is also good to rush towards making Hajj. As the Prophet ﷺ says: "You do not know what your circumstances will be in the future. You do not know if you will be healthy next year. You do not know if you will be rich next year."

6. Rushing to Open the Fast and to Bury the Dead

The Prophet ﷺ also told us that we should rush towards opening the fast, and to bury the dead. As the Prophet ﷺ said:

"Hasten with the funeral." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1315; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 944)

"Bury your dead quickly. Do not take so much time. Because if he is a pious person, you will be sending him to his good quickly. And if he is not, then you will be getting rid of this burden quickly."

Things That Require Patience — Not Haste

Brothers and sisters, those are some examples of good deeds that we have been advised to do as quickly as we can. But there are some other actions that we do in haste when they should be done patiently — otherwise, later on, we will regret it.

1. Matrimonial Disputes — Do Not Rush to Divorce

For example, matrimonial problems between husband and wife. Some couples who have disagreements rush into divorce quickly, at the first stage, even when this could have been avoided. The couple should first resolve their problems by themselves. And if they cannot do this together, then a representative from each side should try to resolve their problems. And if divorce seems necessary and appears to be the solution, they must still think it over and be patient. They have to consult Islamic scholars, have counselling regarding their problems, and then perhaps they can solve their issues.

In every society there are some people who want to create problems between husband and wife, between colleagues, between families. So when we hear something from someone like that, we should not rush into taking immediate action based on the information we have heard. We should not make decisions about them by ourselves — we should inquire about the matter and then take action.

As Allah says:

"O you who believe, if a sinful person brings you some news, investigate it, so that you do not oppress or harm anyone in ignorance."

2. Do Not Be Impatient About the Acceptance of Du'a

It is also bad to be impatient about having one's du'a accepted. We all make du'a, but some people want their answer so quickly. They rush in seeking an answer to their du'as as if it were to happen overnight. And if they do not see a quick response from Allah, then they show hopelessness. The Prophet ﷺ says regarding these people:

"A person's du'a will be accepted as long as he does not ask for anything sinful or to break the ties of kinship, and as long as he does not become impatient." The Sahabah asked: "What is impatient, O Messenger of Allah?" He replied: "When he says, 'I have asked, I have asked, I have asked,' and he does not see any answer, so he becomes hopeless and stops asking Allah." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6340; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2735)

3. Do Not Pursue Rizq Through Haram Means

Some people, in order to get their livelihood — whether food, clothing, housing, or any other thing — leave the halal ways and use haram ways. They try to earn wealth through haram. They try to earn profit through disobedience. This kind of impatience is totally wrong.

In a hadith, Muhammad ﷺ says: "Once, Jibreel placed this in my heart — that no human will die without receiving the provision, the rizq, that is written for him by Allah in this life." The Prophet ﷺ said: "So always try to get it in a halal way, in the right way. And if it is delayed in coming to you, do not try to get it through disobedience of Allah."

Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) says in this regard: "The people who want to get rizq through haram ways do not know that they cannot get except what is written for them by Allah. So whether they earn in a halal way or a haram way, they will get exactly what Allah has written for them — not more than that. But if they earn in a haram way, they will get the rizq and they will also get sins. If they earn in a halal way, they will get the rizq and they will also get Allah's reward."

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, we should be careful in these things. In the Quran, Allah has used the words سَارِعُوا and سَابِقُوا for doing good deeds — "run," "move ahead of each other," "race one another." And the Prophet ﷺ has also used the same words: بَادِرُوا بِالأَعْمَال — "move ahead of each other in doing good deeds before the life that Allah has given you is snatched from your hands."

Because these are the deeds that, after your life, will be useful to you. And if you remain alive, then some great mischief will come:

"Hasten to do good deeds before trials come that are like the darkest night — you will not be able to tell what is good and what is bad." (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 118)

Before those trials come — before that time comes which is called the Qiyamah — collect good deeds for yourself. As the Prophet ﷺ said: death is the qiyamah for every individual. So for that qiyamah, what preparation have you made? That preparation, my friends, is with those deeds about which the Prophet ﷺ has emphasized — in those, you must not delay.

May Allah bless us all.

Du'a — Closing Supplication