Never Belittle a Good Deed - Ustadh Anas Tayib

Khutbah Opening

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

Amma ba'd: Indeed the best of speech is the speech of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and the worst of affairs are the newly invented matters, and every newly invented matter is a bid'ah, and every bid'ah is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.

Do Not Belittle Any Good Deed

O servants of Allah, our Messenger ﷺ taught us how to worship Allah. He taught us that good deeds are things which are beloved to Allah, and he told us not to differentiate between the major good deeds and the minor good deeds — all of it is loved by Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Hadith 144)

Do not belittle a single good deed — not a single thing — even if you were to meet your Muslim brother with a cheerful face, smiling at them. This is considered a good deed that the Prophet ﷺ points us towards: something that we see as minor, something that we see as insignificant, something that comes naturally to some people — so effortless — yet Allah rewards it. It is written, it is accounted for.

Allah says:

Whoever does a speck of a good deed, he will see it. It's written, it's recorded in their books. They will see it in their book of deeds on the Day of Judgement. So if Allah records it, then it can never be minor. Nothing is minor when Allah records it, when Allah rewards for it — it must be something which Allah loves.

The Prophet's Example: Smiling

The Prophet ﷺ, when he gave us this advice to not neglect smiling and to consider it a good deed, he lived this practically. Jareer ibn Abdullahi al-Bajali رضي الله عنه says:

Jareer ibn Abdullahi, one of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, narrates: the Prophet ﷺ has never seen me except that he smiled in my face. Every time the Prophet ﷺ received him and saw him, he would smile in his face.

Abdullah ibn al-Harith رضي الله عنه also narrates:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3641)

Imam al-Tirmidhi narrates from Abdullah ibn al-Harith رضي الله عنه: I have never seen anyone who smiles more than the Messenger ﷺ. He smiled a lot. He looked at his companions, his brothers, and he smiled at them. This was considered a good deed. So the Prophet ﷺ didn't just command us to do this — he acted upon it as our greatest example.

So we understand that good deeds are not just grand actions that are performed. These small things are considered good deeds, and when a person is searching for Allah's pleasure, any deed is something beloved to them — because they understand: if it is beloved to Allah, it means something, and then it should become beloved to me as well.

The Most Beloved Deeds: Consistency

Another thing which Allah looks at and loves, despite the size of the action, is the consistency of the person performing that deed. The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith narrated by Bukhari and Muslim:

The most beloved actions to Allah are those which are most consistent — even if they are small. Allah loves that it is consistent. He loves that when you start something — a good deed, that you worship him with a specific dhikr, that you do some raka'at that you perform at night — Allah loves to see that consistently, even if it is small. Even if a person prays one raka'at per night of qiyamul layl, or witr, or three raka'at, Allah loves that this person never leaves off this action.

This was the example of the Messenger ﷺ — he wouldn't start a good deed except that he was consistent upon it. He understood, and the Sahabah رضوان الله تعالى عليهم understood, that Allah has a certain criteria. What we understand to be grand and great is something different to what Allah has said. Allah loves certain things even if they are minor, and the one who is sincere — truly sincere — he would look for the pleasure of Allah no matter where he finds it. If it's in the major actions, alhamdulillah. If it's in the minor actions, he does them as well. Because they understand that the ultimate goal is the pleasure of Allah.

Sincerity: The Heart of Every Deed

They understand that if a person is sincere in their actions, this is what makes the ibadah accepted by Allah. If a person does a major action and he lacks sincerity, then it is nothing in the eyes of Allah. How many times do we mention the hadith of the three men who are punished in the Hellfire — and they are punished first, nobody enters the Hellfire before them. One of them was a person who would spend in the path of Allah. One of them was one who fought in the path of Allah. One of them was one who recited the Quran and taught knowledge. All of them claiming that they did it in the path of Allah — and Allah threw them all into the Hellfire because they lacked one thing, which was sincerity. They did it for the sake of praise, they did it for the sake of reward in the dunya, and they forgot about Allah.

Yet those that do small deeds with sincerity — Allah accepts it and Allah enters them into Jannah. The Prophet ﷺ told us:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2363; Sahih Muslim, Book 26, Hadith 97)

A man was walking and he became extremely thirsty. He saw a well, he went down and took the water and drank. Then he exited — he was quenched, his thirst was quenched. Then he saw a dog — and this dog was panting, it was thirsty. When he saw this dog he said: this dog is suffering from the same thing I was suffering from earlier. So what does he do? He goes back into the well, takes some water, brings it back to the dog, and allows it to drink. And Allah forgave him because of this action — this small action. Why? Because of the sincerity that was mixed within his heart. The sincerity that was placed within his heart is what made the deed major, despite what we see from the size of the good deed.

We ask Allah to grant us understanding of that which is most beloved to Him. We ask Allah to guide us to the actions that He loves. We ask Allah to allow us to love that which He loves.

Second Khutbah

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَحْدَهُ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى مَنْ لَا نَبِيَّ بَعْدَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

Words That Are Heavier Than They Appear

We spoke about the importance of good deeds and their weight in the sight of Allah. The Prophet ﷺ said regarding deeds which even those who act upon them don't see the weight of:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6478)

A person would utter a statement — he says a statement without thinking too much, without really seeing the weight of it — but it pleases Allah so much that this person is raised in ranks. So it shows us that these deeds could be looked down upon and not even realized by those who perform them. Allah sees these and He records them.

Sins Also Carry Weight

But the opposite is true, O servants of Allah — sins also carry weight. Allah says:

Anybody who does a speck of a sin will see it on the Day of Judgement. Sins have their weight. There is no such thing as sins which are disregarded and discarded — everything is recorded by Allah. Allah says that the people who oppress themselves with sins come on the Day of Judgement and they see their book of deeds and they say:

What is with this book — there is no small deed or major deed except that this book contains it. And they saw everything that they've done present in front of them. And your Lord, Allah, does not oppress anyone. Every deed that you do will be seen — every deed that you do, you will be either rewarded for it or you will be held accountable for it.

And the Prophet ﷺ told us:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6478)

A person will utter a statement — not thinking much of what they said — however it angers Allah, it causes the displeasure of Allah, leading this person to the Hellfire. A word that escapes his mouth. Why? Because this person didn't think, because this person didn't consider that these sins could be the cause of his destruction. You think that it is minor, yet Allah sees it as major.

You think something is small — a sin that you commit, you think it's minor, you think you won't be held accountable for it, you think to yourself: it's just a small sin, it's just a minor sin — but Allah sees it as major.

The Prophet ﷺ guided us to seek forgiveness from Allah for everything. We have to seek forgiveness from Allah from all sins, and especially these sins that people disregard — they come together until they become a mountain that destroys a person.

The Believer vs. the Wicked: Attitude Toward Sins

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله تعالى عنه describes the attitude of the believer compared to the attitude of the fasiq — the wretched, evil person. He says:

The believer sees his sins as if he is at the base of a mountain — and this mountain will fall on top of him, will crush him and crumble him. He sees his sins as such. As for the wretched one — they consider their sins and see them as a fly that landed on their nose, and they just moved their hands ever so slightly and the fly went away. Meaning they think so little of their sins — "it's just nothing, so what if I sinned?" They don't treat it like it's something evil that they have done that requires tawbah. They just wave it off as if it's something minor. And these types of sins eventually gather up, come together, and destroy a person completely.

Conclusion: Let Every Deed Matter

So, O servants of Allah, the point of this is to never belittle a single deed. As Allah says in the Quran:

No minor deed or major deed is left from your book of deeds — everything will be present, everything will be observed and seen. So shouldn't every single deed matter? Do not differentiate between major and minor sins — seek forgiveness from Allah. Do not differentiate between the good deeds which you see as minor and the good deeds which you see as major — perform them all and seek closeness with Allah.

We ask Allah to forgive all of our sins, major and minor.