Ahmadi Mosque- Lesson 51: Four kinds of actions, the reward of which continues after death
- Prophetic Hadith / Explanation of Prophetic Hadith
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In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, Most Merciful
The only thing that accompanies man after death:
Dear brothers, At-Tabarani narrated that Abi Umamah, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Prophet PBUH said:
((There are four such actions that a servant carries out, the reward of which will continue to be written for him (even) after his demise… ))
Every human being longs to own the heftiest wealth, to live in the most beautiful house, to have dutiful children, to be married to a kind pious satisfying wife and to attain a high position, only all these worldly ambitions are evanescent. In other words, the worldly life is transitory, as death puts an end to everything.
Death puts an end to the wealth of the rich, to the poverty of the poor, to the power of the strong, to the weakness of the weak, to the handsomeness of the beautiful, to the ugliness of the ugly, to the good health of the healthy and to the illness of the sick. What really counts is what comes after death. The Prophet PBUH said:
There are four such actions that a servant carries out, the reward of which will continue to be written for him (even) after his demise...
The Hadith denotes the actions and deeds that thrive even after death. If you own only 100.000 dollars, and you spend it on traveling, on staying at hotels, and on having food and drink, nothing will be left from it, but if you invest a million in a business, and you take 100.000 from the profits, your money will not decrease, because the profits will keep coming, and you are spending from it and not from the capital. Much in the same line, some deeds thrive after death, and although their doers die, they are continuous, so are their rewards. Man might die after offering a good deed, but the reward of such a deed will remain in its doer's record as long as people are benefiting from it.
Ponder over what those have left after their death?
I came here from Al-Ghara' institute, wherein there was a celebration of the graduates. I asked them, "How much time do you think passed since the man, who established this institute (Sheikh Ali Ad-Dakr), died?" This institute is a significant one, for religious students who are entitled to take over pulpits in Masajid and deliver sermons to people graduate from it. This institute is a continuous deed with a continuous reward. When someone establishes a continuous charity and died, it is as if this person is still alive, because his deed is continuous, so is its reward.
How many times are Ash-Shafi'i, Abu Hanifah, Ibn Hanbal and Imam Malek mentioned? How many times are Umar bin Al-Khattab, Salah Ad-Deen Al-Ayoobi, Noor Ad-Deen Ash-Shaheed, Umar bin Abdul Aziz and Tareq bin Ziyad mentioned? They are mentioned day and night. This very city (i.e. Damascus) would have been kept a Christian city if not for the Muslims who spread Islam in it. Thus, the continuous charity is the best deed ever.
Be ambitious in seeking the Hereafter:
I have started this lecture talking about ambitions. It is good to be ambitious; however, heroism lies in being ambitious to win the Hereafter, because the Hereafter is eternal, whereas the worldly life is transitory. Traveling abroad and staying for five days in a five star hotel is different from being at home, because in the end, the five days will pass and none of them will be remembered, even the taste of the fancy food in that hotel will be forgotten. On the other side, your home is different from the hotel, for you spend more time at it, and so you look after it all the time. Therefore, there is a big different between a temporary thing and permanent one. This example enlightens us with the concept that the prudent, the prosperous, the successful and the superior person is the one who longs for a deed with a reward that does not stop after his death.
Being an exclusive agent of a big company is a profitable investment, for the one who has it will gain money without moving a muscle and the commissions will be wired to his account if any of his commodities is sold anywhere. However, in order to be an exclusive agent for a big company, it takes a lot of efforts, but it pays off later on, because money will come to him from far and wide. In brief, he gains money from the commissions only.
Since we are ambitious, and we are keen on achieving our goals in the worldly life, we should for greater reason be ambitious and keen on gaining the rewards of the Hereafter.
The after- death's reward for the one who guards the boundaries of his country:
The Prophet PBUH said:
There are four such actions that a servant carries out, the reward of which will continue to be written for him (even) after his demise: the one who passed away while guarding the Islamic frontiers in the Path of Allah…
This man died in combat due to which Islam was spread after the opening of a certain country. This Jihad was the reason behind entering countries and spreading Islam.
When I was in Turkey, I overheard that there are 85 million Muslims in it, now who spread Islam there? It is Muhammad Al-Fateh. Also, those who spread Islam in this country were the Prophet's companions, and to your knowledge, Abu Ayoob Al-Ansari is one of them, and he is buried in Istanbul. I even prayed in his Masjid. Where did he come from? He came from Al-Madinah, and he is the one who hosted the Prophet PBUH upon arriving to Madinah after Hijrah (emigrating from Makkah). Where did he die? He died in Istanbul. The outcome of his Jihad is having 85 million Muslims in Turkey now.
Praise be to Allah, everything is fine in Turkey, and all you are hearing is just propaganda. I had the chance to visit Bursa (one of Turkey's cities), I noticed that 8 cars out of 10 are driven by Muslim women who wear Hijab. There are 3000 Masjids in Istanbul alone, and the Adhan is recited in Arabic. These Masjids are half full with performers of prayers, besides having Islamic institute there. May Allah keep these institutes going.
Having 550 Islamic institutes and 25 Islamic collages from which Khutaba' (preachers) are graduated, seems (for some) to be a problem in Turkey. Where all that came from? Do you believe that all of you, who reside in Damascus, will be included in the records of those who were behind the opening of Damascus and who spread Islam in it?
The one who strives in the Cause of Allah and spreads His religion will be rewarded. The Islamic merchants reached Indonesia and spread Islam there till this country became one of the biggest Islamic countries ever. The population of Indonesia is 150 million people. Indonesia alone, as an Islamic country, is equivalent to the entire Arab world. Who spread Islam in it? It is the Muslim merchants and the rewards of all these Muslims now are in their records.
I have just heard the Khateeb saying something that touched my heart. He praised Syrian scholars, knowledge seekers and Syrian merchants. If not for the generosity and donations of those merchants, none of these Islamic institutes, Masjids and orphanages were to be established in the first place. Upon finishing his speech, a merchant stood up and said, "I will give 5000 Liras to every student as a gift". Then, he raised this amount till he reached 150.000 as a gift to those who were Islamic knowledge seekers and who graduated from high school. Hence,
(( There are four such actions that a servant carries out, the reward of which will continue to be written for him (even) after his demise: the one who passed away while guarding the Islamic frontiers in the Path of Allah. ))
An example of this man is Abu Ayoob Al-Ansari who died in Istanbul.
The reward of whoever applies the Islamic knowledge is continuous:
(( The one who had imparted some knowledge, thus its reward will continue for him as long as that knowledge is practiced upon) ))
Practicing man's knowledge takes place when he calls to Allah, when he establishes an Islamic institute, when he preaches people in Masjid and when he calls his family members, his children, his neighbors and his friends to Allah in an assembly, a meeting or over a banquet. Practicing man's knowledge also takes place when he speaks out the word of truth.
I received a phone call from someone in Germany. He said, "I had been looking for your phone number for two months till I found it. My name is such and such. I frankly hate scholars." He said harsh words about them. Then he continued, "However, I listened to an audio lecture of yours about Allah's Beautiful Name Al-Muhaimen (The Supremely Hegemonic). By Allah, I listened to it five times." Then, he asked me to send him 1000 cassettes to which I answered, "I cannot believe it."
This means no borders stop the word of the truth from spreading. In the French Association of Physicians, a non-profit organization, under the name "MSF Médecins Sans Frontières" (Doctors without borders), was established, and doctors who joined it dedicate themselves to serve humanity in general. They head to countries wherein wars and killings are taking place, and they go there to treat people in need. Like those doctors whom no borders stop their mission, no borders can stop the word of truth from spreading. The truth knows no borders, for it moves from one place to another to be spread among people.
((There are four such actions that a servant carries out, the reward of which will continue to be written for him (even) after his demise: the one who passed away while guarding the Islamic frontiers in the Path of Allah, the one who had imparted some knowledge; thus its reward will continue for him as long as that knowledge is practiced upon… ))
The best charity is to speak out the word of truth. A man once told me, "I have never seen you or met you, but once I asked you over the phone about a problem I used to suffer from, you told me that all the ways I was following to overcome it were not right, and that I have to invoke Allah and to pay Sadaqah only." He continued, "By Allah, my problem was solved upon doing what you had suggested." He asked me over the phone without knowing me, and I answered him with the word of truth.
The reward for man's Sadaqah continues after its giver's death as long as it exists:
(( The one who had imparted some knowledge, thus its reward will continue for him as long as that knowledge is practised upon, the one who had given Sadaqah, thus its reward will continue for him as long as the benefit of the Sadaqah continues ))
Who built this Masjid? Every word of truth that is said in this Masjid, every Adhan that is recited, every prayer that is performed, every religious session that is held and every repentance that takes place in it will be in the record of the one who participated in establishing and building this Masjid.
The essence of our lecture today:
My lecture today is about encouraging you to perform a deed that will continue after your death. We have Quran reciters and singers, and the deeds of both will continue after their death. Therefore, every time a song is sung, watched or listened to, its effects will be added to the record of its singer, and every time the recitation of a certain Surah by the Quran reciter is listened to or watched, it will raise its reciter to a higher level.
There are people who established Masjids and others who established nightclubs. Once, we opened a Masjid in Harasta (in the countryside of Damascus), and next to me stood the director of Islamic Endowments in the countryside, so out of the sense of humor I said to him, "Thank Allah that you are opening a Masjid". He said, "Yes, praise be to Allah". I said to him, "Yesterday, it was the inauguration party of a nightclub where they held the ribbon-cutting ceremony."
A man established a night club and another established a Masjid. What a huge difference between the two. A man will leave a Masjid after his death and another will leave a nightclub. A man will leave a recited Quran after his death and another will leave songs sung.
A very famous Egyptian singer used to be very afraid of death to such an extent that he had never taken a flight, had never eaten anything else than fruits for supper, and had never eaten any meat other than fish and white meat for lunch. He used to work out and to use sanitizers all over his body, but eventually he died, and his songs are broadcasted continuously after his death. On the other side, Quran reciters also died and their recitation of the Quran is broadcasted after their death.
Again, my lecture today is about encouraging you to offer a deed that continues after your death. I encourage participating in establishing a Masjid, an orphanage, a charitable organization or an Islamic institute. I encourage you to teach a knowledge you have learnt, or to guard the Islamic frontiers. What have you offered? What kind of deed you have offered to continue after your death?
The best of deeds is the one that continues after the death of their doers. The effects of deeds differ from one another. Take for example the difference between effects of the megaphone or the fans and the effects of the satellite dish. Do you know how much corruption the TV channels brought to the countries in the world? Do you know how many households have been shredded? Do you know how many incidents of incest have taken place? This is an invention and that is an invention.
An inventor had invented the phone, a second one had invented the spaceships, and another had invented the plane and so on. Nobel had invented gun powder, and afterwards he realized that his invention will bring millions of deaths, but there was no way to take it back. He found another way as atonement for what he had done, so he allocated all his wealth to be a prize for those who offer any deed that brings peace to the world, and it was named "Nobel Prize". However, I have my reservations about whom it was given to. It was given to Menacheem Begin, wasn't it? Unfortunately, those who killed innocents were given this prize.
(( The one who had imparted some knowledge, thus its reward will continue for him as long as that knowledge is practised upon, the one who had given Sadaqah, thus its reward will continue for him as long as the benefit of the Sadaqah continues. ))
A story with a happy ending:
A friend of mine is an engineer whose income is mildly fine, whereas his sister is married to an employee whose income is very low. One day this engineer paid his sister a visit, and he witnessed a quarrel between her and her husband, for she was demanding him to give her 300 liras every month in order to cover the expenses of buying cloths for her and her daughters. The husband refused, because he had limited financial means, and he could give her that amount of money because he had to meet the household basic needs.
My friend said to me, "My income does not allow me to give her the money, but I insisted on solving her problem. I said to her, 'Here is the 300, and I will give you the same amount every month, but please stop arguing with your husband', so she accepted and her husband thanked me".
He did that for 6 months, after that his sister asked him to give her family a religious lecture. He said to me, "I prepared an Ayah from Quran that I heard from you in one of your lectures, and I prepared a Hadith, a story and a jurisprudential case, and I gave that lecture to my sister's family." His second sister asked him to do the same, so did the third one. All his nieces and nephews attended that session. After a while, his nieces put on Hijab, and then he helped with marrying three of them. He said to me, "I would have never imagined that these 300 Liras I paid in order to solve a problem between my sister and her husband would bring this abundant goodness."
Offer good deeds and serve people. Beware of inviting people to Allah by using your tongue only, but do that by showing them your benevolence, for when you do so, their ears will be wide open to hear you out. Benevolence precedes words, setting a good example precedes calling people to Allah, giving people glad tidings precedes warning them, encouraging them precedes intimidating them, the basics of Islam precedes the branches, guiding people gradually precedes sudden changes, teaching people the main commandments precedes teaching them the tiny details, principles precedes people, contents precedes headlines and the agreed upon issues precedes the controversial ones. We should focus on the major intellectual, behavioral and ethical matters in Islam.
The pious offspring is one of the ongoing Sadaqat:
(( The one who had given Sadaqah, thus its reward will continue for him as long as the benefit of the Sadaqah continues, and the one who left behind a pious child who makes Du'a for him after his demise ))
Man should leave behind a continuous Sadaqah, knowledge by which people derive benefits, and pious son who makes Du'a for him. Participate in building a Masjid, a bridge or a spring of water, for all these are continuous Sadaqat (charities).
In fact, the continuous Sadaqah can be easily done. It is enough that you bring up your child to be pious. This is a priceless deed. This dutiful son will make Du'a for you. You can also leave a continuous Sadaqah or a knowledge by which people derive benefits.
(( The one who passed away while guarding the Islamic frontiers in the Path of Allah, the one who imparted some knowledge, thus its reward will continue for him as long as that knowledge is practised upon, the one who had given Sadaqah, thus its reward will continue for him as long as the benefit of the Sadaqah continues, and the one who left behind a pious child who makes Du'a for him after his demise. ))
May Allah help you and us in offering such deeds.
The Khatib of Umayyad Masjid Abu Al-Faraj Al Khateeb did not die, how is that?
When Abu Al-Faraj Al-Khateeb (the preacher in Umayyad Masjid) died, I went to pay my respects like other people. I sat in the Masjid wherein all scholars of Damascus attended. All of them gave speeches and praised the deceased. Then, they played one of his recorded Khutabs to listen to. After a while, a young man stood up, he introduced himself as the son of the deceased, and then he gave an outstanding speech with an eloquent tongue and knowledgeable background. After his speech, the Minister of Endowments stood up and said, "Out of honoring his father, I thereby allocate this young man to be the Khateeb of Umayyad Masjid". I said to myself, "By Allah his father did not die."
Bear in mind that when you leave a pious son after your death, you will never die, because this son will follow up on your charitable legacy. Most of those who offer Sadaqat, bring up their sons to be like them, so when they die, all the Sadaqat and donations will continue. Hence, leave behind a pious son, or knowledge from which people benefit.
The legacy of An-Nawawi:
The one who works in commerce is far from leaving knowledge behind him, so let him seek knowledge. As for the one, whose main job is to seek religious knowledge, let him author a book about the Quran interpretation, about Hadith or about Fiqh, from which people will benefit.
Imam An-Nawawi lived less than 50 years, but it seems that sincerity has nothing to do with age but rather it is related to great achievements. He left the book Riyad As-Salhiheen which you can find in every house. He also left Al-Adhkar An- Nawawiyah, Bughyat Al-Muhtaj and Sharh Imam Muslim, and those books are the best of the best.
Take this step:
Once, when I was about to deliver a Khutbah in which I intended to interpret an Ayah that occurred to my mind, I opened Al-Qurtubi interpretation, and I read what he wrote about that Ayah. His interpretation was awesome. I delivered that Khutbah, and its effect was outstanding on people. My eyes welled up, and I said to myself, "May Allah have mercy upon the author's soul, although he died 1000 years ago, he left us valuable knowledge that we teach till now.
Dear traders, you can raise pious children, or you can leave behind a non-profit institute, an organization or an Islamic school. You can also participate in building a Masjid or in sponsoring an Islamic missioner.
I said something two months ago: Either become an Islamic missioner, or sponsor one. A brother came to me and said, "I want to sponsor an Islamic missioner". I asked him to sponsor a foreign religious knowledge seeker who was poor and could not find the financial means to stay and was about to go back to his home country. He promised to sponsor him. Another brother said to me, "I want to sponsor two knowledge seekers." I looked around and found two Turkish students, and I asked him to sponsor them. So either be an Islamic missioner or sponsor one.
A man owned an extra house, so he offered this house to host four students for free. When they finished their studies, another four came after them. You should take an action, because goodness comes from that, so either sponsor a student or offer any other deed.
This Masjid has a school in which there are 700 students. A doctor offered to examine the students for free. I respect this man very much as he used to come two hours every day to check on the students and examine them, and if one of them is sick he would prescribe medication for him. We need to offer a deed for the Sake of Allah, a deed that will continue not a deed that ends when we die.
Offer a deed about which people will talk about after your death:
Once I attended a funeral of a man whom I know. I entered his luxurious house. He used to own a factory and three cars. He visited almost all the countries in the world. He used to be top notch in taste regarding everything. One of Damascus's scholars eulogized him saying, "Your fellow brother was Mu'adhen (the one who recites Adhan in Masjid), so ask Allah to have mercy upon his soul." That was all he said. I was in a shock. Is that it? Only one minute even half a minute of talking about his deeds. Actually, that is all he could have said. Do you expect him to talk about his house, the decorations in it, and about his three cars? Would you expect him to say that he owned one comfortable car for his travels, a second car for driving in the city and a third car for his factory? These things cannot be said in eulogy. Would you expect him to say that he checked in a hotel in Sweden, could that have been said in eulogy? Would you expect him to talk about his luxurious furniture and the color of its fabrics? I think that the only thing he could have said is just that he used to be the Mu'adhen of the Masjid and ask Allah to have mercy upon his soul.
I said to myself, "Man should offer deeds that would take more than two minutes to talk about upon his death." The only things that can be mentioned after someone's death are his knowledge, his good deeds, his Sadaqat, his achievements and his scientific legacy. We do not speak about the deceased's cloths, house, bedroom or the appliances he used to have.
We need to offer a deed that continues after death, and the best of which is to seek knowledge, to teach knowledge, to spend in the cause of Allah, to establish a continuous Sadaqah or to raise a pious child. If you do so, you will never die although your body shall.
Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, advised Kumayl bin Ziyad, by saying, "O Kumayl, knowledge is better than wealth. Knowledge guards you, while you have to guard the wealth. Wealth decreases by spending, while knowledge multiplies by spending, and the results of wealth die as wealth decays. O Kumayl, knowledge is belief which is acted upon. With it man acquires obedience during his life and a good name after his death. Knowledge is the ruler, while wealth is ruled upon. O Kumayl, those who amass wealth are dead even though they may be living while those endowed with knowledge will remain as long as the world lives. Their bodies are not available, but their figures exist in the hearts."
Supplication:
In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, The Lord (The One and Only) of the worlds, and blessings and peace be upon our Master Muhammad, the Truthful and the Faithful.
O Allah, increase us [in Your Blessings] and do not decrease us, honor us and do not humiliate us, give us [from Your Gifts] and do not deprive us, be in favor of us and not against us and make us satisfied and be satisfied with us.
May Allah's Blessings and Peace are upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his companions and family members.
