Ibaadah - Worship & Obedience of Allah ﷻ
Simple ways of earning Allah's mercy
One of the easiest ways to earn Allah’s mercy is by practicing the daily fard (obligatory,compulsory) acts commanded to the believers: “The believers, both men and women, support each other; they order what is right and forbid what is wrong; they keep up the salah (five obligatory prayers) and pay zakah (obligatory charity); they obey God and His Messenger. God will give His mercy to such people: God is almighty and wise.”[1] In addition to performing fard (obligatory) acts in Islam i.e. five pillars (as mentioned earlier), such as salah and zakat, there are various ways in which in one can earn the mercy of Allah ﷻ on daily basis. There are actions taught by the Prophet ﷺ that he referred to as sadaqa (charity) and if we commit ourselves on doing them every day we can earn the mercy of Allah ﷻ throughout the day. A prophetic hadith tells us: “There are three hundred and sixty joints in a human being, and in the morning every single joint of yours must pay a sadaqa (charity). Every tasbih is a sadaqa, every tahmid is a sadaqa, every tahlil is a sadaqa, every takbir is a sadaqa, every commanding good is a sadaqa, and every forbidding evil is a sadaqa, a man's helping his brother is sadaqa. A drink of water, which he gives, is sadaqa. Removing something harmful from the road is sadaqa, and all this is accomplished through two rakahs one can pray in Duha.”[2] Tasbih is SubhanAllah which means ‘Glorified is Allah’, Tahmeed is Alhamdulillah which means ‘All praise is due to Allah’ and Takbir is Allahu Akbar which means ‘Allah is the greatest’. These are part of our daily zikr (remembrances) that we are encouraged to recite by tongue and hearts on fingertips, before and after our salah throughout the day. Sadaqa means ‘charity’ just as how the Prophet ﷺ once said ‘to smile is charity’, basically any good deed is considered a sadaqa because it wards off calamities and trials whether big or small. By doing zikr, righteous deeds, enjoining good and forbidding evil our bodies, joints, limbs, minds and hearts are protected from any sort of trouble and worries of the day or even if they were to experience any worries or grief, Allah ﷻ will give us the strength and faith to endure them. To gain blessings of all these actions one should do the above as much as we can or pray two rakahs (rounds) of nafl (voluntary) salah at the time of duha[3] (mid-day prayer) and make dua (invocations, supplication). In fact one should attempt to do all of the above if possible for the more we can accomplish is better, as Allah’s angels around us continue to pray for our forgiveness and mercy as they notice our actions throughout the day. A prophetic hadith teaches us: “If any one of you prays and then sits down in the spot where he has prayed, the angels ask blessings on him saying, 'Allah, forgive him. Allah, have mercy on him’.”[4] And, that: “Every day two angels come down from Heaven and one of them says, 'O Allah! Compensate every person who spends in Your Cause,' and the other (angel) says, 'O Allah! Destroy every miser’.”[5] References: [1] Al Quran 9:71 [2] Sunan Abi Dawud 5242 & Riyad as-saliheen Book 1, Hadith 122 [3] Mid-day prayer around 10 or 11 a.m. before obligatory dhuhr (noon prayer). [4] Muwatta Malik - Book 9, Hadith 57 [5] Sahih al-Bukhari 1442
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Ibaadah AuthorZaid Shaw Archives
August 2019
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