Let's Surah Kahf Today (Friday) - Being Conscious About Doing Good Deeds

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

The laws that Allah gives us are to benefit us. You are not doing Allah any favor by following His commands and doing good deeds. Even if you reach the highest level of spirituality in Islam, ihsan (excellence), you are the primary beneficiary of your ihsan. You cannot benefit Allah but you can benefit yourself. It is always about you.

Allah Almighty says,

نْ أَحْسَنتُمْ أَحْسَنتُمْ لِأَنفُسِكُمْ ۖ وَإِنْ أَسَأْتُمْ فَلَهَا ۚ فَإِذَا جَآءَ وَعْدُ ٱلْءَاخِرَ‌ةِ لِيَسُـۥٓـُٔوا۟ وُجُوهَكُمْ وَلِيَدْخُلُوا۟ ٱلْمَسْجِدَ كَمَا دَخَلُوهُ أَوَّلَ مَرَّ‌ةٍ وَلِيُتَبِّرُ‌وا۟ مَا عَلَوْا۟ تَتْبِيرً‌ا ﴿٧

[And said], "If you do good, you do good for yourselves; and if you do evil, [you do it] to yourselves." Then when the final promise came, [We sent your enemies] to sadden your faces and to enter the temple in Jerusalem, as they entered it the first time, and to destroy what they had taken over with [total] destruction. (7)

[Qur'an, Al-Isra' 17:7]

Most of us are spiritually immature so Allah tells us to do things for our benefit and on top of that He rewards us for it. If we are spiritually maturing, this should put us to shame. How merciful is our Master! First of all He gave us the greatest gift -- guidance. In that guidance, He tells us what the good deeds are. And those good deeds, which we couldn't have known what they are, not only help our next life, they also help us in this life. When He gives us this, which we couldn't have known by ourselves, then we act that we are doing Him a favor when we do them. Now that we are helping ourselves with the gifts that He gave us, and only He could have given us, then He pays us for it with good reward (beyond your imagination).

ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُۥ عِوَجَا ۜ ﴿١﴾ قَيِّمًا لِّيُنذِرَ‌ بَأْسًا شَدِيدًا مِّن لَّدُنْهُ وَيُبَشِّرَ‌ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ أَجْرً‌ا حَسَنًا ﴿٢﴾ مَّـٰكِثِينَ فِيهِ أَبَدًا ﴿٣

[All] praise is [due] to Allah, who has sent down upon His Servant the Book and has not made therein any deviance. (1) [He has made it] straight, to warn of severe punishment from Him and to give good tidings to the believers who do righteous deeds that they will have a good reward (2) In which they will remain forever (3)

[Qur'an, Al-Kahf 18:1-4]

Our deeds are neither perfect nor permanent. We do them every time we get a chance. We have a lot of down time in between -- sleeping, driving, eating, update FB status, whatsapping, other text messaging, etc. This is the mercy of Allah that He did not make us constantly do good deeds. Even mundane work become worship if we are not disobeying Allah.

We have to be conscious about what we are doing. Some people their solat, Qur'an recitation, or fasting Ramadhan become mechanical. The good deeds cannot become mechanical like breathing.

May Allah grant us works that are most pleasing to Him. Ameen.

Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wassallam.

Allah alone grant success.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam