Yasir Qadhi – Wisdoms of the Quran #19 How Good Deeds Eliminate Bad Deeds
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The importance of good deeds in forgiveness and forgiveness of evil deeds is emphasized, along with the need to be mindful of past experiences to avoid future mistakes. The speaker also discusses the moral aspect of people's actions, including forgiveness and forgiveness of evil deeds, and highlights the importance of praying for the good deeds and saving money.
AI: Summary ©
Today's
gem, and we're beginning the last 10 nights,
so we need to now
choose ayaat that are gonna be especially useful
for us in these 10 nights.
The aya that I chose for you today
is Surah Hud verse 114.
Good deeds
eliminate
bad deeds.
This Quranic wisdom
and maxim
should inspire
even the worst
sinner among us.
Even the worst sinner amongst us should have
that glimmer of hope. No matter what I've
done in the past, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
is promising,
if I present some good deeds, my past
evil deeds can be eliminated.
Good deeds get rid of bad deeds. And
in fact, there's a very interesting, a little
bit humorous story even about why this came
down. That once in the time of the
prophet, there was a companion
who had a girlfriend that he shouldn't have
had, and they did something they shouldn't have
done. Not to the level of zina, but
they did something they shouldn't have done. Then
he felt so guilty, he repented. He cut
that relationship off. And he said, You Rasulullah,
I made a mistake and I had a
friend, and I did this and that, but
I didn't get to that level, but I
did things I shouldn't have done. So the
prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was silent. And then
they prayed together, and then the man came
up. He wanted to be punished. He thought
there was gonna be some punishment, but he
didn't get to the level of punishment. So
he said, You Rasulullah, isn't there any punishment?
And the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said, Didn't
you do wudu? He said, Yes. Didn't you
walk to the masjid? Yes. Didn't you pray
with us? Yes. Don't you know Allah has
said, Inal hasanati
yudhibna sayyaat
Doing good deeds eliminates
bad deeds, meaning you have repented,
you've given up your haram relationship,
you clearly want to be a better person,
you've done wudu, you've walked to the masjid,
you've prayed with us, Allah has forgiven you.
The man was so happy, he jumped up.
He said, You Rasulullah,
is this ayah only for me, or is
it for everybody?
And the prophetessists have said, No. It is
for every single person in the world. Illinasi
ajma'een.
It's for everybody,
this ayah. And, subhanallah,
this is a glimmer of hope. No matter
how bad your past,
no matter how
many are your sins,
Allah wants you to come forward and do
some good deeds so that he can use
those good deeds to eliminate bad deeds. And
that's why we are encouraged in the Quran
and Sunnah to have a continuity
of good deeds. Our prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
said, whoever prays the 5 prayers,
it shall forgive all of the minor sins
in between. In one hadith, he said, once
to the Sahaba, he said, what would you
feel about somebody who takes 5 baths a
day? Would there be a speck of dust
on him? They said, you Rasoolullah, if somebody
took 5 showers a day, he would be
the purest person. So the prophet salallahu alayhi
wasalam said, This is the example of the
one who prays 5 times, all of his
minor sins are forgiven. And our prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam said, fasting from Ramadan to the
next Ramadan, and praying 1 Jumuah to the
nextjumwa, and doing 1 umrah to the next
umrah, it shall cause
all of the minor sins in between them
to be forgiven. Obviously, minor sins means those
sins that, you know, we shouldn't do, but
they don't reach the level of kaba'ir.
As for major sins, obviously, it requires a
specific repentance
and a genuine
feeling of sorrow and remorse. But the generic
minor sins, by simply doing good deeds, it
forgives those sins.
And the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam told us
so many examples and stories of the past
and of present where this reality was demonstrated.
For example, he said,
there was a man in the past whose
whole lifestyle was evil, and he had hurt
people, he had killed people, and he kept
on doing sin and evil until finally one
day he wanted to repent, and he decided
to leave his evil land and go to
another land where there was pious people. He
was living amongst mobsters and evil people. He
decided to walk away and go somewhere else,
but he didn't reach the town, and he
died in the middle. And the angel of
death and the angel of punishment sorry, the
angel of mercy and the angel of punishment,
they both came to take his soul. And
they began arguing, should he be punished or
should he be forgiven?
And they said, let us measure where his
body was. If he's closer to the righteous
people, then we will cause him to be
forgiven. And Allah Azawajal
caused the earth from the other town to
shrinken up so that it seemed as if
he was closer to the righteous people and
he was forgiven. Now the point of this
hadith, of course, we believe it happened, but
there's a moral here as well. And what
is that moral?
The man
didn't even get to the town.
He didn't actually begin the change, but the
niya was there to change.
He made a commitment
that I'm going to change,
and in that commitment,
he passed away,
and Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, forgave him. This
is what this ayah and this hadith is
saying, that good deeds will cause your evil
deeds to be forgiven. And in perhaps the
most amazing anecdote from the hadith we learned,
and it's a very powerful anecdote, and it's
a very interesting one that the prophet salallahu
alaihi wasalam said, there was an evil lady,
a lady who would, you know, do the
things that should not be done, the,
the person who sells her body, that type
of lady. Her whole lifestyle is evil. Right?
And once she passed by a dog
that was panting for
water, and there was no water around. And
so she saw a well. So she said
that this dog needs water. Maybe I should
give it water. Perhaps Allah might forgive me.
Her whole lifestyle is evil. That's what she
does her whole life. Allah knows her circumstance.
Allah knows why she's forced into it. But
even with that evil lifestyle,
she knows I need to do good. And
so, she went to the well, turns out
there's no bucket in the well. So she
took her shoe off,
and she went into the well. She put
her shoe and the water in the shoe.
She put her shoe in her mouth, and
she climbed back up, and she gave the
dog one sip of water from her shoe.
She gave that dog the water that was
in her shoe. And our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam said, Because of that one good deed,
because of that one good deed,
Allah forgave her entire life of sin.
SubhanAllah, we don't know her circumstance. We don't
know, but without a a doubt, she must
have felt guilty. Without a doubt, she would
have been full of remorse of what she's
doing. And Allah
overlooked all of that evil
because we do not judge. We're not in
the position of those people. We don't know
why they did what they did. Leave their
affair to Allah.
Still, with that lifestyle, she did a good
deed. And that one good deed is what
caused her to be saved, and salvation was
achieved. SubhanAllah, brothers and sisters, if there's hope
for such people, if there's hope for a
person whose entire rizq, whose entire sustenance
She gave a dog a sip of water.
Then, Wallahi, how about me and you when
we sponsor an orphan? How about me and
you when we pray? How about me and
you when we give charity? How about me
and you when we fast? The point is
very simple, brothers and sisters. Do not lose
hope in Allah's mercy. Be optimistic.
No matter how many sins you have, Allah
is promising you,
dhalika dhikrali dhakirin.
The the ending of the verse, this is
a reminder
for those who are willing to be reminded.
So as we enter these last 10 days,
make sure you increase your good deeds.
These 10 nights, oh Muslims,
should be the highest
nights in terms of your sadaqa. You should
not give more sadaqa at any other time
of the year than now. You should save
as much as you can to give sadaqa
now. These 10 nights should be the nights
of Ibadah. These 10 nights should be the
nights of Tilawat of Quran. These 10 nights
should be the nights of of du'a.
All of the good deeds you can do,
and when you do so, Inal hasanati yudhibina
sayyaaal
Those very good deeds are gonna cause your
evil deeds to be forgiven. So we ask
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to make us of
those who are praying on that night of
Laylatul Qadr. We ask Allah to make us
of those whose duas are accepted on Laylatul
Qadr. We ask Allah, Azza wa Jal, that
our good deeds on alaylul Qadr are magnified
so that we're worshiping as if it's for
the whole lifetime of ours. And inshaAllah, we'll
continue tomorrow. Wassalamu
alaykum