Good Deeds

The Good Deeds of which we are going to talk about here are not the mere good deeds propagated by philanthropists, like for example Shari Arison every 9^th of March since 2007. This lady initiated to incite people to mark one day, every 9^th of March as  “a good-deeds-day”. Although it may do good somehow,  but what I will try to evoke here is the good deeds according to the Islamic evaluation.

Good deeds according to the Qur’anic prescription are human deeds, which are useful and fruitful to humankind and motivated by a deep faith in God and in the Hereafter. God says in the Qur’an: “Say (o Prophet): I am but a mortal man like all of you; it has been revealed unto me that your God is the One and only God; hence, whoever looks forward (with hope and awe) to meeting the Lord (on Judgment Day), let him or her do righteous deed (which is considered worship to God), and let him or her not ascribe unto anyone or anything a share in the worship due to his or her Lord” (18:110 ).

According to the Qur’an, a “good deed” is a kind of worship to God, and that is why the Prophet Muhammad (God’s blessings upon him) said: “Verily, God likes from each of you, when you carry on a work, to do it with excellence”. And he said also: “The excellence is that you worship God as if you see Him, and if you cannot see Him of course, then be sure that He is watching you”.

Let us see more than that; in the Qur’an we find: “(I swear) by the Time. Verily Man is in loss, except those who have attained to faith, and perform righteous deeds, and enjoin one another to (follow) the truth, and enjoin one another to patience” (Surah Al’Asr).

That is because the existence of mankind itself, on earth, is nothing other than God’s will to test each person – as long as he or she is alive in this world - who is supposed to fulfill his or her task correctly. God says: “And indeed We have destroyed generations before you, when they did evil, and their messengers brought them all evidence of the truth, but they were not the ones who would believe. This is how We punish the guilty people, then We made you successors in the land, so that We see how you would act”(10 : 13 – 14 ).

Unfortunately there are many among Muslims today who think that “al-‘amal-assalih” (= good deed) is only if you go to do prayer, or to give zakat or sadaqah (alms), or to do fasting, or to go for ‘umrah or hajj. Of course those are the pillars of Islam, but pillars are necessary for a building to be established by putting on a lot of work on them. A building is not only made of pillars. All works that can help the progress recommended by God through his messenger, are considered “al a’mal assalihah” (=the good deeds), which will be rewarded in the Hereafter.

It is interesting to find in one verse in Surah Al-Hadeed

in the Qur’an, that God mentioned three very important things for mankind so that they could work performing their duty as they are charged by God to act as the “mustakhlaf” (=the one who is in charge on something) on earth. These three things are: the Book, the Balance and the Iron. God says:

“Indeed, We have sent Our messengers with clear proofs, and sent down with them the Book and the Balance, so that people may uphold equity; and We sent down Iron in which there is awesome power as well as (a source of) benefits for mankind: and (all this was given to you) so that God might mark out those who would stand up for Him and His messengers, even though He is beyond the reach of human perception. Verily, God is Powerful, Almighty!” ( 57 : 25 ).

In his commentary, Abdullah Yusuf Ali (14 April 1872 – 10 December 1953) wrote: “Those three things (the Book, the Balance and the Iron) stand as emblems of three things which hold society together, viz. Revelation, which commands Good and forbids Evil; Justice, which gives to each person his due; and the strong arm of the Law, which maintains sanctions for evil-doers”.

And Muhammad Asad (2 July 1900 – 23 February 1992) wrote in his commentary: “God endowed mankind with the ability to convert to his use the natural resources of his earthly environment. An outstanding symbol of this ability is man’s skill, unique among all animated beings in making tools; and the primary material for all tool-making – and, indeed, for all human technology – is iron: the one metal which is found abundantly on earth, and which can be utilized for beneficial as well as destructive ends”.

So, the only thing, which could enrich human civilization, is the deed. And we can see along human history that the more a society gives efforts in performing their duties, the more that society has flourished in their civilization.

The Qur’an even indicated that people in the Judgment Day will see clearly that faith in God is something necessary, but those who did not believe while they were in life of this world, or who believed but did not mark any good deed will be in loss. In Surah Al-An’am (in the Qur’an) we find this warning: “Do they, perchance, wait for the angels to appear to them, or for your Lord (Himself) to appear, or for some of your Lord’s (final) portents to appear? (But)

 on the Day when your Lord’s (final) portents to appear, believing will be of no avail to any human being who did not believe before, or who, while believing,  did no good deeds. Say: Wait, (then, for the Last Day, o unbelievers:)

behold, we (believers) are waiting, too !”  ( 6 : 158 ).

Most good deeds should be done collectively, although of course good deeds can also come individually, or first from individuals, each with the intention that this deed is a kind of “’ibadah” (= worship), for those who believe in God and the Hereafter. As in the Hereafter each person will be questioned individually, as God says: “Whoever acts righteously, it is for (the good of) his own self, and whoever does evil, it is to the detriment thereof; and your Lord is not (at all) a tyrant to His servants” ( 41 : 46 ). And He says also: “And every one of them will appear before Him on Resurrection Day in a lonely state. Verily, those who attain to faith and do righteous deeds will the Most Gracious endow with love”  ( 19: 95 – 96 ); but most good deeds need to be done collectively, and that is why God ordained four conditions for a person to be avoided from the loss, half of them is “enjoining one another to do collective deeds”: “Verily, Man is in loss, except those who have attained to faith, and perform righteous deeds, and enjoin one another to (follow) the truth, and enjoin one another to patience” (103:2-3). It means that every person should be very keen to carry on collective works in the society, and should never keep silent without undertaking any collective venture to achieve good deeds of any kind for the benefit of the society.

The Jews claim that they are God’s chosen people (according to what is mentioned in Deuteronomy 14:2, Exodus 19:5 and Genesis 17:7), so they assured for themselves God’s grace in the Hereafter and they believe that they shall not be requited for their sins.

And the Christians believe in “Vicarious atonement” which promises salvation to all who believe in Jesus as God’s son.

But the Qur’an says clearly: “And those who attain to faith and do righteous deeds We shall admit them to Gardens underneath which rivers flow, abiding therein for ever; God’s promise in truth; and who is truer in utterance than  God. It may not accord with your (means: Muslims’) wishful thinking, nor with the wishful thinking of the people of the Scripture (means: the Jews and the Christians): whoever does evil shall be requited for it; and he will not find besides God any friend or helper” (4:122-123).

Very often in the Qur’an God describes the real believers as “al-amiroona bil-ma’roof wan-nahoona ‘anil-munkar” (=“those who enjoin decency and forbid indecency”. For this  we should have a separate issue.