SERVING ‘AMAL’

Have you ever forgotten to serve the dish you cooked to your guests? Once, my host forgot to serve the soup they had cooked. They had used best ingredients and cooked it with lots of love. Yet, in the hustle, they had left the hot soup on a simmering pot! They remembered it only after we had eaten our dinner. No one wanted to taste the soup after a hefty dinner which included a rich dessert. We complimented the food and dinning arrangement. Yet, they were very disappointed for having not served the soup. The host kept repeating, “How could I have forgotten to serve the soup?” It was just one missed dish in a perfect dinner table! How will it be, that we learn in here after that our deeds won’t benefit us! How much would we regret?

Aren’t we excited to make the most of Ramadan? Have we done enough to meet Ramadan? Our houses are sparkling. Most of us would have stuffed our freezer and done Eid purchases to save time for Ibadah (Prayer). We have our zakath calculated. We also listened to motivating Islamic lectures. Oh! Our dua list is well preserved. Well, is this enough? Have you also sorted out children’s activities for Ramadan? Do you also have a Ramadan resolution? Barak Allahumma fih. :D. We might have missed a few things. Overall, we have PREPARED WELL. But, I am not speaking about this! Have you ensured that you would SERVE what you have PREPARED? Are we sure our good deeds would be presented before Allah? Are we too forgetting something important? What could keep our deeds left unchecked?

Hadith -Wait until they reconcile

This hadith scares me. Is there any person whom you have been avoiding?  As per us, maybe such a person does not deserve our friendship/relationship. May be that person took us for granted. He or she could have abandoned us. So, why should we take the first step? I am afraid this hadith advices differently –

How to treat a relative?

Let us ensure our ibadah is not in vain. Insha Allah, this Ramadan let us ensure that our deeds are presented before Allah without fail. Maybe people we need to reconcile with are just a message/phone call away. Maybe they would insult us on being called. These are just whispers of Shaitaan. Most probably they’ll be too happy to hear from you. We just have to say, “Salam”! Is it really that difficult?

Don’t forsake one another

And if they cut the contact, at least we can be sure that we did our part. (Maybe we can call them a couple of days later ) After all we are doing it for our own sake; to ensure that our deeds are presented before Allah. Yep! We might have to apologise in spite of being right. Allah is All knowing (alim)- Wise (Hakim). He is Forbearing (Latif) and Most Merciful(Raheem).  His Mercy is our ultimate goal. We are suppressing our ego and doing it to please Him. Besides, the peace we feel having mended our relationship will make us wonder why we hadn’t done it earlier.

Tips to increase rizq and extend life!

Some of us might be unable to fast due to health reasons. In spite of that we can reap great reward by helping relatives reconcile!! Hurry up, make the most of this Ramadan by a simple act of rectifying affairs of people. With shayateen locked away our job should be easy.

What is better than fasting, praying and charity?!

Feel free to say, people who have cut contact – they miss one another!!! Tell them how much the other person is regretful about the actions which caused the conflict. Remind them of their old friendship/ brotherhood.

Say good things about one another.

Now that we are ready to serve our deeds, the next thing we should be worried about is- “ARE WE SERVING OUR DEEDS PROPERLY”. Let’s say your favorite recipe is cooked with best ingredients just the way you would love it. It looks great and smells divine. Would you love to taste it? I bet, we can devour it all. Wait, would we care to eat if it is served in filthy trash cans? NO WAY. It is the same dish! Yet, the way it is served makes all the difference.

So, how should we serve our deeds- with sincere intention to please Allah. Anything else is a filth, which would ruin our deeds. Are we sure our intentions are right? Whom will we be giving our zakath? Have we cut someone from our list because they were not grateful to us!! The other person could have been rude in spite of collecting hefty amount as zakath.  Did we demand extra work from the maid just because we give her zakath? Maybe XYZ who collected zakath forgot to invite his benefactor! Now honestly, is this how we want our book of deeds filled? Don’t cut them off the list and don’t expect any favour in return. Our reward is with Allah.

Quran (92: 17-21)

And don’t forget the poor relatives while giving  zakath, sadaqah or generous gifts. Shayateen whispers lots of silly thoughts when we come forward to help a relative- they may feel embarrassed; they would demand more; they may feel jealous!! In contrast, this would only increase our love for one another. It’s the grace of Allah that we are in position to help our dear ones. It should be embarrassing for us to see our needy relative ask others when we are leading a cozy life.

Benefits of giving charity to relative.

May Allah rectify our affairs and increase mutual love amidst His ummah; May we hold strong bonds with our relatives; May this Ramadan be best Ramadan in our life so far. Aameen.

Prepublished in Muslimahbloggers

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