When someones life changes drastically, we are curious to know what the big ‘incident’ was that shocked that person into change.That indicates that we wait for something horribly shocking to change our lives, or we wait for later, until later turns into later again,and then it is near the time of our death. Allah says in the Holy Quran:
“Do they [then] wait for anything except that the angels should come to them or your Lord should come or that there come some of the signs of your Lord? The Day that some of the signs of your Lord will come no soul will benefit from its faith as long as it had not believed before or had earned through its faith some good. Say, “Wait. Indeed, we [also] are waiting.” (Al-An’am 158)
When either death is near, or any of the signs of the Day of Judgement are near, basically when the reality becomes clear, it will be useless to rush to do good deeds. But still we wait. Maybe it is that we want to start being the perfect human being at once. If we can’t be explosively and blindingly good, we think it useless to even start.
Take one step at a time, that’s the whole point. The evaluation of our actions does not lie in the perfection of our actions, rather it lies in our efforts and intentions. Waiting for someone to wave a magic wand and convert us into perfection will not happen. Period. Our broken, inadequate efforts are better than nothing, and in the eyes of the Creator, much more precious than we assume, provided we are sincere.
And the mercy of Allah can’t be explained better than this:
“Whoever comes [on the Day of Judgement] with a good deed will have ten times the like thereof [to his credit], and whoever comes with an evil deed will not be recompensed except the like thereof; and they will not be wronged.” (Al-Anam 160)
So, the score card is:
- You intend to do a good deed, but due to some reason you can’t get it done, still you get the good deed written.
- You planned and did the good deed, you get minimum ten times reward, and up-to 700 times of reward and more depending on how sincere we were. An example is: The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is like a seed [of grain] which grows seven spikes; in each spike is a hundred grains. And Allah multiplies [His reward] for whom He wills. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing. (Al-Baqarah 261)
- You planned to do something bad, but didn’t go through with it, you get the reward of a good deed!
- And if you did do something bad, only the sin of that bad deed will be written down.
It amazing if we ponder on how merciful Allah SWT is. Better start today with something small rather than end up with nothing later on.
Powerpoint FTW. ^.^
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