Top 10 Good Deeds Every Muslim Should Know (And How To Implement Them)

You know, the Prophet (pbuh) forbids certain people from coming to the masjid. Really? Yes. Why? If you have enough for the trip there and the stay there, food that you need, you have to go. I know brothers, Muslim brothers that have $30,000 Rolexes and they haven't been for Hajj. You call somebody, hello? What's hello? Say salam. So that means even a small action like that is a part of your iman.

That's 3 rules. You see 10 people, 300 rewards.

And it's not my opinion. These are all from authentic sahih hadith. Somebody who's needy, somebody who's going through a struggle and a hard time, and you helped, imagine the dua they'll make for you. So when it comes to things that have to do with between you and Allah, Allah can just forgive you. But when it comes to you and the people, Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Welcome to a new episode. In this episode, we're positive, we're speaking about good deeds. How can you get good deeds? What are the best good deeds to do? Because in Ramadan, rewards are multiplied and we want to get a lot of reward. What should we do, Sheikh?

I got you on this. Not just with one or two, I'm going to give you 10 of the best deeds you can do. And it's not my opinion, these are all from authentic saheeh ahadith from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) when he was asked about the best of deeds. From all those ahadith, I've collected a list of 10. Let's get into it.

Let's go, you got my attention. Mr. B should learn from you.

Yes, he should. Let's go. Alhamdulillah. Ya rahmatullah. Editor, cut it out.

Actually, you know what, sorry to cut you off. Let's not even cut out him saying, him sneezing, if that's okay.

Yeah.

Because Good deeds, even the small ones, as long as they are repetitive. For example, you sneeze and you say Alhamdulillah, I said Alhamdulillah. That's a good habit to have. You can expand on what that means, just so you guys can see, small good deed, that's actually a good thing to do.

When somebody sneezes, it's from the Sunnah that they say Alhamdulillah. And they have the Haqq on the other Muslim that if they hear them sneeze and say Alhamdulillah, if they didn't say Alhamdulillah, then no. But if they made the Hamd of Allah, is to say, 'Ya rahma kAllah,' to make dua for mercy for them. And then the person, they make dua back for their guidance. Very good. Yahtiqumullah wa barakatuh.

Sorry for the tangent point, but you see, small good deed. I'm trying to collect good deeds. It's Ramadan. Good deeds are multiplied. If that's Laylatul Qadr, imagine 83 years me making dua for people when they sneeze. I'll take it.

So when we look at these deeds, these are deeds that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told us are the best of deeds. So let's pay attention to them.

How many you have today, insha'Allah?

I've collected 10.

Okay, masha'Allah.

And even though there are more in ahadith, but we don't want to go too long. We want to implement all of them.

Okay, Bismillah. What's the first one?

The first, very simple, Iman in Allah and His Rasul. And that sounds very simple, like okay, we all have Iman. But there is the difference between just having a belief and having Iman. As Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, he said, Al-Iman qawl wal-amal. It's not just a belief and a statement. No, of course it begins in the heart, Iman, but it's also a statement. We testify to our Iman and we act upon it. Actions are a part of Iman.

Can you give me an example?

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) gave us the best example of this. He said Iman is more than 70 branches. He said the highest of them is La ilaha illallah, Tawheed. To have that firm belief and have actions upon that belief, of that there is none that should be worshipped. What does it mean, ilah? Ilah is anything that dua is made to. So there is none that can be made dua to except Allah. None can answer your dua except Allah. None can help your harm except Allah. That la ilaha illallah is the highest of them.

Okay, so that's the belief. Now what's the action on it?

Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), in the same hadith, he said the lowest of them is to remove something harmful from the street even. So that means even a small action like that is a part of your iman. So the first thing is to have iman. Now when we say having iman, this is something so heavy. A Sheikh-ul-Islam, Taqdeen Ibn Taymiyyah, said, 'Avdalu l'Amal iman billahi wa rasulihi.' The best of actions to have iman. Even if you look at wal-asr, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when he says about insan is in khusr, is in loss, illa ladheena, what's the first quality he gives of them? Amanu, they believe. Their actions, their statements, their heart, their aqeedah, all of that is in accordance to what Allah has ordained. But then that's followed up with amalus salihat, good actions. From iman is that we take harmful things away from people. From iman is that when Allah ordains something, we say this is the best, this is what we act upon. From iman is that we follow the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). We believe in what he brought and how he ordained it and how he showed it to us. All of that is a part of our iman. It is not just statements, but it is something that begins in the heart, is testified on the tongue, and brought forth on our actions, in our body, in our limbs. That's why Ibn al-Qayyim (Abu Lahya) said that all good is from iman. Everything good we do is from iman.

Even small actions.

Even small actions.

Such as just removing something from the road, subhanAllah.

Exactly. Now, that sounds very simple, but the reality is many of us are lacking in our iman. Many of us may have a base belief. We've said our Shahada, we've gotten to the point of being Muslim, but are we at the point of being a mu'min? Allah knows best, but we all have to strive for it. We all have to struggle for it. We all have to work for it. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala didn't say, قَدْ أَفْلَهَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ, he said, قَدْ أَفْلَهَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ. And then what does Allah (SWT) say about them? فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَشِيُونَ. How this is from iman, that they have khushoo, they have concentration in their salah. Now there's a lot more to be said about this, but we're going to keep going. The next, in the same hadith, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), he said, صَلَاتَ عَلَى وَقْتِهَا.. In another narration, he said, "Salat ala abwalil waqtihah." So, not just that we pray, of course, praying is from iman, and the one who abandons the salah has committed kufr, as the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) clearly said, "Mantarqu salah faqad kafar." So, whoever abandons, not that some people may get lazy on salah, but whoever says, "You know what, I don't need to pray. Forget it, I'm not going to pray at all. Just let it go, no jummah, nothing." This is an act of kufr. May Allah protect us. The Prophet ��� said, 'Between us and them,' meaning the non-Muslims, 'is a salah.' Whoever abandoned it, did kufr, he said, 'Between a rajuli (believer) and shirk (polytheism) and kufr (polytheism) is salah.' That between a person, a man, a believer and shirk and kufr is the prayer. So the prayer is essential, but from the best of it is to pray it on its time. And it's early time, don't be lazy with it, right? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when he— 'Wailulu al-mussallim'— he tells us there is the curse, the destruction is upon those who pray. What does that mean? Of course we pray, we get reward, now we don't get cursed, but you have to get the next ayah with it, right? They are the people who are lazy with their salah, they're heedless on their salah. 'Sahoon'— that they are, they're not worried about making salah on time, Some people, they delay the salah. They have nothing to do. They're sitting there playing video games, they're watching a show, they're watching soccer game, they're watching MMA match, and they delay the salah.

I think it's good if you give us a reminder on the prayer of the hypocrite.

This is the one who pushes the salah to the end of the time and then bangs it out like as if it's just something to throw out of the way. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told us about those that delay the asr until the sunlight becomes that orange, it's almost Maghrib time, and then they just bang out the Asr Salah. He said this is the Salah of the Munafiq, of the hypocrite. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that. Yes. So when we pray, we need to pray not just on time, but early. Now some salawat, it's a sunnah to delay, right? Like we spoke about earlier, Isha, to pray it later, that's fine. But at its time, not pushing it past the middle of the night. Now occasionally a person can And you pray in the time of darur and the necessity. But if that becomes a habit, especially when you got nothing going on in your life, then this is a problem.

And we can even learn how the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was himself praying. Whenever the prayer time would come, he would give up everything as if he didn't know you.

SubhanAllah. Exactly. Aisha (رَدِيَانْهَا) says that he would be busy helping in the house and being dutiful to his family, but when the adhan happened, his face changed, Salah takes priority.

And the companions as well were the same. I'm pretty sure you know the story better than me, but there was a companion, I think he was cutting wood with an axe, and I think he was— the adhan came, he didn't even finish dropping it, he just dropped it. He was in the middle of hammering and then just dropped it.

Straight for the salah. And even look at the Sahaba (RA), a Sahabi was praying, he got hit with the arrow. Imagine, you know, you get hit with an arrow, you have an excuse in Sharia to break your salah. He continued his salah. He was that attached to the salah. That's why Shaykhul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said, 'Adham arqan al-Islam, the most greatest of the pillars of Islam, the amal in Islam, from amal, from actions, any after the aqeedah that we spoke about already, is salah. The prayer is the highest form of physical ibadah. So imagine those that are lazy with it, that push it, that disregard it, that are not attentive in it. How can we stand in front of Allah and Allah is paying attention to us and we're standing there scratching and looking around and, you know, fiddling and our mind is somewhere else? No, this Ramadan we need to make sure that this is something that we give priority to. Now, because we want to keep this rolling. Third, birrul walidayn, being good to your parents. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), when he was asked about the best action, authentic hadith, one of the things he listed was birrul walidayn, being dutiful and being bountiful and being helpful and being generous and being loving and caring about the parents. One of the scholars said something beautiful. He said, you know, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says don't even say uff to them. You know, uff in the Arabic language is the lightest, the slightest form of disrespect. The lightest. Don't even say that.

It's not even a word, it's just a breathe out, it's a heavy, this is boring.

This, subhanAllah, today, may Allah protect us, some of the youth speak back to their parents. Some of them yell at their parents. Unimaginable in the earlier generation, some of them curse their own parents. Some of them call bad names to their own parents. How can you be a Muslim? Even if your parents say something wrong, even if they say something harsh, we have to control that tongue.

And that's one of the amazing ways to get reward, because people think you can be strong by how much you lift and how much you carry and how strong you fight. But we know in Islam that the Muslim who is strong, it's not about how much he can carry and how much muscle he has, is the one who can control his anger. SubhanAllah. And that's an amazing example. When, for example, your parents— there might be a time where, you know, agreeing on the same topic, that's an amazing way of you showing the strength you have by controlling your anger. If they speak, you don't speak back to them, you hold it inside, even though it's very difficult. That's an amazing way for you to not only show strength but also gain an amazing reward.

You know, we see the importance of in many ahadith. You know the famous hadith of the three that were stuck in the cave, and they were in a time of distress, and they were calling out to Allah (SWT), making tawassul with their amal, as is proven from the Sunnah. One of the things they mentioned, one of them, he said, 'My parents were old, and I took milk to give to them, and they had fallen asleep, and I didn't want to wake them up.' Look at how gentle and how caring he was. And I said, I would never give it to anybody before my parents drink. So even though his children, his wife, they were hungry, they were starving, they were crying, his children were crying, he stood there with that milk until the parents woke up on their own. He didn't wake them up and tell them, get up and drink this milk. No. And until they fed, he didn't feed anybody else. He stood there just looking at them. This is birrul waladayn. This is the good And this saved him. Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala took away the hardship from him because of this action. SubhanAllah, so much reward. So much reward. All right, let's keep going because we want to get these bangers out so everybody can implement this.

Let's go. Make sure you implement this. If you're listening in, pause, take some notes, and implement this. This is knowledge is not beneficial until it's applied. If it stays in your brain, it doesn't help. You need to put it in practice.

The fourth is Jihad fi Sabilillah. Now, many people when we say this immediately get scared. Oh, they need to go to war and kill people. But Jihad, of course, has many types. Qital is one of them, which is fighting, and we don't deny that. As Muslims, we believe that if somebody attacks your land and is attacking your women and children and oppressing, you defend the land. And no country in the world would deny that. Not the United States, not Europe, no EU, nobody would deny that if somebody attacks, like you see in Ukraine, you see this in so many other places, right? In Islam, we believe in this as well. At the same time, we believe there are other forms of jihad. For example, speaking the truth in front of an oppressive ruler. And when you see somebody making dhulm, speaking the truth, for example, giving dawah towards Allah (SWT), for example, writing, the ulema that write, this is the jihad bil qalam. There is Jihad bil Lisan, there is Jihad of the nafs, which Ibn al-Qayyim (Abu Lahya), he says is the highest form of Jihad because he says that the one that hasn't fought their nafs, then even when they go fight physically, they're doing it more for show and things than they are doing it for the sake of Allah (SWT). Can you speak a little bit, a small point about Jihad al-Nafs? Jihad al-Nafs is a great and difficult form of Jihad which is you fight against your own desires.

Why is it so difficult?

Because this is when you have your own lusts and your own shortcomings. You're struggling against yourself. You're not just going against an enemy on the battlefield, you're fighting yourself. And this is something where a lot of people weaken because they may get hyped up against an enemy But with their own desires, Shaytan tricks them and makes them weak.

Where is the bigger reward, fighting an enemy and defending your country, or fighting your own nafs?

As Ibn al-Qayyim (Abu Lahya), he writes that the greatest of these and the more important of them is to fight yourself. And he says this is a condition for you to then go and fight in the battlefield. You have to conquer yourself first. That's so amazing. Yes, and jihad can also be somebody striving and struggling to earn halal rizq for them, for their family, you know, because you are out there making an effort, a strong juhud to do what is halal. If you did it in the haram, you would get the sin for it. So when you do it in the halal, you get the reward for it. Allah (SWT) tells the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) to do a great jihad with the Quran. And this is a Makki ayah. So it doesn't mean you take the Quran and you hit people with it. No, when you give dawah with it, this is a jihad. This is something you're striving and struggling in the path of Allah. When you're helping the oppressed, when you're feeding, all of that is jihad fi sabilillah. And a part of that is defending the Muslim lands and going and stopping oppression and getting the dawah to reach to its places. Jihad al-difa'a and talab, that's also a part of it. We don't deny any of that. But we need to educate the people, especially the Muslims and also the non-Muslims, that jihad is all of that. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that the one who goes out to seek knowledge is fee sabi'ilillah until they return. He's in the path of Allah. So when we talk about fee sabi'ilillah, it's not just something that has to do with fighting. But that is one of the greatest of deeds, especially those that sacrifice their lives, standing in Ribaa, standing and guarding the Muslim lands. No doubt that that is from the greatest of Amaal.

Amazing. So that was the fourth one, which is?

That was the fourth one, Jihad. The fifth is Hajj al-Mabroor, the accepted Hajj. The Prophet (saw), in one of the Ahadith, when he was asked about the best of actions, he said the accepted Hajj. And know this, that Hajj for a woman is Jihad fi Sabilillah. That's why we said Jihad is not just fighting. Yes, a woman came to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and said, 'I want to go for Qital, I want to go for Jihad, Yani.' And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told her that your going for Hajj is your Jihad, for the woman. So this again tells you Jihad is not just about fighting, because when a woman goes for Hajj, she's not fighting, but her being patient and going through those hardships is her jihad. And again, when you talk about Hajj and Umrah, these are both fard. A lot of people don't realize that Umrah is also fard. Really? Umrah is fard? Umrah is fard. I didn't know this. This is the opinion of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Imam al-Shafi'i. When you looked at the ayat of Quran where Allah (SWT) ordained the Hajj and Umrah, Umrah was included in it. That's why they said Umrah is also fard. And many people have this misconception that it isn't, but it is. And you can look up the works of Imam Ahmad and Imam Jafayyan and the Imams like An-Nawawi and Ibn Qudamah and Ibn Taymiyyah, and they clearly lay this out with evidence in the Quran and sahih ahadith. So when you go for Umrah, when you go for Hajj, mabroor, meaning it's the accepted one. How? You're not doing it for show, you're not doing it for numbers, you're not doing it just to flex. You go there sincerely for the sake of Allah. You don't do it any way you want, you do it according to the Sunnah of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). You know the ahkam of it. For example, in Hajj, if you don't stand in Arafah, you ruin your Hajj. You cannot give fidya, you cannot make up for it, that ruins the Hajj. And we have many ulema now, quote-unquote, shiukh that are giving fatwas like, 'You don't have to stand in Arafah, just make dua from Makkah.' No, this is wrong. You have to learn the rules and regulations and do them. According to the Sunnah, sincerely for the sake of Allah, patiently. Not that you go for Hajj and Umrah and now you're elbowing people and you're kicking people and you're cursing people and you're ripping the ahrams off people. No.

Just for the sake, if people are watching this and actually want to go to Hajj and insha'Allah ta'ala have the financial means to do it, when is the time when they can actually start signing up for it and registering for it?

First thing is A very good point that you brought up is who has the financial means. It doesn't mean that you've already bought 3 houses and your kids are all married and you have 6 cars. No! If you have enough for the trip there and the stay there and food that you need, you have to go for Hajj. It's fard al-ayn on you. So as soon as you want to go, you make your niyyah, you go, alhamdulillah, the government of Saudi Arabia has now a very nice portal. I know in the beginning there were some difficulties, but now you go, you sign up, there are different packages. Nusuk, and then alhamdulillah.

Nusuk is the portal for people who don't know. Yeah, Nusuk app. Yeah, search it up, Nusuk app Hajj. Make sure it's the official one.

Insha'Allah, you can register through there. And again, they have different packages. They have their lower level packages, higher level packages. A lot of you are like, I can't afford it, but they can. Because they spend more than that.

You know what, let's inspire people. What would be the reward if the Hajj gets accepted?

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told us that the reward for the accepted Hajj is that all your sins are forgiven, you come out like a newborn baby.

All your sins?

All of them? You are like a newborn baby. Subhanallah.

Hajj costs, it's expensive for most people, they would mention it's expensive. It's about what, $10,000 USD roughly? $8,000, $10,000 depending on your package. Imagine if you could have a ticket that you spend $10,000 on. Now again, make sure your niyyah is correct, but imagine where you would— imagine if you had, let's give an analogy, an eraser that would wipe out all your sins, but that eraser cost $10,000. Would you really bargain for it?

Oh, but think about this too. How many people spend that kind of money on luxuries in their life that they don't need. People go on vacation with their families, drop 10 grand. People go to Hawaii, people go to the Maldives, people go to Japan, people go to France, they're looking at Eiffel Towers and not benefiting anything. A lot of times, you know, they go and help economies that are not favorable towards the Muslim Ummah and so on, and they spend more money than that. People buy luxury cars that they don't need. It's not like they just— the car they need to go for work. No, they buy luxury cars for $20,000, $30,000, $40,000, $50,000. People buy watches for that much. I know brothers, Muslim brothers that have $30,000 Rolexes. Well, how come they— and they haven't been for Hajj. No, no, get your priorities straight. Hajj is Fard-ul-Aim. Next, feeding the poor. This is the sixth one that we're mentioning, that ta'am al-miskeen, that giving food to the needy. Wallahi, this is a beautiful one. You know, even zakat al-fitr at the end of this Ramadan, you have to pay zakat al-fitr, it has to be given in food.

It cannot be given in money. Very important. Can you give a small reminder on this? Because people, some people confuse it and say it's okay, just give them money, they can buy food themselves.

This is wrong. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), when he put Zakatul Mal, for example, he gave 2.5% to be the calculations. When he gave the Zakat of the camel, the Zakat of the sheep, the Zakat of the shaat, everything, he gave its miqdar. When it's Zakat on dirham and dinar, he gave its miqdar. When he mentioned Zakatul Fitr, he mentioned ta'am, food.

Can you translate in the English version of Zakatul Mal and Zakatul Fitr so people understand?

Zakat that's given on your wealth. That's Zakat al-Maal.

Zakat al-Maal.

Maal means wealth. Wealth. That's 2.5% and it can be given in currency.

Right? That's okay. That's not the one right after Ramadan. That's another one.

There is Zakat on things that you own. Right? For example, in the time of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), when people had 5 camels and Zakat would be due on it, and the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) explained how to give it. But when it came to Zakat-ul-Fitr, that is what you give at the end of Ramadan, he stipulated ta'am, food.

So it cannot be money.

It cannot be money. Now you could give somebody money to buy food and give it out on your behalf, that's fine, but it has to be given to the needy as food. What is the wisdom behind Zakat-ul-Fitr? That on the day of Eid, when the Muslims are eating and drinking in the daytime because we're not fasting. It's haram to fast on the day of Eid. So we're eating and drinking, and the poor that don't have that kind of food, that are struggling to feed their children, they will not enjoy that day. So they should have food and drink on that day. That's why Zakatul Fitr has to be given before the Eid.

That's beautiful.

That reminds us, subhanAllah, of the beauty of Islam. Yes. Until today, there are people that need food. People are like, "Oh no, nobody needs food anymore." No! We in San Diego, for example, we have brothers and sisters, Muslims, that live in Tijuana next to us, it's a neighboring city, and these brothers and sisters don't have food. They're struggling to feed their children, reverts and others. So we collect our Zakatul Fitr and we give it to them as food. There are brothers and sisters in Sudan, there are brothers and sisters across the world that are struggling to have food. The day of Eid, they should have food. There are people in America that are going hungry, Muslims that are needy, so we need to give them food on the day of Eid. So like that, feeding the hungry, I mean, that's Zakat al-Fitr, but regularly, look, there are women with children that don't have ways to earn income, and sometimes their children are looking around the house and they don't have food to eat. While we are stuffing our bellies. How can we live like that? We have to care about the feed, feeding the hungry, the needy, the masakeen and the yatam, the needy, the fuqara, those that can't make their bills, those that are orphans. It is a haqq that they have upon us. So the next good deed is feeding the needy.

And that can be anything, because people would see this and imagine they have to organize a meal for 100 people, 1,000 people, and make a big feast and everything, and they feel excluded from that. They could just make an extra portion of whatever they're cooking, pack it, and give that to a needy person.

The next one is a very simple one, very easy one: spreading the salaam. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), from the actions that he said are the best of deeds, is spreading the salaam. Now you think, of course that's easy. I mean, it doesn't cost you anything. Salaam alaikum, salaam alaikum warahmatullah, salaam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Easy, right? But look at how many Muslims don't. You call somebody, "Hello?" What's hello?

Say salam. What's the reward of saying salam alaykum?

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told us the one that says salam alaykum, he gets 10 rewards. Salam alaykum wa rahmatullah, 20 rewards. Salam alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh, 30 rewards. You're missing these rewards. Wa alaykum assalam, 10 rewards back. Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmatullah. 20 rewards. Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh. 30 rewards. Look, how many people see each other, bonjour?

Muslims, what's bonjour?

No, hello, yeah. Say assalamu alaykum. How many people see each other, hey, how's it going? Hi. What's hi? You know? I would feel offended. Sabah al-khair. Yeah. Sabah al-nur.

That's a big one.

That's a big one, yeah. Pashtun people, paher? What paher? Say salam first, then you can add any adat and urf and greetings that you have after that. That's fine. Salaam alaikum, how's it going?

No problem. What is the reward specifically? Let's say you're passing by a Muslim, a stranger that you don't know, but you know you're Muslim, or you know you're in a Muslim country. What's the reward of the one who initiates The salam, the first one who starts.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), he mentioned the one who initiates the salam gets greater reward. Right? And this is why as Muslims, we should always greet each other with salam and initiate it. But this hadith is very beautiful, the one about the best of deeds. What does the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) say? Saying salam to those that you know and you don't know.

That's very important. Whenever you recognize somebody who is Muslim, whenever you walk by someone, even in non-Muslim countries.

Yes, especially in non-Muslim countries. Because you need to bond together as an Ummah. Nowadays you see somebody, you know they are Muslim, for example, a man who has got a beard and he has got his thobe cut and all, obviously he is Muslim. Wearing a shemagh or an imamah or a qalanswa or whatever. But because you don't know them, you don't say salaam to them.

There is even a hadith about this.

Yes, that is this hadith. From the best of deeds to say salaam to those that you know and you don't know.

But there is also a hadith about the bad times where they would only salute each other and give salams to each other.

Only when they know each other? Yes, so warning against it. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) talked about from the signs of the Day of Judgment and those fitnahs that were coming, that people only say salam to those that they know. And now today we are talking about—

This is one of the signs of the Day of Judgment? Of people only saying salam if they know you?

Only to those that they know.

SubhanAllah. That is what is happening.

One of the problems now, if you say salam alaikum, rahmatullah, to somebody you do not know, They look at you like, what do you want?

I'm just making dua for you.

Yeah, I'm just saying, I mean, I'm fulfilling your haqq as a Muslim to say salaam. And when somebody says salaam alaikum wa rahmatullah to you, it is their haqq on you that you respond to them. And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) then said you should respond with something better.

So if I say salaam alaikum, you should either say the same or better?

You should try to do better, say wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah. And if they say, "Salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah," then you should say, "Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh." You top it off, yes. And if they say all of it, then you at least match it. But this is a problem today. Even in Muslim countries today, you walk around the street, nobody wants to say salaam. And if you say salaam alaikum to somebody, they look at you like, "What do you want?" I've had so many times, I've just walked by somebody, I realize they're a Muslim, I say salaam alaikum wa rahmatullah, And they look at you like, huh?

They don't even respond. But let's change that, inshallah. Let's change that. Whoever is watching, initiate this salam whenever you see a Muslim. Have that be your action step, inshallah. If you could take that from this podcast, inshallah ta'ala, apply it, we'd be winners today, inshallah. Just take it. Salam alaikum. Whenever you're seeing someone who's Muslim, that's 30 rewards. You see 10 people, 300 rewards.

Just like that. Get those rewards. Get those rewards. Ramadan. All right, the 8th one now. 'Where the Muslim is safe from your hand and your tongue.' What does that mean? The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), from the actions that when he was asked are the best actions, is that the believers are safe from your hand. What does that mean? Violence. SubhanAllah. Many Muslims today for very small things will attack their own Muslim brother or attack their own Muslim sister. Women will attack other women. Men will attack other men, sometimes even between genders. It's insane. But the Muslim should be saved. Now that's very obvious. Yes, we still see it being violated. You see Muslims fighting each other in schools. We see Muslims fighting each other in the streets physically. And that is wrong. But the worst one that is undetected today is being saved from your tongue. What does that mean? When Muslims backbite each other, When they slander each other, when they curse each other, when they accuse each other. When you sit online even, tongue is not just physical tongue, when you sit and in your comment section you're cursing and you're harming a Muslim with your words, with what you type, this is from the worst of actions. And from the best of actions is when you keep the Ummah safe from your hand and your tongue.

But what if what you're saying is true? Because there's backbiting when it's lying, but what if it's true?

But it's not true.

Backbiting is when you speak about your brother— Oh, sorry.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's very good. I like it. I'd keep that.

Yeah, yeah, keep it, keep it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Backbiting and slandering.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Backbiting is when you say something that's true behind your brother or your sister's back that they would not like you saying. When it's a lie, that's buhtan.

That's even worse.

That's slandering. That's slandering. SubhanAllah. Nowadays something comes up online, you see somebody make a mistake, suddenly you tell people, you see that guy? You see he made—

Hahaha, right?

Even though that's true. Even though it's true, that's backbiting.

And what's the equivalent of backbiting?

What's the representation of that action? Backbiting is such a serious— from the Kaba'ir, from the major sins, that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said it is like eating the flesh of your brother and sister. You know, it's a beautiful hadith where the Prophet ��� heard some people backbiting. He told them, pick the meat out of your teeth. They said, we didn't eat meat. When they picked, they had meat in their mouth miraculously to show them that what they're doing is eating the meat of their brothers and sisters, eating the flesh. And especially when people backbite scholars, the ulema, they said that the meat of the Scholars is poisoned, meaning when you backbite scholars. And so common today, slander, lies.

And it's very important, it's good that I made the mistake you mentioned. Subhanallah, backbiting is when it's true. So you're saying something bad about someone even though it's true.

So if you see somebody who's short and you go behind their back, you say that guy's short, that's backbiting.

The definition specifically when it comes to backbiting is when you speak about something they wouldn't like, they wouldn't appreciate, behind their back.

Yes, and it doesn't make it any better if you go say it in front of their face too. You know, that's just hurting their feelings after that, right?

But that's when the case—

when it's true.

When it's true.

And it's even worse when it's a major sin, is backbiting, you know. And if it's not true, or if you didn't verify it, yeah, then you're lying. That's slander.

That's even worse. Now the beautiful thing about Islam is we can see with this specific good deed is that we're actually rewarding for doing nothing.

You just have to stay not doing it. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Now a very serious warning about this: backbiting is from the things that lead a lot of people into the Hellfire, and spreading rumors that you heard Namima, when you spread gossip, is from the means of not just entering the Hellfire but punishment in the grave. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) went by two graves where people were being punished. They're being punished for something they could have easily avoided. One of them, when he would go to the bathroom, he wasn't worried, he wasn't careful for najasa and urine to come on his clothes. Then he goes and prays and things in those dirty clothes. It's very something simple to keep yourself clean from. But the other one was somebody who would spread rumors. And today the internet is a horrible place for this. A video comes out, it could be AI, it could be false, it could be— and people start forwarding it and sending it and then making more clips on it and reactions to it and spreading gossip, spreading lies. So what should people do instead? Look, first thing, mind your business. What business is it of yours? Does it benefit you in the Akhira? Does it benefit you in your Salah? No. The first thing, stay away from what does not affect you. Secondly, when you hear something, until you have verified it, don't even believe it, let alone spread it. Because I know many of the Du'at were accused of things that were false. And people spread it, and those du'at will get their rights on the Day of Judgment from these people. Especially today with AI and things that are false, people making all kinds of weird accusations just to get famous and so on. It's a very, very dangerous thing to backbite, so stay away from that. Worse is if it turns out to be a lie, then you're a slanderer, and you owe them your good deeds then on the Day of Judgment. That's why the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, you know who is the muflihs, the absolute broke, poor person? Sahaba said, the one that doesn't have a dinar or dirham, they don't have anything. He said, no, it's somebody that will come on the Day of Judgment with good deeds like mountains. Mountains! Salah, sadaqah, siyam.

That's a lot of good deeds, why would that person be poor?

But then they backbited people. They took people's huq, they took people's rights. But what was the word?

It wasn't poor. What was the word that you used?

Al-mufless, somebody who's absolutely broke, right? Like not just poor, but like absolutely out, right? Now here, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), he said, then their deeds will be taken. Why? Because they backbited people, they slandered people, they took people's huq, they took people's rights. So those people, that they backbite it will come in on the Day of Judgment and take their deeds.

They will take the good deeds.

They will keep taking their deeds until those mountains of deeds are gone. And then they will put their bad deeds on you. Really?

If they ran out of good deeds, they would start giving you their own sins?

Their sins. Because you owe them, and Allah is just. Because you backbited them. Because you backbited them, you slandered them, you spread rumors about them, you took their hukoo. This is so crazy.

It's very scary. You might just leave a comment, you might just say something bad out of not really caring.

I've had this so many times, you know, where people have started rumors about me and people have— comment sections blow up, and then when it's clarified that it's false, they don't even apologize, you know. But that's okay because I'm going to take those deeds on the Day of Judgment, right? So this is something that people take very lightly, but it's very serious, as we find from this hadith. The 9th one that we're going to go to is helping the needy, helping those that are incapable, helping those that are— and this is very important, especially in business. Look, your risk is your risk, right? But if your brother is trying to bring khair for his family and earn something for his livelihood, and maybe he needs your help, and you don't help him, then you are not fulfilling the haqq of your brother. And if you help them when they're in need, this is from the best of deeds. Not just giving them food and money, but helping them up.

What is said about lifting a brother's worry? And what is the reward of someone who— maybe you have a Muslim brother who's struggling, and you go out there, you go out of your way and you help them.

What's the reward for that? The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, the one who lifts the worry of his brother, Allah will lift their worries on the Day of Judgment. The one who helps his brother, Allah will help them on the Day of Judgment. And this is so beautiful. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, "من لا يرحم لا يرحم." The one who does not show mercy will not be shown mercy. Another hadith, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, "Whoever does not show mercy to the creation will not be shown mercy by the Creator." Right? So when you help your brother, Allah will help you. SubhanAllah.

You see, I made a video about this actually, I just realized now. I made a video about this when it comes to business. I called it How to achieve anything thanks to Islam. How to achieve anything in Islam. Anyway, specifically when it comes to business, sometimes you want to achieve something, you want to achieve a goal, you want to solve a problem, but you don't have the skill set for it. It's too difficult for you. In this specific scenario, I said instead of you trying to struggle and, and solve that problem that's difficult for you, find someone in need that has a small problem that you know you could handle. Go out of your way and help them. Solve that problem for them because it's easy for you. What you're doing here is you're helping your Muslim brother out. And as we can know from the hadith you mentioned, Allah (AJ), because you're lifting away from another Muslim brother, Allah (AJ) will take your worry and lift it from you.

Subhanallah. And imagine somebody who's needy, somebody who's going through a struggle and a hard time, and you helped. Imagine the dua they'll make for you. Imagine Allah (SWT) sees this and rewards you for it. There is a hadith Qudsi where Allah (SWT), He tells a person, 'Oh my slave, I was sick, why did you not visit me?' He said, 'Oh Allah, You are the one that gives health, You are never sick, You don't need anything.' And Allah (SWT) says, 'But my slave was sick, and if you had gone to visit them, you would have found the reward with Me there.' 'You know, and then he says, I was in need, you did not help me. I was hungry, you did not feed me. I was thirsty.' He says, 'Oh Allah, you're the one that—' and I'm just summarizing the hadith for the sake of time— 'You're the one that gives rizq, you're the one that gives.' He says, 'My slave was in need of food, you didn't feed them? You would have found the reward with me. You were thirsty, you didn't give them to drink? You would have found the reward with me.' So understand the importance of helping those in need, and when you help them Allah will help you in dunya and akhira. Imagine somebody's in stress and you help their stress, on the Day of Judgment when you're under stress and Allah helps you. This is beautiful. The one who covers the sins and hides the mistakes of his brother, Allah will hide their sins on the Day of Judgment. Don't you want your sins hidden? And when Allah hides your sins, that means there's no accountability for it. It's a forgiveness with it. The last one that we're going to mention, number 10, is withholding harm from the people. What does that mean? You know, it's a very important concept. Not only are you helping people, but also you're protecting them from harm. Can you give me an example? Even something very light. I'm going to give you a very light— I'll give you some serious examples. I want to give you something very light. You know, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) forbids certain people from coming to the masjid. Really? Why? When they eat garlic, when they eat anything that smells bad, onions and things. Because when you come and then when you speak to people with that bad breath, it harms your brother. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, 'Stay away from my masjid.' You know, today when somebody comes and causes a commotion and harms and punches and slanders in the masjid, and we tell them, 'Look, this guy cannot come to the masjid,' people say, 'Oh, how dare you?' It's not your majid to ban somebody. No, but the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) banned people if they were causing harm, even something as light as bad breath. But imagine those that curse people, imagine those that harm people, imagine those— look, these kinds of things are huqooq al-ibad. Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) does not forgive those on His own. Allah is very merciful, Allah is Rahman, He is Rahim, He is Ghafur, He is the one that forgives. So when it comes to things that have to do with between you and Allah, Allah can just forgive you. But when it comes to you and the people, Allah makes it fair. And people are not forgiving. So be very careful with this. Now, I'll give you a more serious example, right? For example, people that drive crazy. You're driving and you're not caring and you're breaking speed limits and, you know, you're on your phone and you're, na'udhu billah, listening to music. And then you crash into somebody and you harm somebody, that's— you're responsible. That's not an accident. You are responsible for that. Even if you just end up dying in a crash, Sheikh Abdulaziz Ibn Ibad said that if they were reckless with it, if they were breaking the rules and doing it on purpose, then this is a death of suicide. SubhanAllah.

Yes.

So now when you look at harming people, people's honor, people's— when you go online and you spread rumors and you put— You are harming people, so at least don't do that. Withhold that harm from people. You know, some people, they'll build a structure and block the sun from their neighbor and block the water from their neighbor's farm, and they'll harm them even though they could do it differently and not harm them. That harm, stopping that harm from the people is from the best of deeds. And then harming those people, taking their hukuk, whether your tongue and your hand and yourself is harming, is from the worst of deeds. So we hope from Allah (SWT) this short bullet-pointed list that we have will be implemented in this Ramadan and then kept on going throughout the rest of the year.

Exactly, we build the habits during Ramadan and we keep it throughout the year. That's an amazing list of good deeds. Make sure you took notes and you actually apply them because those good deeds, if they stay in your mind, they won't be written on your page of good deeds. But if you spread them and you actually implement them, that's when you get the reward.

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