Khatira [ Provision and Charity ] | Dr. Ahmed Abouseif | May 9, 2021

Occasion: Transcription of a khatira delivered on May 9, 2021 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Is charity the only door that Allah has opened for us to draw near to Him? No. And we want to reconsider a group of texts that are in our hands, so that we may better understand what the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Almighty, intends.

What Does "Khayr" (Good) Mean?

Allah the Almighty says: ﴿وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ﴾ (“And whatever you do of good – indeed, Allah is Knowing of it”).^[1] So what does the word "khayr" mean? Whatever you do of good, Allah, glory be to Him, is Knowing of it. And the scholars have told us: Khayr is everything righteous to do that does not cause harm to anyone; whatever you are able to do well, Allah is Knowing of it.

And the second text, in the same sūrah, Sūrat al-Baqara: ﴿وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ يَعْلَمْهُ اللَّهُ﴾ (“And whatever you do of good – Allah knows it”).^[2] So what is the difference between the two texts, when both are "whatever you do of good"? The difference is in the response. ﴿فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ﴾ means Knowing of the good in its origin and source: in your intention from which it came forth, He knows what you intend and what you want to do. As for ﴿يَعْلَمْهُ اللَّهُ﴾, when the deed comes out into the outside world, Allah knows it, and in it is a sense of renewal and continuity, as though there is movement in the matter and walking upon the earth. So Allah, Blessed and Exalted, encompassed with His knowledge what proceeds from creation before it comes out and after it comes out; He, glory be to Him, is aware of everything.

Goodness Grows and Shrinks

And let us picture what goodness is: must it reach a certain size? How many meters? Allah the Almighty says: ﴿فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ * وَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ﴾ (“So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it”).^[3] When goodness was mentioned here, I understood that its size may grow and may diminish; it may expand until it reaches the limits of the sky, and it may shrink until it is like an atom.

So if I try today to distinguish between people and say: so-and-so gave such-and-such in charity and so-and-so gave such-and-such, this one is above and that one is below, one gave a great deal in charity and another a little, I am told: No, do not look at the matter this way. Look at the One who took from them and accepted from them, and who is aware of their intentions and their deeds. The evaluation is not by the measure of the deed, but by the eye of the Beholder, and He knows that you own only a little, while next to you is one who gave a great deal in charity. So I say: Where am I compared to him? I am in a very weak state! And I am told: No, you will take the lead. How can I take the lead?! Then comes the ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ, in the sense that one dirham outstripped a thousand dirhams.

Is this statement correct? By the calculation of statistics and proportions? Yes, because the one who gave a single dirham in charity may own nothing else, or may own two dirhams; so if the one who owns two dirhams gave half his wealth in charity, imagine: half of everything he owns! Whereas the one who has a great deal gave one percent, so reflect on the matter. And the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, says: ﴿فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ﴾ (“So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it”).

So Race to the Good Deeds

And someone may say: Then I do one good deed and keep quiet? Is it enough for me like this until the end of my life? Should I pray once and say: Fine, I prayed once? My Lord said to me: ﴿فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْرَاتِ﴾ (“So race to [all that is] good”).^[4] Now "istabiqū" is an imperative verb, and the sīn and tāʾ in it convey seeking, as we say "astaghfirullāh," meaning "I seek forgiveness." So it is as though, when He, glory be to Him, said "istaghfirū," it means: ask Me for forgiveness; likewise ﴿فَاسْتَبِقُوا﴾ means: seek to race ahead. And when I seek to race ahead, that means I will think: Where are the places of good that I can enter from? Where is the place through which I can take the lead? So if a door of the doors of goodness is presented to you, you say: Give me more of it!

﴿فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْرَاتِ إِلَى اللَّهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ جَمِيعًا﴾ (“So race to [all that is] good. To Allah will be your return all together”). And among that with which Allah praised the people of goodness is His words, glory be to Him: ﴿إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يُسَارِعُونَ فِي الْخَيْرَاتِ وَيَدْعُونَنَا رَغَبًا وَرَهَبًا﴾ (“Indeed, they used to hasten to good deeds and supplicate Us in hope and fear”).^[5] He does not merely do them; he races to them and runs to be the first; not to take but to give.

Then He, Majestic in His exaltedness, showed us another model, of those who go against the current: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَا لَكُمْ إِذَا قِيلَ لَكُمُ انْفِرُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ اثَّاقَلْتُمْ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ أَرَضِيتُمْ بِالْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا﴾ (“O you who have believed, what is [the matter] with you that, when you are told to go forth in the cause of Allah, you adhere heavily to the earth? Are you satisfied with the life of this world”).^[6] Why do you go backward? Go forward! Your place as a believer is never at the back; your place is always in the lead. This is not our logic. So what is our logic? We want the Hereafter, we want Paradise, we want to race to what the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Almighty, wants.

Models of Open-Ended Good

And if we suppose that the Lord of Might has given us the word "khayr" open-ended, do we have models that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has shown us? Imagine a very simple example: the Prophet ﷺ mentioned that whoever performs ablution in his house and does the ablution well, then goes to the mosque wanting nothing but the prayer, takes no step except that Allah raises him a degree by it and removes a sin from him by it. How far is it between your house and the mosque? Fifteen minutes? Ten? How many steps? Every step is counted. So imagine how the reckoning was with Allah before it was on earth.

And imagine two jobs: one person says to you: Take this salary of yours and that's it; come on foot or by vehicle, it is no concern of mine. And another says: I will employ you with me. You say: My house is far. He says: Don't worry, I will provide you a car. So I say: And the tolls I will pay? I will pay them for you. And the fuel? I will charge it to my account. And the oil? And do I have health insurance? We will give you health insurance. And I want my children's education? We will take care of them. And what else do you want? How wonderful this job is! So Allah, glory be to Him, the Almighty, when He placed creation in His servitude, took charge of everything for them. So which of the servants is more blessed than the believer who has surrendered himself to Allah, Blessed and Exalted?

And If the Servant Falls Ill

And if someone says to me: You say that our Lord has guaranteed you everything, so what is the matter with people who fall ill and lose their health? Look at the text so that you understand the equation: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ mentioned that when the servant falls ill or travels, there is recorded for him the like of what he used to do while resident and healthy.^[7] So we do not say that if we worship our Lord we will remain in safety all our lives. It is as though the answer is: Why do you want safety? And why do you want health in the first place? To worship your Lord! So if an illness comes between you and the deed, the same reward is recorded for you. So the believer carries no concern for well-being or for sickness, for wealth or for poverty; he carries no concern for anything in life, because his first and last concern is the reward, and the reward is secured in every circumstance. What bliss is this that you are in, when I am attached to Allah with this attachment, and Allah the Almighty records for me all this reward!

And What Was for the Worldly Life

And lest anyone say: If I go to my work to earn my salary, am I a polytheist or a hypocrite? And if I move about to earn, and go to the market in the morning to buy, then in this worldly life I have no reward? Our master the Prophet ﷺ teaches us that there is no Muslim who plants a plant and a human or an animal eats from it, except that what is eaten from it is a charity for him, and what is stolen from it is a charity for him.^[8]

So what have I understood from this? I have understood that our sister, may Allah bless her, who stands in the kitchen preparing food for the children, has for every morsel that is eaten a reward. And you, who gave her the allowance to cook, every part of this allowance bore fruit as a morsel in someone's hand, or a benefit, or well-being in a body, and you have a share in it. And if Allah, glory be to Him, the Almighty, rewards for the morsel that the child ate, which does not remain, then what of what bore fruit of knowledge in the minds of our children? Imagine that you spent on one of them so that he might learn; by Allah, which bore more fruit and a better result: a morsel that is eaten and then passes out, or a piece of information that is placed in the mind and produces? For there is no piece of information placed in the brain except that it produces at once, in a moment, in everything. As when one person says to another: Be careful, don't work in this commodity after today, for it will vanish from the market shortly. A very small piece of information, yet it bore a great deal of work in his hands. So glory be to the One who made for us good deeds in everything; whatever we do, Allah, Blessed and Exalted, records for us a reward in it.

The Condition

And the condition, to conclude: sincerity of intention and excellence of performance. Any intention in which there is muddle ruins the whole deed for you, and any mistake in the deed diminishes its effect, even if the reward is complete. So seek help from Allah. There is no servant who gives advice, or helps with something, or opens a door of good, or feeds a morsel, or guides to one of the doors of good, except that Allah records a reward for him. So glory be to the One whose promise this is, and glory be to the One who rewards His servants.

I ask Allah, Blessed and Exalted, to make us and you content, to protect us and you, to draw a veil of concealment over us and over you, to keep us and you upon obedience to Him as long as we live, to reward us, and to make us and you constant in obedience, O Lord of the worlds. May Allah reward you with good, and prayers and peace be upon the Seal of His prophets and messengers ﷺ, and peace, mercy and blessings of Allah the Almighty be upon you.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqara [215]. The expression has parallels in the Qur'an with similar wording. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqara [197]. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Zalzala [7–8]. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: It occurs in Sūrat al-Baqara [148] and Sūrat al-Māʾida [48]; the completion «to Allah will be your return all together» as the speaker uttered it agrees with the verse of al-Māʾida. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Anbiyāʾ [90], whose context is the description of Zechariah and his family, peace be upon them; the speaker cited it as evidence of the people of goodness hastening to it. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Tawba [38]; the speaker stopped at His words «with the life of this world» and did not mention the remainder of the verse, so it has not been set down here. ^[7]: Editor's documentation: The origin of the ḥadīth is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī on the authority of Abū Mūsā (may Allah be pleased with him), and the speaker conveyed it by meaning. ^[8]: Editor's documentation: The origin of the ḥadīth is in the two Ṣaḥīḥs on the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), and the speaker conveyed it by meaning.