Have You Prepared Your Witnesses?

Have you prepared your witnesses?

Allah says what can be translated as: (And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord, and the record [of deeds] will be placed, and the prophets and the witnesses will be brought, and it will be judged between them in truth, and they will not be wronged.)39:69

On that day when we are all gathered Allah will call our Prophets and all the witnesses to testify for or against us.

Prophet Mohmmad peace be upon him will stand before us and testify that he taught us everything and left us with a complete guide and a straight path, he will testify that you and I have no excuse to not pray on time, no excuse to not read the Quran and understand it, no excuse to not wear the Hijaab, no excuse to not lowering our gaze, no excuse to eating Reba (Interest) and simply no excuse to not following the Quran and sunnah fully.  What will be our situation then!!?

And the witnesses!!!
Make sure you have lots of witnesses on that day if you really want to make it through.

But who are the witnesses?
The witnesses are not necessarily the people around you because if you work hard to have them be your witnesses you might end up in Reya’a (Show off) wal eyathu biLLAH. 

Your witness is the sa-ja’dah (prayer matt) which you have placed in a corner in your room and you wake up to it every night for qeyamulail just to ask Allah for His forgiveness and  blessings.
Your witness is a poor person you did not know but you helped with a few dollars or shillings you had.
Your witness is a dead person you knew or did not know whom you prayed for Rahma and forgivness.
Your witness is that Mus-haf (Quran) which you have up on a shelf. Is it going to say I was collecting dust or will it testify that you were reading it every single day and trying your best to understand the message?
Your witness is (Al Zahrawain) surat Al Baqarah and Aal Imran.
The Prophet peace be upon him said: Recite the Quran as it helps the reader to come on the Day of Judgement. Read Zahrawain, namely Surah al-Baqarah and Aali-Imran, because they will come on the Day of Resurrection like two clouds will overshadow its readers or as two groups of birds in flight in the goal to defend its readers. (Sahih Muslim)

Your witness is your tongue which you made say a lot of good, kind and encouraging words or maybe tortured it by forcing it to gossip and eat the flesh of dead people.

Your witness is your eyes which you safe guarded not to look at what is haram just because you know no one is there but He is indeed watching.

Your witnesses are those fingers which you use to do dhikr every single day.

Your witness is a brother or a sister who found the right path through a reminder from you, a talk or message or a video.

Your witness is your child who grows learning to pray, read Quran and love their deen.

Your witnesses are the pigeons or the cat which you fed just because they are the creatures of Allah and because you want every chance for reward.

Your witness is an orphan whom you put a smile on their face on any day not just on Eid day.

Your witness is a sick person who needed help financially and you didn’t have much but you helped them because you remembered the hadith of the Prophet peace be upon him: He who relieves the hardship of a believer in this world, Allah will relieve his hardship on the Day of Judgment. Sahih Muslim

Your witness is a friend you helped in a difficult situation without expecting anything from them.

Your witness is a poor worker whom you gave a cold drink on a hot day.

Your witness is the adhaan which you hear and repeat every day five times.

Your witness is your spouse whom you treated with kindness and took chances to put a smile on their face just for the sake of Allah.

Your witnesses is your computer or your phone and what you do with it, your profile and what you post on it. You don’t know how many people will be affected by it in a good or a negative way. Remember it’s a chain and it continues and it will last until the Day of Judgment.

Your witness is a masjid which you donated to build or repaired for people to pray comfortably and worship Allah.

And the list goes on but above all is our main witness, our Shafee (Intervener), our beloved and our role model the Prophet Mohammad peace be upon him. Imagine this moment every time you aim to do something which is not right. What will you say to him? Why you disappointed him? He went through a lot to bring you this beautiful deen ready and complete without any effort from your side. He was abused and beaten up, he was cursed and mocked, he stayed hungry for days but he never gave up for us. Why we are giving up on yourself?

When Abdullah ibn Masoud was reading surat Al Nisa’a to the Prophet peace be upon him, he reached this ayah:
So how [will it be] when We bring from every nation a witness and we bring you, [O Muhammad] against these [people] as a witness? 4:41

The Prophet peace be upon him was crying and he asked him to stop! he could not bear the thought of him standing as a witness against us!!
Allahum Sal’I wa sal’im wa barik alah ashfraf Al Mursalieen sayyedina Mohammad

When Giving Sadaqa.( What not to do)

Assalam Alikum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatouh
Many of us have the habit of asking the poor to pray for us after giving them our sadaqa. Do you know that our mother Aisha may Allah be pleased with her used to hate that!! Why?
Allah says in surat Al Insaan what can be translated as: And they give food in spite of love for it to the needy, the orphan, and the captive,76:8

Meaning even the captive who comes to kill you and you hold them captive, you must feed them.
Then Allah continues in the following ayah saying what can be translated as: "We feed you only for the countenance of Allah . We wish not from you reward or gratitude.76:9
Meaning we do not wish from you any reward (like Dua’a) or gratitude (A thank you). So when you give sadaqa do not ask the poor person to pray for you, this is a very important matter my dear sister and brother and if you have been doing it, you must stop.
Our mother Aisha may Allah be pleased with her used to send the messengers with sadaqaat (money as charity) to different locations and when the messengers come back, she used to ask them, what did they pray for me? The messengers would say, they prayed for you such and such, she will say I will pray for them the same so the reward remains with Allah!! Why is that?
Because when the poor person prays for you, they have already rewarded you for your kindness and good deed!.
So for example If I gave a poor person $20 and told them: “ pray for me to be cured, and pray for my children and my husband” this means if this person prays for me then they have already rewarded me. The question, is this the reward I was looking for?
That is why Allah said in the above ayah: "We feed you only for the countenance of Allah . We wish not from you reward or gratitude.76:9
So when you give that sadaqa, you give it for the sake of Allah and Allah will reward you for it and you and I know that no human can reward us better than the Most Generous Subhanahu wa Ta’alah
If the poor person prayed for you without you asking that is fine but you do not give a $50 and say please pray for me to get married, get a job, have children…etc.
Give the sadaqa. What do you want? Nothing, “We wish not from you reward or gratitude.76:9”
Sadly, many of us do not realize this. We give and say do not forget to pray for me.

Give the sadaqa and the reward is from Allah, if the poor person prayed for you, that’s fine and if they didn’t then the reward remains with Allah.

Al Man'n

Assalam Aleikum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatuhu

I want to cover today a very fatal mistake most of us fall into. We commit it because we do not know the gravity of it and what will it cost us!!!
I know that you and I always try to strive to help others and do good so that we can get the reward for those deeds but some of us lose all the reward by doing a very simple action.. Sometimes we do this action without thinking……what is it?
It is what we call in Arabic Al Man’n
Al Man’n means, giving something to the person then saying: I gave you, or telling someone I did this and that for you and look at how you are paying me?!! Phrases like this which many of us use especially when someone hurts you after you being good to them.
Allah says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُمْ بِالْمَنِّ وَالْأَذَى كَالَّذِي يُنْفِقُ مَالَهُ رِئَاءَ النَّاسِ وَلا يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ فَمَثَلُهُ كَمَثَلِ صَفْوَانٍ عَلَيْهِ تُرَابٌ فَأَصَابَهُ وَابِلٌ فَتَرَكَهُ صَلْداً لا يَقْدِرُونَ عَلَى شَيْءٍ مِمَّا كَسَبُوا وَاللَّهُ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ) (البقرة:264)
Translation:
O you who have believed, do not invalidate your charities with reminders or injury as does one who spends his wealth [only] to be seen by the people and does not believe in Allah and the Last Day. His example is like that of a [large] smooth stone upon which is dust and is hit by a downpour that leaves it bare. They are unable [to keep] anything of what they have earned. And Allah does not guide the disbelieving people. 2:264
The minute you utter that word my dear sister and brother, you have lost all the deeds you did for that person no matter how big or many they are. This is very common with us, especially with our families and friends. When we do good to someone, we say: I did this and that and I gave them and look at how they are treating me ??!!
Why my dear sister and brother? Why waste all your efforts and your deeds? Look back into your life and see how many deeds you have wasted by committing Man’n?
Let me ask you; Who are you giving?
You need to understand that when you give, you are giving Allah from the provisions of Allah!!!
When you give something, you are not giving it to the person, but your sadaqa or your charity falls on the hands of Allah first before it falls on the hands of the needy so have manners with Allah and look at how you are giving!! When you did what you did, did you do it for the sake of Allah or because you expected a pay back in return?
The Prophet peace be upon him said:
وعن أبي ذر رضي الله عنه عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: " ثلاثة لا يكلمهم الله يوم القيامة ولا ينظر إليهم، ولا يزكيهم ولهم عذاب أليم" قال: فقرأها رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ثلاث مرار. قال أبو ذر: خابوا وخسروا من هم يا رسول الله؟ قال: المسبل، والمنان، والمنفق سلعته بالحلف الكاذب" ((رواه مسلم)).
Translation:
Abi Thar may Allah pleased with him said, the Prophet peace be upon him said: There are three types of people to whom Allah (swt ) will not speak and neither will he bless them and for them is a severe torment” Abu thar said : The Prophet peace be upon him repeated it three times. I said: They are the losers Oh Messenger of Allah, who are they? The Prophet peace be upon him said: The Musbil (the man who lets his garment too long on the floor, The mannan (the one who gives and reminds those he gave) and the one who swears lying to sell his product. (Narrated Muslim)
Man’n is even worse when it is done to a relative or a family member, like a brother or a cousin or an uncle…etc.
You say: I did this and that for them and look at what they did to me or you say I covered for them and they exposed me and other phrases similar to this, disclosing the good you did.
The minute you open your mouth and say what you did, you should know that everything you did is down the drain and you simply got nothing from it. You might even suffer from it on the Day of Judgment as per the above hadith. So be careful my dear sister and brother, this is a big deal. Control your tongue and watch out what you say. One word could cost you a great amount of good deed and might make Allah angry with you.
Do good for the sake of Allah and hide it as much as you can because you only expect the reward from Allah and not from any human being.
The Prophet peace be upon him exaggerated in the hadith when he said your left hand should not know what your right hand has given!! This was to emphasis on the importance of hiding your good deeds and your charity.
May Allah grant us tawfeeq (success) to do good for others and avoid Man’n