Just one more gesture of kindness, just one more piece of litter taken off the pavement, or just one more mention of Allah’s name, could have tipped the balance.
The Prophet ﷺ says:
“Do not belittle a good deed, even if it is meeting your brother with a cheerful face.”[1]
Many claim (and perhaps even believe) that they would undertake all sorts of glorious and grand deeds, “if only they had the opportunity.” Somehow, life passes over them like some distant mirage or imagination, bearing no reality, despite presenting others with great opportunities at every moment. Yet how often do these same heroes-in-waiting give up countless opportunities to do simple, even if small acts of kindness.
In some cases, these people not only belittle ‘minor’ deeds, but may go as far as scorning those who pursue them as petty or oblivious to the ‘bigger picture.’ They will say, “while Muslims are suffering here and there, you still concern yourself with trimming a thorny tree or with running a cake stall for charity?” How often do such scorners neither address the suffering of the oppressed nor manage to ever run a charity stall themselves!?
In reality, “the big picture” is never changed by dreamers, but by the small and regular habits of everyday people, who never trivialise anything as small as a pebble, as in the Arabic proverb “mountains are but collections of stones.”
On the Day of Resurrection, the deeds of mankind will be weighed. Those whose scales tip in favour of their deeds are saved, while those who did more evil than good have no hope save the mercy of their judge, Allah.
However, a third group exists. A group after whom a chapter of the Qur’an is named and in which their predicament is elucidated. That is, their deeds and sins balance with utter precision! They would not have ended up here, were it for a single deed. One wonders whose regret is greater, these, or those whose sins are decisively heavier.
These people will wait anxiously for their verdict, taken neither to Paradise nor to the blazing fire of Hell. About them, the ‘People of the Heights’, Allah tells us:
“They will call out to the people of the Garden: ‘Peace be upon you!’ They will not enter it for all their ardent desire to do so. And when their eyes will be turned towards the Companions of the Fire, they will say, ‘Our Lord, do not place us with the people of the wrongdoers!’”[2]
Notice the wording in the verse. With desire, their sights will stare longingly towards the beautiful People of Paradise. But, as they fearfully avert their gazes from the Hellfire as it rages and roars, their “sights will be turned” as if it were a matter beyond their control.
Perhaps at this time, the dreamers among us, who wasted a lifetime waiting for that opportunity to show their greatness, one that will somehow, coercively present itself to them, will realise the value of the smallest good deed. The day where just one more smile in the face of your fellow sibling, just one more gesture of kindness, just one more piece of litter taken off the pavement, or just one more mention of Allah’s name, could have tipped the balance.
[1] Sahih Muslim, on the authority of Abu Dharr rady Allahu ‘anh
[2] al-Qur’an, 7:46-47
SarimBlog 