A Path to Divine Mercy | Hidden Treasures Episode 09 | Shaykh Omar Hedroug

A Path to Divine Mercy

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu, bismillah wa alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasoolallah wa ala alihi wa ashabihi wa man wala.

The law of reciprocity says that you give whatever it is that you want to get back. And while this is a law or a rule that many people use in a material sense, this is also something that is deeply spiritual and ingrained in our deen.

In fact, it is one of the golden rules when it comes to how we are dealt with by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. See, Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahu Allah, he beautifully explains the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he makes this connection. And he says:

— "Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is absolutely merciful, and He loves those who are merciful from His servants, and He shows His mercy subhanahu wa ta'ala in this special way to His servants who show mercy."

And then he continues, mentioning all of these different attributes of Allah. That Allah is forgiving and that He loves those who forgive. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is kind and He loves those who are kind. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala overlooks and covers, and He loves subhanahu wa ta'ala those who do that.

And so he lays out this rule and he says:

— "Whoever from the servants of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala treats others with a particular quality or trait, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will treat that person with the exact same quality and trait in this world and in the next."

And so this is one of the keys to unlock whatever it is that we are looking for or seeking from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala — we unlock it by the way that we treat others.

The Man With No Good Deeds

He based this off of something from the Qur'an and from the sunnah of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. There is a hadith that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam mentions — that there was a man from the previous nations who was brought for accounting. And when they found that this man had really no good, he's standing in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he has no good to offer, not a lot of extra deeds. In fact, the hadith mentions no khair really at all, except one quality that he had.

And that was that he was a person of wealth, and that he would interact with the people and sometimes loan to the people. And when he would loan, and sometimes these people couldn't pay back at the time that that loan was due, he would extend and he would overlook.

And so the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam mentions that this person — Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says on the Day of Judgment:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2078; Sahih Muslim, Book 22, Hadith 1561)

— "We have more of a right with this type of characteristic — overlooking and forgiving — than this person. Forgive him."

So just as he overlooked and he extended and he forgave, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala overlooked for him and forgave him as well.

Treating Others as a Treasure in Ramadan

And so when we talk about treasures — deeds that we can do in our relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the month of Ramadan — the way that we treat others should be at the top of that list as well. And many times the way that we treat others, we depend or we base it off of how they treat us. Does this person deserve this quality or does this person deserve this type of treatment or not?

Instead of looking at it like that, to flip it and to say: I want something from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I want Allah azza wa jal to treat me in a certain way, and so I'm going to treat the servants of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in that same way.

Or another way to phrase it, another way to look at it: when I'm interacting and dealing with the person who's in front of me — whether it is a family member, whether it is a co-worker, a fellow student, just someone on the street even — that I'm not just dealing with this person who's in front of me, but I'm dealing with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala through this person.

And if we take that perspective and we take that frame of mind in the way that we treat others, then we recognize and we understand that this is a way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us to unlock all of the khair that we are seeking from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Whoever does this with the servants of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala — overlooks and forgives and treats with kindness and mercy and goodness — Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, in His way of doing it, that is much greater than anything that we can put forth, but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala treats us with those same qualities and those same attributes.

So in this month of Ramadan insha'Allah ta'ala, the treasure of treating others well — not just because maybe they deserve it, but because we're seeking something much greater from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala through that, in this world and in the next.

May Allah azza wa jal allow us to be people of upright character and to treat others well and to treat others in the way that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam treated others, and that we hope Allah azza wa jal will treat us with His mercy and with His kindness and with His generosity, and especially with His forgiveness in this month.

Jazakumullah khair. Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.