"Every deed of the son of Adam is multiplied from ten to seven hundred times. Allah the Exalted says: Except for fasting, for it is done for my sake and I will reward it." [Muslim Shareef]
We should never consider any good deed to be insignificant because even the smallest good deeds one performs, may lead him to Paradise and save him from Hellfire.
In the Hereafter, we will regret not taking the opportunity to perform even the smallest good deed. There many examples of good deeds and many opportunities to perform them. We should always have a desire to perform a good deed and constantly strive for it.
We may fulfil our prayers and they may be accepted by Allah ta'ala, however, we are unaware whether our prayer has increased our ranks and how much reward we have attained individually. Some of us may attain a higher reward for our prayers as compared to others.
We should strive to pray and allow the rewards of our prayers to be multiplied by seven hundred. Furthermore, we should improve the quality of our deeds so that we are given the maximum rewards for it.
The last Muslim who will exit Hellfire and enter Paradise, will be shown his Paradise. Allah ta'ala will say to him, "Go and enter Paradise and you will have as much as the world and ten times more." [Bukhari Shareef]
There is no limit to Allah ta'ala's bestowal, so we should strive to attain the highest amount of reward.
There is one action which Allah ta'ala Himself rewards a person for and that is the deed of fasting. Compared to other forms of worship such as Hajj and Umrah, fasting is an easy act of worship and does not prove to be challenging for a person. In return for this easy action, we gain many rewards which Allah ta'ala will reward us for.
Allah ta'ala gives the reward Himself because a person is fasting purely for His sake. One abandons food and drink solely for His sake. Thus, fasting develops purity and sincerity within a person and a strong connection is made with Allah ta'ala through it.
Through fasting, Allah ta'ala makes us practice developing sincerity and such fear is obtained that no child nor adult has the desire to violate their fast.
We must emulate the fasting person throughout the entire year and the fasting persons greatest quality is sincerity. The fear and recognition should remain in our heart throughout the year and we must obey Allah ta'ala's orders in the same way. If we can achieve this, then we will be rewarded in the same way we are rewarded for fasting. The pious predecessors worked hard upon this, which is why they reached the heights.
An act carries the most sincerity when it is performed solely for the sake of Allah ta'ala. We may gain abundant knowledge and achieve many titles, however, we must observe whether we acted ostentatiously or for the sake of Allah ta'ala.
Allah ta'ala looks at the quality of our deeds and not the quantity. Whenever our deeds are contaminated with another intention besides for the sake of Allah ta'ala, then we will attain nothing besides Hellfire. However, if our deeds are sincere, Allah ta'ala Himself will reward us and admit us in to Paradise.
Hadhrat Muad ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه was preparing to leave for Yemen and he sought advice from Nabi ﷺ. Nabi ﷺ advised him to purify his deen and develop sincerity in his heart and as a result, even the smallest deed will be sufficient for him in the Hereafter.
Purifying the deen refers to correcting our worship and performing deeds solely for the sake of Allah ta'ala. Whenever we perform an action, we should be sincere. There should be no desire of the world in our hearts. If the dunya is contaminated within our intentions, then there is no reward. Rather, we will gain punishment. Therefore, we should abandon those acts which Shariah does not give permission for.
There is benefit and reward in seeking advice from a waliAllah. The speeches of a WaliAllah are advices. We should visit their company with the intention of obeying and implementing, just like the Sahabah would seek advice from the Prophet ﷺ with the intention of obeying. If we fail to practice, we will receive a great punishment for being a hypocrite.
A waliAllah addresses the people according to their needs and their benefit. This is because Allah ta'ala desires to correct His people.
A hypocrite will receive nothing as he has no desire to improve. However, the one who desires to improve in the company of waliAllah, Allah ta'ala will enable the WaliAllah to speak on those topics which the listeners are in need of. The AwliyahAllah are given inspiration from Allah ta'ala in such a way.
How to develop sincerity even outside Ramadan?
In the eyes of Allah ta'ala, dhikr is the most purest of deeds. We should purify our hearts with the remembrance of Allah ta'ala. The things which spoil our sincerity, lies within our hearts thus, Allah ta'ala has enabled dhikr to be the cleanser of the heart. Unless we develop sincerity, all our worship will be rejected. We must work hard to purify our heart in this way.
Nabi ﷺ said to his noble companions. “Shall I not inform you of the best of your actions, the purest in the sight of your Lord, which raises your rank to the highest, which is better for you than spending gold and silver, better than meeting your enemy so that you strike at their necks and they strike at yours?’ They replied: ‘Yes, indeed,’ and he said: ‘It is the remembrance of Allah." [Tirmidhi Shareef]
Dhikr is great because it make our deen pure and due to this, all our actions become pure and accepted in the eyes of Allah ta'ala. Furthermore, those actions performed with sincerity are rewarded by Allah ta'ala Himself.
A deed performed without sincerity cannot grant one success. On the other hand, deeds performed with sincerity are much higher in status and one will witness its effects.
Our deen cannot become pure until our hearts are pure and our hearts cannot be pure until we engage in the dhikr of Allah ta'ala. This is why we should not be detached from dhikr. If we fail to perform dhikr, we have removed the soul from our deen.
Deen requires effort and without effort we attain nothing. Once a person's heart is purified, he implements the deeds with Allah ta'ala's love and approval.
We must perform dhikr in abundance and the best way to perform this, is to remember Allah ta'ala in the heart. We should learn this dhikr through a WaliAllah. With a pure heart, we are able to perform all actions with sincerity otherwise we are in danger of contaminating our deeds through ostentation and other worldly intentions.
Dhikr does not prevent our worldly affairs and our work. Rather, it expands it. We should remain occupied in our worldly affairs whilst performing dhikr.
"Every deed of the son of Adam is multiplied from ten to seven hundred times. Allah the Exalted says: Except for fasting, for it is done for my sake and I will reward it." [Muslim Shareef]
We should never consider any good deed to be insignificant because even the smallest good deeds one performs, may lead him to Paradise and save him from Hellfire.
In the Hereafter, we will regret not taking the opportunity to perform even the smallest good deed. There many examples of good deeds and many opportunities to perform them. We should always have a desire to perform a good deed and constantly strive for it.
We may fulfil our prayers and they may be accepted by Allah ta'ala, however, we are unaware whether our prayer has increased our ranks and how much reward we have attained individually. Some of us may attain a higher reward for our prayers as compared to others.
We should strive to pray and allow the rewards of our prayers to be multiplied by seven hundred. Furthermore, we should improve the quality of our deeds so that we are given the maximum rewards for it.
The last Muslim who will exit Hellfire and enter Paradise, will be shown his Paradise. Allah ta'ala will say to him, "Go and enter Paradise and you will have as much as the world and ten times more." [Bukhari Shareef]
There is no limit to Allah ta'ala's bestowal, so we should strive to attain the highest amount of reward.
There is one action which Allah ta'ala Himself rewards a person for and that is the deed of fasting. Compared to other forms of worship such as Hajj and Umrah, fasting is an easy act of worship and does not prove to be challenging for a person. In return for this easy action, we gain many rewards which Allah ta'ala will reward us for.
Allah ta'ala gives the reward Himself because a person is fasting purely for His sake. One abandons food and drink solely for His sake. Thus, fasting develops purity and sincerity within a person and a strong connection is made with Allah ta'ala through it.
Through fasting, Allah ta'ala makes us practice developing sincerity and such fear is obtained that no child nor adult has the desire to violate their fast.
We must emulate the fasting person throughout the entire year and the fasting persons greatest quality is sincerity. The fear and recognition should remain in our heart throughout the year and we must obey Allah ta'ala's orders in the same way. If we can achieve this, then we will be rewarded in the same way we are rewarded for fasting. The pious predecessors worked hard upon this, which is why they reached the heights.
An act carries the most sincerity when it is performed solely for the sake of Allah ta'ala. We may gain abundant knowledge and achieve many titles, however, we must observe whether we acted ostentatiously or for the sake of Allah ta'ala.
Allah ta'ala looks at the quality of our deeds and not the quantity. Whenever our deeds are contaminated with another intention besides for the sake of Allah ta'ala, then we will attain nothing besides Hellfire. However, if our deeds are sincere, Allah ta'ala Himself will reward us and admit us in to Paradise.
Hadhrat Muad ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه was preparing to leave for Yemen and he sought advice from Nabi ﷺ. Nabi ﷺ advised him to purify his deen and develop sincerity in his heart and as a result, even the smallest deed will be sufficient for him in the Hereafter.
Purifying the deen refers to correcting our worship and performing deeds solely for the sake of Allah ta'ala. Whenever we perform an action, we should be sincere. There should be no desire of the world in our hearts. If the dunya is contaminated within our intentions, then there is no reward. Rather, we will gain punishment. Therefore, we should abandon those acts which Shariah does not give permission for.
There is benefit and reward in seeking advice from a waliAllah. The speeches of a WaliAllah are advices. We should visit their company with the intention of obeying and implementing, just like the Sahabah would seek advice from the Prophet ﷺ with the intention of obeying. If we fail to practice, we will receive a great punishment for being a hypocrite.
A waliAllah addresses the people according to their needs and their benefit. This is because Allah ta'ala desires to correct His people.
A hypocrite will receive nothing as he has no desire to improve. However, the one who desires to improve in the company of waliAllah, Allah ta'ala will enable the WaliAllah to speak on those topics which the listeners are in need of. The AwliyahAllah are given inspiration from Allah ta'ala in such a way.
How to develop sincerity even outside Ramadan?
In the eyes of Allah ta'ala, dhikr is the most purest of deeds. We should purify our hearts with the remembrance of Allah ta'ala. The things which spoil our sincerity, lies within our hearts thus, Allah ta'ala has enabled dhikr to be the cleanser of the heart. Unless we develop sincerity, all our worship will be rejected. We must work hard to purify our heart in this way.
Nabi ﷺ said to his noble companions. “Shall I not inform you of the best of your actions, the purest in the sight of your Lord, which raises your rank to the highest, which is better for you than spending gold and silver, better than meeting your enemy so that you strike at their necks and they strike at yours?’ They replied: ‘Yes, indeed,’ and he said: ‘It is the remembrance of Allah." [Tirmidhi Shareef]
Dhikr is great because it make our deen pure and due to this, all our actions become pure and accepted in the eyes of Allah ta'ala. Furthermore, those actions performed with sincerity are rewarded by Allah ta'ala Himself.
A deed performed without sincerity cannot grant one success. On the other hand, deeds performed with sincerity are much higher in status and one will witness its effects.
Our deen cannot become pure until our hearts are pure and our hearts cannot be pure until we engage in the dhikr of Allah ta'ala. This is why we should not be detached from dhikr. If we fail to perform dhikr, we have removed the soul from our deen.
Deen requires effort and without effort we attain nothing. Once a person's heart is purified, he implements the deeds with Allah ta'ala's love and approval.
We must perform dhikr in abundance and the best way to perform this, is to remember Allah ta'ala in the heart. We should learn this dhikr through a WaliAllah. With a pure heart, we are able to perform all actions with sincerity otherwise we are in danger of contaminating our deeds through ostentation and other worldly intentions.
Dhikr does not prevent our worldly affairs and our work. Rather, it expands it. We should remain occupied in our worldly affairs whilst performing dhikr.
May Allah ta'ala allow us to implement. Ameen