Save Yourself with Small Acts | Dhul Hijjah Series | Dr. Omar Suleiman & Sh. Ali Hammuda | Ep.7

No good deed is too small when it’s done sincerely for Allah. 

In this episode of The Book of Heart Softeners, we reflect on the Prophet’s ﷺ advice: “Save yourself from the Fire with even half a date in charity.” Small acts of worship, hidden moments of generosity, and consistent deeds that seem insignificant in this world may become the very things that shelter and save a person on the Day of Judgment. This conversation explores the beauty of steady righteousness and the mercy of a Lord who multiplies even the smallest sacrifices made for His sake. 

Join Sh. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Ali Hammuda as they reflect on how ordinary deeds, done consistently and sincerely, can lead to extraordinary reward in the hereafter.

Special thanks to Heenat Salma Farm for hosting and supporting this series, and to Caravane Earth for collaborating with us on this journey.

https://yaqeeninstitute.org

NOTE: Only vocals were used in the making of the soundtrack.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:05

So, this is a door that swings both ways, of course, brothers. Just as we say, don't belittle a good deed in your life, also beware of belittling a sin. Saying alhamdulillah, I pray and I fast, I recite the Quran, and I'll do Tawbah before I go to sleep. No, that could be the sin that becomes your unraveling, your undoing in the eyes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

How do you quit a consistent sin that you're committing in private? In all of my years, and we all have things that we wish that Allah Azzaal will overlook on the day of judgment, so we all have shortcomings. But I find nothing more effective than the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. As Samir, Al-Basir, Al-Raqib. Like thinking about Allah, the all-seeing, thinking about Allah, the all-hearing, thinking about Allah as Shaheed, the all-witnessing, the ever-observing. The Prophet said, And then you will look ahead of you and you will see nothing. And then you will look again in front, and the hellfire will suddenly confront you. And then he said, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, feminist. So whoever amongst you is able to, let them fear Allah, or fear the fire rather, even with half of a date and charity. Now SubhanAllah, we were just talking about Jahannab speaking. And I want to actually start with this point that everything on the day of judgment speaks. Your deeds speak. SubhanAllah, your own hand, your tongue speaks, but not you in control of it. Your hands, your legs, the Prophet tells us about this long incident where a person disputes with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and says that I didn't do that and I didn't do that, and I don't accept these witnesses against me. And Allah says, Who do you accept as a witness? Myself. I only accept myself as a witness. Okay. But you can't lie, you can't embellish anything. And that's when the limbs start to come forward and start to testify against the person. And what do you say to you, to your own limbs? Lima Shahidum Alaina, why are you bearing witness against us? I was trying to defend you, I was trying to protect you. If we go to the fire, you're being separated into pieces. If we go to the fire, then we will all burn and suffer. And what is the answer? Um taqanallah. Allah caused us to speak, the same one who made everything speak. So on the day of judgment, your deeds speak, your limbs speak, that which you used to wrong speaks. The Prophet mentioned to us that whoever kills a small bird for play, not out of benefit, will be brought forth, and the bird will testify, and the bird will say, Oh my Lord, that person killed me for no reason, out of play, not for any benefit whatsoever. Places will speak, the place of your sujout will speak in your behalf bidnillahi ta'ala, your mushaf will speak bidnillahi ta'ala. The Prophet talks about the black stone speaking on the day of judgment, testifying on behalf of those who made hajj or umrah. The Prophet mentioned a Rukn al-Yamani, the Yamani corner of the Ka'bah, speaking as well on the day of judgment. So places speak, possessions speak. Everything is speaking on the day of judgment. Paradise is speaking, hellfire is speaking. But beyond all of that, dear brothers, is Allah is speaking to you. And there is no tarjuman, no translator, no interpreter. And what that means is not just that you will be able to understand him fully, and that this will be a direct conversation. This conversation is also bare. No one else is involved. It is you, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one who is examining you. And you have to rehearse that conversation not a million times, every single day of your life, as many times as you can. Rehearse that single conversation where Allah Himself is speaking to you. And the implication of there's no tarjuman, there's no interpreter here, is that there are no two sides of the story. There's no, there's no one to say maybe this was misunderstood or to reinterpret the facts. And this is very comforting in an age where genocide has been whitewashed. Right? But also for us, it's confronting, not just comforting, that there is no interpreter. Allah doesn't need an interpreter. It's just you speaking directly to your Lord. Are you confessing and seeking his mercy as you were in this world, in a meeting that you anticipated, which we spoke about in the very beginning of the series? Or did you push it off and hope that it would never confront you? So, with everything speaking, Allah Himself is speaking. Shaykh Ali, at the end of this hadith, though, the Prophet as he mentions hellfire now being brought forth. And he says, Save yourself from the fire even with half of a date. Can you elaborate on this, Shaykh, what this means?

SPEAKER_02 6:20

So this is another example of a vivid hadith giving us phenomenal descriptions, clarity on Yom al-Qiyyamah so that no one can claim to be have been caught of God when it happens. But it wasn't just an aspect of painting a vivid picture of what Yom al-Qiyama is going to be like. It takes you to this summation at the end of the hadith where he says, Fettakunara wa lew bishaikitama in one narration. Therefore, i.e., in light of what you have just learned about the day of judgment and how you will be looking left and right, and all you will see is your deeds, and then you will see hell in front of you, and there is no interpreter. He said, Therefore, the tamara, the fruit, the takeaway, is fattakunnah, fear the fire. Well, Bishak Kitamra, even if it's just half a date that you give in charity. So you have agency, it's within everyone's hand to take solid steps to create barriers and hurdles between yourself and that inevitable destination for many. Ibn al Hajar, he says, commenting on the statement of fear of the fire, even if it's with just half a date, he says the following words. A, it means, Ija alubina kumbayna hawiqaya. Min amalbir. He said this hadith, this conclusion means create barriers between you and hell, even if it is via small acts of charity or small acts of righteousness. The idea is do not belittle any good deed that is in your disposal. And we find this theme so salient in our tradition. People who aren't the highest places in Jannah with no platform and no packed-out stadiums, and people who went to hell for the abuse of something like the cat that has been roaming around us throughout the series that we've been recording. So no one can say that it's outside of my jurisdiction, it's outside of my ability to go to paradise, or hell is inevitable for me. Small things take us here, and small things can protect us from that. And I share with you some examples. In terms of narrations and in terms of case studies. The Prophet told us a phenomenal hadith that is almost difficult to believe if it wasn't for our certainty that it's of the highest level of authenticity, Alhamdulillah. Where he said, Marrat Bahiyun min baraya beni israel ala kelbin yutrifu biraqiyah. That a prostitute from Beni Israel, the children of Israel, came across a dog who was circumamulating around a well because of thirst. He was dying. And so she felt mercy. She took off her leather sock and she went down into the well and she filled it with water and she gave it to the dog. The conclusion of the hadith is, Fat Lehu, Fahufira Leha Bihi. She gave it water, so her sins were erased because of this deed. Imagine a gathering like this. Don't belittle this hadith, my brothers. And they hear the story because it's life-changing. And he said, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, Qataham in Wahri Tariq. I saw a man tossing and turning in paradise because of a tree that he cut down. It was in the middle of the road and it was harming the Muslims. He earned Jannah because of it. I remember my father telling me in 2014 when he'd come back from his Hajj of a phenomenal incident that was difficult to forget. He said, We were in Mina. We had no AC units to cool us down. And my dad is much like myself. If there's any semblance of heat in the space, forget about sleeping. It's impossible. So he said, I'm tossing and turning and I'm just in agony for a long day ahead of us. And I'm panicking. And you know when anxiety mixes with the need to sleep and long day ahead of you, it's compounded. He said then all of a sudden, SubhanAllah, I felt this breeze just pass over me like it was from Jannah. And I slipped into a very deep sleep. He said, What is amazing is that I woke up just before Salatul Fajr, and it was to the sight of an old Indian uncle. So he's older than my father. My father is calling him uncle. So he's I drew an old man. And he's carrying like a uh a cardboard piece of some sort. And he's founding my father like this. So he saw that my father was startled. He said to him, Son, I saw from the other side of the tent that you were struggling to sleep. So I thought I'd come and give you a hand. He said to him, Zakallah Khairan, how long have you been standing there? He said, from around 12 o'clock midnight. Four or so hours in one position, and we're struggling to sit, ah, brothers. Four or so hours finding my father. This is a man who's on his own hajj journey. He's paid his thousands. His body is not helping him with this ibada. But guess what? He does not belittle that good deed. Because maybe all of the sacrifice is rejected. Maybe I'm a shawaf. I don't know. Maybe my money was haram. Maybe this is the action that Allah will give me salvation. So this is a door that swings both ways, of course, brothers. Just as we say, don't belittle a good deed in your life, also beware of belittling a sin. Saying, Alhamdulillah, I pray and I fast, I recite the Quran, and I'll do Tawbah before I go to sleep. No, that could be the sin that becomes your unraveling, your undoing in the eyes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because of the mujasara or the tajasur, the ju'a, the bravery, the brazenness of it that causes a lifetime's worth of hasanat to fall or to disappear. And that's why we know of a woman who entered hell because of a cat that she trapped. She prevented her from eating till the cat died. Allah gave her Jahannan because of that. And that is why, just before I hand over Shaykh, I love a statement attributed to Muhammad Al-Baqr Rahimahullah, who said that Allah Almighty Habba atharat and fi tharatha. Allah has hidden three things within three things. Allah has hidden his pleasure within the many good deeds of life, so that we don't belittle any good deed. And Allah Almighty has hidden his anger, his wrath within the many sins of life, so that we don't belittle any what. We don't belittle any sin. And Allah Almighty has hidden, number three, Allah Almighty has hidden his wali, his ally from creation between all of the people, so that we don't belittle any person. Back to the hadith, therefore, fear the fire, even if it is by the giving of a half-a-date.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Allah come on. Shaykh SubhanAllah. It's like this whole journey, you're thinking about your resume. As we've been getting to know you guys between sessions, we're talking about your future, what you're preparing for. And I want you to think about it this way: your private righteousness is your resume with Allah. That's your CV. Your private righteousness is your CV with Allah that you'll present for this interview. This is the interview now. There was a pre-interview to the interview that made you even worthy of this interview in the first place, right? This is the interview now. Public righteousness and what the public sees, that's what people think of you. But this is now the real interview. Here's your CV. But here's something I really want you to think about. I meet a lot of young people, Shaykh, and I don't think we count as young anymore, unfortunately. Allah knows best. But people like yourselves, honestly, that have this dramatic intention to make some major change one day in their lives. It doesn't mean you're bad, but like once I finish this milestone in my life, then I'm going to do this amazing thing for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Right. So it's not necessarily tawbah from a sin. It's like I have this dramatic intention to do something great. But small, consistent, good deeds that actually happen on a daily basis mean so much more than dramatic intentions that never materialize. Because the trick of shaitan is to delay good until you can no longer do it. And so this is an incredible point that the Prophet is saying when he's giving us the scene of the meeting with him. This is it. This is it. You don't get a redo. This is it. You're in front of Allah. You worked your whole existence for this one moment. And then he says, half a date. Like I'm embarrassed to go to someone's house if I don't have the right gift. Right? Like you gotta have a grand gift when you're going to a grand home. You're meeting the king of all kings, and the Prophet brings out half a date. So a very practical advice I want to give you is guard a private act of worship between you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that you hope to present on that day. It's not everything. It's not everything. You still can't come close to Allah Azzaal by going around the fara'ad, the mandatory things. As the Prophet says in a hadith Qutsi, that Allah has said that my servant does not come near to me. My servant does not come near to me with anything more beloved to me than the fara'ab, than the mandatory things. And then they continue to come close to me with the nawatil, with the voluntary things until I love them. And the hadith goes on to what that love looks like. But what's a private act of worship you guard as that half a date on the day of judgment? And the last thing I'll say in this regard is how do you quit a consistent sin that you're committing in private? In all of my years, and we all have things that we wish that Allah Azzaal will overlook on the day of judgment, so we all have shortcomings. But I find nothing more effective than the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. As Samir, Al-Basir, Al-Raqib, like thinking about Allah, the all-seeing, thinking about Allah, the all-hearing, thinking about Allah as Shaheed, the all-witnessing, the ever-observing. Like to actually, as you are committing those sins, think about Allah's names that relate to those private sins. And then find hope in those names that relate to Allah seeing those private good deeds. There's something about connecting to Allah on that deeper level that will allow you, bidding, to disconnect from something that otherwise seems like it has captured you. And that is to be captivated by Allah's names, knowing that you will one day have to meet Him, Subhanahu wa wa ta'ala. Shaykh Ali, do you have any final thoughts in this regard? As someone who's taught about the names of Allah as well and things of that sort, this meeting, this momentous meeting and what it represents?

SPEAKER_03 17:45

Allahu Akbar.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

You've covered it, Shaykh. I mean, I'm just on this topic of really guarding a hasana, a good deed of some sort that you can truly hope and claim that there is nothing in it whatsoever except the desire for the face of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The public deeds that we do, like this one, for example. I don't want to say discount it or assume it rejected, because we think well of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But put your stocks in those things that are not publicly shared. And I remember two incidents that perhaps we can close with. The first belongs to a person known as Al-Junaid al-Baghdadi, a famous scholar and known worshipper in Iraq. And when he passed away, Rahimahullah, people saw him in a dream. And Al-Junaid was asked, what did Allah Almighty do to you now that you met him? And Al-Junaid he said, Well, you can't do it. He said, All of the complicated terminologies that we used to use have disappeared. And all of the metaphors and the symbolisms have dissolved. And the only thing that benefited us here were a few short units of salah that we used to carry out in the depths of the night. And the second belongs to Al-Khalili ibn Ahmed al-Farahidi. And he was the founder of a science called Al-Arud, which is the poetic meter, studying the rhythm and the structure of poetry. So when he passed away, people saw him in a dream. They said to him, what happened to you? And he said, Allah erased all of my sins because I taught an old woman Surahul Fatih. They said to him, What about Al-Arud? What happened to that knowledge that you founded? He said, It was all decked and it disappeared as though it was scattered dust. This isn't to make us think bad of Allah Almighty or minimize the big deeds that fall on our lap, but this is a case to create hasanat that you really could put your stocks in in the hope that Allah Almighty will save us if all else fails. Suzakmullah khairun for your attention, brothers. Let us know if you have any questions, inshaAllah we'll try to assist. One thing that can be done is to say Allah and Ushrika Bikawa and Alam. Which means, Oh Allah Almighty, I seek refuge in you that I should associate partners with you whilst I know. And I ask you to forgive me for those things that I do not know. The second is really to avoid the perfection fallacy. Because it's very easy to fall into a type of obsession with this topic, whereby it overtakes our thinking, and we're no longer able to do anything in public or secret because we're afraid that we will be insincere. Insincerity will creep into our lives. Perhaps aspects of minor shirk will creep into our lives. Minor sins will be part of our day-to-day. At times we may even fall into a major sin. That's not to normalize this, but it's to remember that you are a human being and you will make mistakes. And Allah Almighty appreciates the process of you being embattled with it and coming out as a stronger person. The sign that you or I experience insincerity or moments of showing off is a sign that we fear insincerity. Because it is only the hypocrite who is never insincere. Because he's consistently insincere. So he has nothing to worry about. As for the believer, he will fall into showing off many times. Why? Because he fears it. with it. Allah Almighty rewards him for that struggle so long as he does not surrender to it. Allahu Allah thank you sir.