Talk · al-Sirat al-Mustaqeem | 2024 Ramadan Series, part 29 of 32
A Lifelong Journey | Al-Sirat Al-Mustaqeem EP.27 | A Journey With Shaykh Alauddin ElBakri
Shaykh Alauddin ElBakriImam Omar Suleiman (unverified)
1 moment mention “Dua & Dhikr”:
- Salaam 'Alaikum
- and welcome back to Ramadan series "As-Sirat al-Mustaqim"
- Yesterday we covered: (Except those who have faith)
- Today we cover: (And do good deeds)
- But if you take these two together: (Except those who have faith, do good)
- meaning except those who believe and they do good deeds.
- This sentence, this expression is mentioned over 52 times in The Noble Quran
- It is the hallmark of Islam.
- It represents the personality of Islam.
- Islam is not the type of religion in which
- it only asks you to believe a set of beliefs,
- and if you believe that, you're fine.
- No, you need action with that faith.
- Otherwise, it's a stagnant, dead action
- Notice the type of religion
- that is telling you it's all about your actions,
- where there's no place for Iman and faith.
- This: (Except those who have faith, do good) again is mentioned
- in the plural sense because teamwork makes the dream work.
- This sentence: (Except those who have faith, do good)
- (Do good deeds) is a general expression
- meaning, in this expression: (And those who do good, righteous
- deeds) it's not specified which deeds are we talking about?
- Are we talking about fulfilling the five pillars of Islam?
- Are we talking about feeding the poor, helping the old?
- What are we talking about?
- It's open ended, which makes Islam accommodate
- and the Quran accommodates ages and ages to come.
- Just 15 years ago, we didn't have these smartphones.
- Now, how many good deeds are we doing on our smartphones?
- For those who use it wisely, obviously.
- If you look at that, it makes you love the Quran.
- How certain expressions are general to accommodate
- the time and space that will come later on?
- (Except those who have faith, do good)
- (Do good deeds)
- is what translates faith into action.
- What good is faith if it's only in the hearts of the people
- but it does not translate on their actions?
- And what do we mean by action? In Islam and in the The Noble Quran
- Allah opens our eyes that certain action
- is inner and certain action is outer.
- The inner action.
- There's something called "The actions of the hearts"
- Subhanallah, when our Prophet PBUH say:
- "You will not attain the perfection of faith until you love for others
- what you love for yourself, for your Muslim
- brother and sister, what you love for yourself"
- That's an action.
- But it is inside. It's an inner action.
- That inner action translates into an outer action.
- The actions of the hearts are something that we have not been talking about a lot
- in our lectures and in our explanations of Islam,
- because it's like the hidden elements.
- Our scholars in the past wrote so much about The actions of the hearts
- and the best action of the heart
- is something related to action.
- The outer action. What is that?
- It is sincerity, Al-Ikhlas
- They say for an action to be accepted
- by Allah SWT, it has to fulfill two conditions.
- Condition number 1, that it's sincere for Allah
- You're not doing it with an ulterior motive, you know,
- and you're doing for a different reason.
- And number 2, that when you do the action, you try your best
- to follow the example of the Prophet PBUH
- This world of action makes the believer
- grounded in reality.
- We as Muslims are not detached from reality.
- If you remember when we talked about the goals,
- when we talked about that Allah put to us on this planet
- as part of a certain scheme, to speak the truth
- and tell people about the truth, to establish justice,
- to establish mercy, and to establish excellence, especially moral excellence.
- These things are grounded in reality.
- They're not in the abstract, just dreaming and wishing.
- The Prophet PBUH said:
- Faith is not by wishing.
- It is that which settled in your heart, and was confirmed with action"
- (Except those who have faith and do good)
- this world of action is what we do now in Ramadan.
- We're reading Quran, giving charity, making Dua's, making Dhikr,
- feeding the poor,
- you know. Being grounded in action is something that is required
- of the believer and the more you do, the better it is.
- My dear brothers and sisters,
- Allah SWT has told us about the reward.
- I also want to add, the difference between one person
- doing a good deed and a group of people doing good deed, is the difference between
- a one-time action and an impactful chain of actions
- If you're passing by driving
- and you find a homeless person, so you go buy him food
- or you take your own lunch and give it to him.
- Now, you did a good deed.
- But it is a one-time and one-place.
- But if you bring a group of people and you make an organization
- and you look for the homeless people, you first feed them,
- then you work on their education.
- You try to help them find a job so that they will not be homeless anymore.
- This is what we call impactful action.
- That's why Allah in Surah Al-Asr
- asks us an Ummah to work together to do good deeds.
- Finally, the reward of good deeds
- is mentioned all over the Quran
- May Allah accept from us
- our deeds that we do on a daily basis, especially in Ramadan.
- But if you read a small Surah in Juzu Amma, Surah Al-Bayyinah
- You will find that at the end of it, Allah says:
- (Those who believe and do good deeds,
- they are the best of mankind)
- Oh Allah! You know
- Subhanallah, good deeds need faith,
- and faith needs good deeds.
- And, what did Allah say about them?
- (Their reward at their Lord,
- Gardens of Eden, beneath which rivers are flowing)
- Why?
- (Allah is pleased with them
- and they are pleased with Allah)
- (That is for the one that fears His Lord)
- Don't you want Allah to be pleased with you?
- I want you to think today about a good deed that you've never done before.
- Go home and do it.
- and Insha'Allah, inform us on the chat.
- What was the good deed that you didn't do
- and you decided to do Insha'Allah? So that we can learn from each other.
- May Allah accept from us all.
- Wa Assalaamu 'Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah






