Sikander Hashmi – Deeds for Display KMA Friday Message
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Respected elders,
dear brothers and sisters, my young friends,
It's the day of judgment,
and we are all waiting together
to be called 1 by 1 by Allahu
subhanahu wa ta'ala to be judged.
And the first person
who is called up
is someone who was a shahid
and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala calls him forward.
He is a martyr and we all saw
him as someone who gave his life
for the sake of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala reminds him of his
favors that he had bestowed upon him.
And the shahid, he acknowledges
the favors of Allah
And then Allah
asks him
that what did you do
to express gratitude
for these favors that I gave you?
And he says
that, that
I fought, I struggled in your cause
until
I was martyred.
But Allah
responds
in a way that perhaps we are not
expecting.
And Allah says,
you have lied.
That you fought
in the way of Allah, in my way,
so that
people may call you courageous.
That is the reason why you did this.
And they have done so.
You struggled,
you fought,
not for me but because you wanted people
to say that you are a courageous person
and they have done so.
It's done.
And then the command will be issued by
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala regarding him, and he
will be dragged on his face
and thrown into the fire.
The next person, the second person to be
called up
will be
someone who had acquired
an imparted knowledge
of the Quran.
Someone
who we see as being knowledgeable, a great
reciter, a great scholar,
someone who speaks eloquently about the Quran perhaps.
And again, Allah
will remind him
of his favors upon him
and
this person will acknowledge these favors of Allah
And then Allah
will ask him, what did you do to
express gratitude
for it?
And he will reply
that I acquired knowledge
and taught it, and I recited the Quran
for your sake.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will say to
him like the first one,
you have lied.
Allah
will say, you have lied. You acquired knowledge
so that people
might call you
a learned person,
so that they may call you an alim.
And you recited the Quran
so that they may call you a qari,
a reciter,
faqatqeen,
and
they have done so. It has been said
about you.
And the command will be issued about him
also, and he will be dragged on his
face and thrown into the hellfire.
The third person, the next person who will
be called up
will be a man who Allah
made affluent.
Allah
has blessed him in this life,
and Allah has given him plenty of wealth,
and he will be brought forward.
Allah
will also remind him of his favors upon
him
and the man will acknowledge them that, yes,
You Rabb,
You did bestow these favors upon me. So
So Allah
will ask him also, what did you do
to express gratitude for it? And the man
will reply
that I did not neglect any of the
ways that you liked wealth to be spent
liberally for your sake. I was generous.
Every single way possible to earn your pleasure,
I gave in that way.
With all the wealth that you gave me,
I spent, and I spent it liberally, generously
for your sake.
Allah
will say to him,
you have
lied.
You did it so that people
might call you generous.
And they have done so. They have said
this about you.
And the command will then be issued about
him, and he will also be dragged on
his face and thrown into the hellfire.
My brothers and sisters,
in this worldly life,
these three individuals
will be seen
or are seen
as great people
doing great things, great sacrifices
for the deen of Allah
This is how they are currently being perceived
in this worldly life.
This is how people are seeing them.
But the Prophet
has told us about what is yet to
come. And in each of these cases,
they did do the action. It doesn't it's
not that they didn't do it. They did.
The the the shahid, he was a Mujahid
who gained shahada
in the path of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The 'alim and the qari, yes.
He did recite the Quran and shared the
knowledge and recited it beautifully. And
this generous person,
he was generous
in this world. He did give out of
the wealth that Allah had
blessed him with.
So great actions,
but the intention was corrupt.
What was corrupt?
The intention.
Was
corrupted
for personal fame, to show off,
to look good in the eyes of people.
And on top of that,
they also lie to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Nobody can fool Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
You may be able to fool every single
person
in this world,
but no one
can ever fool Allah
So they lied in
the face of Allah
and both of these things
are unacceptable.
Regarding the fact that these people wanted to
be praised,
and it is stated for each
that each of them got the praise from
people that they desire that they desired.
Mullah Ali Akari, he notes in his commentary,
that It is the hint in it
that Allah
does not waste the reward of the doer
regardless of the purpose or the intent.
When a person does a good deed,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not waste
or allow the reward to go to waste.
They will
get what they intended.
As Allah tells us in Surah to Shura,
a number 20.
Whoever desires
the harvest of the hereafter of the akira,
we will increase their harvest. If that is
the intention, if the intention, the objective is
the hereafter,
that reward, that harvest will be increased.
And whoever desires
the harvest of the world
or only the harvest of the world, you
will give them some of it, but they
will have no share in the hereafter.
And this is what we are seeing
in this narration. Brothers, if you can kindly
please move forward and fill in all the
gaps, maybe sit a little bit closer insha'Allah,
so we can make space for brothers coming
in.
Abu Saeed Al Khudir radiAllahu anhu who reported
the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
said
that whoever
desires
only to be seen by people,
then Allah will make him seen. Whoever desires
to be seen by people, Allah
will make him seen because that's what he
wants. Whoever desires only to be heard by
people, then Allah will make him heard.
So whatever the intention,
Allah
will grant what the person is intending. Now
my brothers and sisters,
we know Allah tells us
in the Quran,
that indeed,
shirk,
association with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is a
great injustice.
It is a great wrong, a great oppression,
a great injustice.
And the one who associates others with Allah
has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin.
So we know that shirk, associating partners with
Allah
is something which is very serious.
Something which
every single person needs to avoid.
But when we think of shirk, what do
we think of? We think of people worshiping
idols.
We think of people worshiping
or believing in multiple gods,
which is true.
But that's not the only type of shirk
that we have been warned about. The Prophet
said,
That verily what I fear
for fear most for you is
the lesser shirk,
the smaller shirk,
the lesser idolatry.
And the companions ask ask,
that what is this lesser shirk?
And the prophet
clarified,
responded,
this is showing off
Go to those
whom you wish to show off in the
world and look for your reward for them
for with them.
If you're looking to show off
and please people
and you were doing actions
so that they think highly of you and
they praise you?
Why are you looking for a reward from
Allah
Go to the people you were doing it
for and seek your reward from them. And
the seriousness my brothers and sisters
is highlighted by the fact that this
was more feared by Rasulullah alaihi
wa sallam
even then his fearful Masihuddin.
The Prophet said, Shall I not tell you
about what I fear for you more than
the presence
of the Antichrist of
So
the companion said, Of course.
So he said,
What I fear for you more than the
is this hidden
shirk, this hidden idolatry
that a man.
That a man stands for prayer. He stands
for salah
and beautifies his prayer
because he sees another person looking at him.
This is what I fear
more or this is the shirkul asr,
and this is or a shirkul kafi rather
in this case, which the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam said he fears more for us than
the fitna of the jal, which is a
great fitna that all the prophets alayhi musalahu
alaihi wasallahu alaihi wasallam were their people about.
May Allah
protect us all. As we have discussed previously,
my brothers and sisters,
this is also from the characteristics of the
of the hypocrites.
As Allah
tells us in Surah Al Nisa,
And when they stand for prayer, they stand
lazily.
What do they do? They stand lazily,
showing themselves to the people,
showing off to people that they are praying
and not remembering Allah except a little bit.
They do remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but
a
little bit. This is from the characteristics of
the Munafiqoon.
And Allah also tells us,
Allah tells us regarding those who make show
of their deeds. My brothers and sisters, we
live in a time of
superficiality
and deep fakes.
We live in a time of extreme superficiality.
It's not that people in the past didn't
want to show off, didn't have the desire
to show off, or they didn't, you know,
want fame. Of course, this is a human
weakness and a human tendency which we all
have to fight against inside of ourselves.
But especially nowadays, there is more and more
motivation for people
to be fake.
Genuineness
is going away from people,
from society.
Less and less people, fewer and fewer people
are genuine.
More and more fake.
Whether it's for, you know, for profit,
whether it is for, you know, fame,
for feeding that desire to be known, or
for that insecurities
to see people that are or insecurities that
are quelled by people speaking highly of us,
or the desire for likes,
or
profit models, right? The more lights you get,
the more money you'll get from YouTube.
The more revenue you will get from Instagram.
So we live in a world of superficiality.
All those videos that are coming up on
your on your reels,
many of them, they're all staged.
Thousands of people liking them.
It's fake. It's staged. It's so you watch
it, and the creators get revenue. It's simple
as that.
Right? So we're living in an age of
superficiality
and deep fakes.
And sadly, my brothers and sisters, even good
deeds
and good actions
are also impacted
by this sad phenomena,
a fakeness.
So you see all this, it looks good,
but it's hollow on the inside.
Right? It's just a facade.
We are not in a position to judge
the actions of others or the intentions rather
of others,
except for based on what is apparent,
right? So we don't judge the intentions. Nobody
knows what is in the heart of a
person, and we should not go into that
territory of judging people's intentions because only Allah
knows what is in the heart of the
person.
But if we need to judge, we're based
on what is apparent.
But what we are able to ensure
is that we ourselves don't become of such
people.
That we ourselves protect ourselves from this phenomenon.
So our policy should be, my brothers and
sisters,
that we try to hide our good deeds
unless there is a need or there is
a benefit in doing it publicly.
Right? You cannot say I'm gonna offer my
salah at home
and not in jama'ah because I don't want
to show off.
Why? Because this goes against
the command and the instruction of Rasulullah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam for you to offer salah in
jama'ah.
So you cannot that's a that's a flawed
logic.
If you give charity, nobody wants to raise
their hands when we're fundraising. Ramadan is coming.
Nobody wants to raise their hands. Oh, inshaAllah.
Very good. Yes. There is virtue absolutely in
giving very very secret.
You know, we have this in our community
that people are are shy to to to
make it known publicly.
But at times there is benefit in doing
so. And when there is benefit and your
intention is clean,
you can and indeed you should raise your
hand because it will encourage others.
And you're not doing it for showing love,
and you're you're clear in your heart that
that is not your intention. It will motivate
others. And it's subhanallah. I've seen that. I
was just doing a fundraiser on Sunday for
Abra'ar school. Right? Masha'Allah. 1 person raises their
hand, 2nd person, 3rd work, you get the
ball rolling. Right? People get motivated and they
get inspired. Right? So there's benefit in doing
that. Right? Same thing with volunteering. You know?
You say I'm not gonna volunteer because I
don't wanna show off. No.
How's,
the mess shift gonna run? How's, you know,
the good work gonna happen in the community
if nobody volunteers?
Right? So
put yourself forward when there is a need,
there is a benefit, there is a requirement,
but just do it with the right intention.
Examine our true intention, my brothers and sisters.
Do it for Allah
alone. Now this can be scary for the
true believers.
Right? So what should be the response?
What should be the response? Should we leave
doing of good?
It should be clear, my brothers and sisters,
these warnings
should not stop us from doing good deeds.
The point is not to say that you
should not do any good deeds. Some people
think too logically, you know? They say, well,
if I do some good deeds, I will
get some reward, but the risk of shit
is even greater. So logically, you know, I
should be more afraid of shit, so I'll
just stop doing the good deeds so that
I don't fall into shit. Yeah.
This is not what Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam
has taught us. You know, don't use our
logic too too much. This is into trouble
sometimes.
K. You follow what Allah said and what
his messenger said sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
K.
So don't stop from doing good. This is
a trick of shaitan to stop the believers
from doing good. He doesn't want you to
do good deeds. So he's gonna put this
thought, this was was set in your mind
that I'm afraid of this shirkul kafi, and
I'm scared of the shirkul Azra, and I
don't wanna do it because, you know, I'm
so scared of it. I'm just not gonna
do any good. You're allowing shaitan to win.
You're allowing shaitan to win. You're falling into
his trap.
Do the good deed, but regularly check your
intention.
And if you find some corruption,
purify it. Remind yourself,
these are the warnings. I don't want to
do it for anyone else. I'm scared of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I'm doing it only
for the pleasure of Allah because I love
Allah, and that is why I'm doing it
and keep reminding yourself. Halas.
And Fudayl ibn Ayad,
he spoke harsh words to those who abandoned
performing good works because of people.
Says,
That abandoning good deeds, abandoning deeds because of
the people is showing off.
Abandoning deeds because of people is showing off.
And performing deeds for their sake is shirk.
Sincerity is where Allah protects
you from both.
So do good but be sincere.
Same thing with,
Why do you
say that which you do not do? So
the scholars tell us it doesn't mean that
you stop doing the good
or stop saying what is good,
right? See, instruct people to do what is
good, but also do it yourself. Don't be
like, oh, I'm not doing it myself. So
you know what? I'm just gonna stop saying
it and and that's it, and I'm gonna
be happy with not doing it and not
saying it.
No. Say it, but then make that a
motivation for doing it also.
Right? So do good, and there's a dua
as a remedy because the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam said,
oh, people, beware of the shirk, this form
of of shirk, for it is more subtle
than the footsteps of an ant.
More subtle than the footsteps of an ant.
That's how minute it is. How how are
you gonna know the footsteps of an ant?
That's how small it is.
So one of the people he said,
how can we be aware of it when
it is more subtle than the footsteps of
an ant? It's so tiny. How can we
know?
So
gave the remedy. He said,
Say this dua. That, oh Allah, we seek
refuge
with you from knowingly associating anything with you,
and we seek your forgiveness
for that which we do unknowingly.
So make this
dua, Ask Allah
to grant us forgiveness. So, brothers and sisters,
especially as we enter the month of Ramadan,
and we try to do this checkup beforehand.
You know, last week, we talked about our
salah. So today, it's about our intention.
The intention is one of the things to
pay close attention to because
it dictates
how your action is received by Allah
and its impact.
So whatever you do good, insha'allah, masha'allah, tabbarakallah,
may Allah
increase, Allahumazit, fazit, but
check the intention first because that is the
foundation.
If the foundation is weak, is corrupt, is
broken, then the rest of the building upon
that you build upon it will also be
corrupt and weak. So check the intention before
doing what is good, and then go ahead
and do the good. Don't just check the
intention and get scared and stop. K. That's
not the message. What people think is meaningless.
What people think good or bad is meaningless.
What matters is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
thinks.
And one way to check is to do
it
just as well or even better when you're
alone.
This is one of the ways we diagnose
ourselves.
That if I offer salah in front of
people and I compare it to my salah
in private,
is there a difference? Is my salah in
front of people
more longer, nicer,
more beautiful than my salah in private?
If it is, then there's a problem.
If there is,
then there is a problem. So keep checking
the intention regularly.
If you find any diversion, correct it.
Don't stop. Correct the intention.
Have the right intention in the beginning.
Check the intention in the middle. And when
you end, also check your intention. Okay? And
if you find any any diversion,
correct it. Just reassure yourself, renew your saying,
no. This is the reason why I'm doing
it. I'm doing it to please Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala because in the end it's the
sincerity
and the effort that matters. And if someone
praises you for doing it and you are
not seeking it,
then the prophet said
that
that is
That is the portion of the glad tidings
for the believer, which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
has given
for the believer. Okay? So, if you're not
seeking it and people praise you, it doesn't
mean that you should stop the action. You're
doing something wrong. That
is something good that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has granted you. So, you accept it graciously
and you thank Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for
it. We ask Allah for guidance, for sincerity,
and protection
against this against all forms of shirk, but
especially this form of shirk. May Allah
grant us the right intention
and acceptance for all of our deeds, especially
through the month of Ramadan.
We'll take a few moments,
and then we will continue.