By
Arman Neyazi, New Age Islam
30 July
2021
Is There
Any Reward For Goodness except Goodness’ Is a Confirmation of Rewards by Allah
for Them Who Favour His People with Kindness and Compassion
Main
Points:
1. Allah the
Most Gracious has a treasure of rewards (ثواب) for everyone who performs
good deeds in favour of His people.
2. Allah, the
Most Gracious is All-Knower hence He better knows all that we do, good or bad
and rewards us accordingly.
3. The
God-given inborn qualities of a man excel them in everything good that they
perform.
4. Even the
smallest of favours have great rewards in the life hereafter and bring help
from the unseen powers in here.
-----
Allah the
Most Gracious has a treasure of rewards (ثواب) for everyone who performs
good deeds in favour of His people. Allah, the Most Gracious is All-Knower
hence He better knows all that we do, good or bad and rewards us accordingly.
The verse of the Holy Quran, ‘Is there any reward for goodness except
goodness?’ (Surah ar-Rahman: 60) is not a question but an answer. And the
answer is that Allah will bestow upon the people His goodness in response to
the goodness performed by them. This Ayat is a confirmation of rewards by
Allah, the Most Gracious, for them who favour His people with kindness and
compassion.
Human
beings are one of the best of all the creations of Allah, the Creator of the
Universe, hence they are born ingrained with all the positivities of a human
nature that includes humility, love and compassion for the fellow being. These
God-given inborn qualities of a man excel them in everything good that they perform.
Helping
people to cross the road, lifting thorns thrown on the pathways, providing
water to the thirsty etc. are also favours to humankind. These are the favours
that are unnoticed by the people and the man himself but these do not remain
unnoticed by Allah. These are small favours in nature but have great rewards in
the life hereafter and brings help from the unseen powers in here.
The word ‘Ehsan’
in Urdu means, 'obligation' and in Arabic, it means, ‘favour’. The Holy Quran
has various Ayaat describing the value of favour. Humankind's favour for the
fellow being and Allah’s favours for His people. The meaning of Ehsan (favour) in the Arabic
language can also be taken as gratitude, help, favour and reward.
Consider
some of the verses from the Holy Quran in favour of the favour Allah, the Most
Gracious rewards us for every single (even the smallest) favour we do to help
the creation of Allah, man, animal or nature.
هَلْ جَزَآءُ
ٱلْإِحْسَٰنِ إِلَّا ٱلْإِحْسَٰنُ
Is there any reward for goodness except goodness? (Ar-Rahman: 60) - Dr Mustafa
Khattab
The answer
to the question that Allah, the Most Gracious asks is hidden in it. Allah, the
Creator of the universe says that there cannot be any other reward for a favour
except favour. The human being will therefore favour himself by favouring
others.
صراط الذين أنعمت
عليهم
“The path of those upon whom You have bestowed
favour…” (Qur’an,
1:6)
The
above-mentioned verse is a supplication that asks Allah, the Most Gracious to
count us among those He has chosen to favour. The human beings acts of favour
and the Dua will result in the best life here and hereafter.
But those who attain to faith and do righteous
deeds - [and] We do not burden any human being with more than he is well able
to bear - they are destined for paradise, therein to abide. (Al-A`raf: 42) - Muhammad Asad
Above
mentioned verse provides us, the believers the confirmation of us not being
tried more than we can bear and acts of favour for His creation with the
patient forbearance will destine us for paradise.
O humanity! Remember Allah’s favours upon
you.... (Surah
Fatir: 3) - Dr Mustafa Khattab
The
above-mentioned verse commands the human being to remember Allah’s favours
bestowed upon them and act good for mankind to be bestowed unlimited favours of
Allah.
So, (O mankind and Jinn,) which of the bounties
of your Lord will you deny? (Ar-Rahman - 13) — Mufti Taqi Usmani
The
above-mentioned verse from the Surah Ar-Rahman (called the heart of the Holy
Quran) has thirty-one times repetition in the verse. Allah, the Most Gracious
reminds His people of the favours bestowed upon them and asks as to what is
there that they will deny having received.
Our
Favour in Response to Our Fellow Beings Favour Is In Our Favour
The
materialistic race has engulfed mankind in a way that all but materialism has
come under a dark cloud. The spiritual minds of the world know the reason
behind this ethical downfall of human beings, and that is the inability of the
people to pay for the favour being done to them, whether in kind or otherwise.
In worldly
parlance, the worst thing that has happened is that we do not feel obliged in
response to favour. In the world today politicians are not obliged to the
favour of their voters, students are not obliged to their teachers and this
mentality continues from top to bottom. Not answering favour from favour has
brought the world to the pass where disfavour has taken the form of a
tradition. This tradition is being religiously followed now. People who do not
favour and worst the people who are not thankful for the favours received by
their fellow beings are the reason for the cultural downfall of society. This
attitude has ultimately invited many horrible wraths of the Almighty Allah.
We should
be thankful to Allah for providing us with an opportunity and making us able to
favour somebody. This way Allah is bestowing upon us His choicest favours that
are a guarantee of a heavenly life hereafter. Consider the Hadees, Abu `Isa
At-Tirmidhi recorded that Jabir said, “The Messenger of Allah went to his
Companions and recited Surat Ar-Rahman from beginning to end for them, but they
did not say anything. The Prophet said;
“I recited
it to the Jinns, on the night of the Jinns and their response was better than
yours! Whenever I recited Allah’s statement: (Then which of the blessings of
your Lord will you both deny). They said, “None of Your favours do we deny, our
Lord! All praise is due to you”, and says, ‘“None of Your favours do we deny,
our Lord! All praise is due to you.”’.
And
Allah Knows the Best.
-----
Arman
Neyazi is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-spiritualism/allah-creation-favour/d/125148
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