Be Consistent in Good Deeds

And then sometimes, as I mentioned, sometimes you get a motivational speaker come, or you listen to a heartbeat, and you are motivated to do good to change to repent, to be better.

But it lasts for a day or two, maybe a week. And then we again, fall flat on our faces again,

motivation only gets us going.

It's habit that gets us to our goal.

So we have to start making the acts of worship, a habit that we are consistent with. And that's what habits are.

And if we start making those things, habits, then we will eventually start to enjoy these acts of worship. And they no longer become a burden for us. But the beginning of it is very difficult. Just like with everything else, when you want to start exercising, you might feel some pain. And you might it might be very difficult. But then sometimes, you know, there's pain involved, but you have to be consistent and persistent. But how can we be persistent when the cycle seems to repeat

for us all the time? How can we get out of this cycle?

Well, in sha Allah to night, I've just mentioned a few things and give you a few examples. So that we can ensure a lot truly make a change.

Because, you know, like even even the non Muslims when the new year comes, they have new year's resolutions. And after two weeks maybe. And

again, they also fall flat on their faces after two weeks.

But what can we do?

It seems like our good deal when we do good, of course, our Eman goes up and down. And it's a part of the appeal of Alison Nova Gemma that are a man rises and falls,

it's natural. When you are with good people, your demand goes up. And when you do good deeds, then it leads to another good deed. But then when you're far from good people or you're not, when you're busy with certain aspects of the dunya, then sometimes your Eman goes down.

We don't want to

have this repeat over again, the it's time to make a change.

And it's very important for us to make that change to be the best that we can be. Because if you don't make that change, it's like if you continue on the path that you're on or you don't improve, eventually you start going down and it's like playing Russian roulette. Why is it like playing Russian roulette when you don't repent to Allah. When you don't return to Allah, you don't change for the better. The reason is because

death can come any time. We don't know whether we're going to survive tonight. And we don't know if we're going to be able to see the sunrise of tomorrow. Only Allah subhanho wa Taala knows.

And sometimes we tend to belittle

the sins that we commit that we're persistent in.

And we don't realize that some of these sins that we do commit, we might think that they are small sins. But if you're persistent in it, there's no

it's not considered a small sin if you commit them over and over again, because even a large ship will sink from a small leak if left unfixed.

And so how can we change those bad habits? Well, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam

informed us in the Hadith,

he said, humbler mal Illallah

The one who have won in

the most beloved deeds

in the sight of Allah is that which is most connected

sistent even if it is a small amount,

this hadith is a very powerful Hadith to help us be firm and strong and be upright. And that's in this and being upright and being consistent in doing good deeds is so important that a companion came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And he said to him, he said,

O Messenger of Allah, tell me something in Islam, then no one else can advise me about. Meaning Tell me something important, that only you would be able to give. So this is a very important advice and it's advice that, if put to practice

will

benefit us in this life in the hereafter. And you know, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was given what was called joab and kelim joma joma kelim joab mikkeller meaning, he was given the

the eloquence of precise and concise speech,

meaning concise and precise, but with vast meaning in vast benefits. few words yet these words are words that should be written with gold, because

they are so beneficial and wait for your viewer to reflect upon them. And so, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said to this companion, he said, meant to be law. So Mr. Kane,

say I believe in Allah, and then have allistic karma allistic karma is being upright and consistently upright. But we know that our Eman goes up and down. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam mentioned it also, he said, in the liquidity, I'm Alan Shiva.

Indeed, every deed that we do, has its high points. And there are times in which we're motivated. Like you have a lot of energy full of energy to do some of these deeds were in the liquidity, Sheraton fatra. But every single point of motivation that you have, that zeal that you may have also has a down point and low point where it actually it doesn't stay that mode, your motivation doesn't stay that way and it goes back down.

And he said, who's ever who's ever his low point is still within my sudden.

Meaning you don't crash.

You go down. But there's a limit.

And if you don't crash, and every low point Futterman is just a low point, you know, like a downtime,

and who's ever downtime and low point is still within the sadhana, then he will be successful,

then he will be successful. And so that's why it's very important for us to be consistent in our deeds. But how can we be consistent? Whether

the key is what the prophet sallallahu wasallam said.

habla Amal Illa Allah at the wamu ha, we're in

the most beloved deeds in the sight of Allah, or that which is most consistent, even if it is just a small amount.

Consistency

is the key. Even if it's a small amount, if we're consistent with our deeds, and how can we be consistent with our deeds?

You have, we have to understand that when we make a commitment, do not commit yourself to something you're not going to be able to be consistent with.

Try to set a minimum requirement that you will do for the rest of your life that you can do every day, even on the busiest day in your life.

consistency and recitation of the Quran

in giving sadaqa consistency in visiting the sick, consistency in fasting, in charity and in everything that we do.

I'm going to give you an example.

I, when I first went to the Islamic University of Medina, it was I was an 18 year old.

I was young, I was young and so younger.

And

in my house, I have two younger sisters.

And

I try to help out also, but my sisters used to, they do all the chores and everything. And I'm the eldest, and I'm the only boy in the family. So I'm a little bit spoiled. You know, my parents spoiled me a little bit, I have to admit that later on. I know my sisters used to say that to me.

And so I didn't know how to even crack an egg.

I did not know honestly, how to even crack an egg. I remember the first time I tried to crack an egg, it was a big mess. I seriously did not know because I'd never cracked even an egg.

And

in my house, you know, my, my mother was one of those people that she was very clean, and she couldn't stand desks anywhere in the house.

And so I was used to being in you know, staying in the house, and my sisters are all this all the same awesome. Everyone was just our house was if there was just a smudge,

and anything that they couldn't just leave it like that. And because that was that was how my mother was.

And so I come to my room, my dorm, and I'm sitting there and of course you use it. And once in a while it starts to get dirty.

And

I don't feel comfortable. Yet at the same time, I don't like to clean.

And I don't like to clean, it's not something I was used to. Because everyone else around me I'm growing up, they always clean for me. And even my bed every time I would wake up I go would go to school, I would leave it just like the way it was, I would come home, it was just like a hotel.

Like, my mother would just fold everything perfectly. And I took it for granted, I didn't really appreciate how much work until I left. And I would come back to my room and it's wet, you know, my bed is still dirty, and the blankets and everything else. They're not folded properly.

Yet at the same time, I'm not used to cleaning. So I said, You know, I guess I have to start cleaning. I can't just leave it like this, because it's like, very uncomfortable to see a room that's unclean and capital and clean. So I would clean, I would clean and then I would stop and then sometimes I would get lazy and then the mess would come again. And I said you know, I have to do something. So what I did was every single day, every time I would leave my room or I would enter my room, every time the door is opened, whether I would just go out to the to maybe use the bathroom or, or anything, I would clean for three minutes. And you know, and in Medina it's very dusty. So

there's a lot of dust even when you leave for a couple of hours.

Some some areas, sometimes it becomes dusty, especially on windy days, and so forth. And generally a day or two, the dust will come. So I decided to clean for three minutes.

Before I would do anything, I would just sit down and clean for three minutes. And three minutes is not a lot. After three minutes, I would stop or sometimes I would continue to do so. Because one of the most difficult things is to start doing something. But once you start it, you know you it's not difficult. It's just the starting once you start it, it's easy. You can clean for the next 10 minutes and not realize that you've done a lot. So every time I would do at least three minutes and in a week. I found that my room I couldn't I could not even find dust. And so I started looking at the books and I won't wipe everything clean. But I would not spend too much time cleaning. And I saw

that my room now was very clean. So I decreased it to a minimum of one minute. But even that one minute was enough to keep my room very clean. Because I did it consistently.

I did it consistently. Every time I would come in I would always clean it. And I do the same thing. Now with my car. One of the things that I do is every time I leave my car, I would have to look for at least three pieces of

Trash. And I would clean, I would take just three pieces. But every time I would go to the supermarket, the first place that I go to, is the garbage can or that you guys called the rubbish bin, right? So I would go there. But I also have a rule in my car, if I have my kids with me, everyone has to also find three pieces. And if you do it often enough, you never have to worry about cleaning your car. And it's not difficult because you're consistent with it,

you're consistent with it. And if you're consistent, then it remains clean. Even though you don't, you don't feel like you're spending a lot of time doing it. And it's not, it's not a burden, yet you get a lot of things done. And so to the point where my kids now, before we get out of the car, they're looking for trash and pieces of garbage in the car. And because they're strapped in their seat belts, they call it first because they want to get out first, because they don't want to be looking for garbage. So they say I call it don't get that one. That's mine. So if the car stops, they fight for it. And they will even say, there isn't Father, you know, that was my piece of

garbage. He took mine. So I said if you said just find another one, I'm sure you can said no, I can't find anymore. Why? Because every time we leave, and they won't be able to leave until they find three pieces, at least, they won't be able to leave and I don't take like small tiny pieces, because you can you know, vacuum those things up. So it's at least at least you know, like a chick pea or a size of a marble. That's what they have to look for. And if they can't find when they will look at the crevices. And so the car becomes very clean. And sometimes they will, you know, try to get around it. And they'll have trash in their in their pockets. And they're like,

throw it down in there. I got my three pieces. I said, Where did those three pieces come from? I said that was candy I ate at home and why how did it end up over there? Because they brought it with him. He wanted to get out of the car quickly. They wanted to look for anything like that. So the thing The point is consistency is very important. And that's why when we have prayers, we have five daily prayers at different intervals, different parts of different times of the day. And the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said, he said, if one of you had a stream, running in front of your house, and if he were to jump in it to clean himself every day, five times a day,

would he be able to find any filth on his body?

And the companion said no. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, likewise are the five daily prayers, likewise are the five daily prayers. They cleanse ourselves spiritually and physically, spiritually and physically. And that's why we Muslims are the cleanest people we should be at least if we put Islam if we practice our religion properly. And so I remember taking a person

or taking a group to make hygiene, I was taking a group from Southeast Asia.

And some of these people are from the village. So this is their first time on the plane. And so I remember one man,

an old man, he was making a boo. And he was washing his feets on the sink in the airplane and he did not close the door because they're not used to closing the door, you know, and plus the space is very tight. So he puts his feet on the

on the sink. And the airline stewardess comes by and says,

you know, that's us. I don't know, I don't remember her exact words, but sort of like, that's so uncivilized.

And that's so uncivilized. And that's so,

so dirty.

So he turns around,

and he says,

excuse me,

how many times do you wash your face

in a day

and she said, Why wash my face at least in the morning and nighttime also before I go to sleep, so my feet are cleaner than your face. I washed them five times a day. So don't tell me Don't talk about dirty to me, my feet. When I put them on the sink. If you wash your face in the sink,

your face is dirtier than my feet. Anyways, he was he was just trying to make a point. But when we watch what

When we pray five times a day, it's teaching us what consistency in doing good deeds. It's not about doing a lot, all at once because Allah subhanho wa Taala can just, you might think, well, wouldn't it be easier if we would have just the five daily prayers at the end of the day? And that's it. Right? Wouldn't it be easier? You know, you finish your work and you don't have to worry about prayer and come home at the end of the day, pray your five prayers, or pray them all in the morning and then you got it. You know, you, you're done with Wouldn't that be easier?

Not necessarily, but Allah knows what's best for us.

He knows what's best for us and how to and also we have been ordered we have been created to worship Him and Allah knows what's best for us. And whatever is good for us. Whatever is best for us is in the Quran and the Sunnah. And so, you know how some people they say,

that person has a clean heart.

He or she does not pray, yes. But he or she has a clean heart.

You know what that's like saying?

That's like saying

that person's mouth is clean, yet. He or she never brushes brushes his teeth.

Like if you don't brush your teeth,

is it possible that your mouth is clean?

Like, not only do you need to brush your teeth once and you know, it's not only just once a day, but when you go throughout the day, in the afternoon, you need to brush your teeth again, actually, if you really want to keep it clean, you have to brush it multiple times just like the Prophet salallahu lessem did with every prayer with or with every will do, he would use the sea walk. And when he would come home The first thing that he would do was use the sea whack. And so with the day five daily prayers, if someone says you know he doesn't pray but his heart is clean. That's it's like saying your mouth is my mouth is clean, but I don't brush my teeth.

Because when you pray, Allah Subhana Allah orders us to make Waldo and the sins are dropping from us. And all we're committing sins whether sometimes we know what sometimes we don't even realize that these are sins or we take them so we we get so desensitized that we don't even realize that their sins anymore. Sometimes you sit down and you're watching and you're watching, you know, maybe TV or and there's a woman there and you're staring at her.

And because we're so used to you can desensitize we don't even see or feel that this is a sin. Because we're not we're so used to it.

We're so used to it, we become desensitized that there are things that we do and that's why aniseh Malika neurobiol on he said, in a coma dama Luna am Allah you during his time, this is during the the time at the tab bury the companions at the end of the time and the companions and he had a loss of Hannah, Martha gave him a very long life. And so he was speaking to the Tabby and he said you commit x couldn't an ode to her Allah de rasulillah meenal movie paths, you now commit acts that you see

as thinner than a strand of hair lighter than a strand of hair to you. But during the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam couldn't in Urdu have made and mobile cards. We used to consider those acts to be destructive since

to be major sense