Khidmah (service) of Deen

Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasallam has mentioned in a hadith, “Allah Ta’ala will strengthen His Deen, even if it be by the means of a sinful person.”

To be given the ni’mah and bounty of serving the Deen of Allah Ta’ala is not something which we should consider to be small. Nor should we consider those who are offering some sort of khidmah (service) to be small. Rather, these people are special as Allah Ta’ala has handpicked them to do good while He has left other people in misguidance and without an objective.

Sometimes we tend to gain some ‘ujb (self admiration) when we do some khidmah and we feel that we are superior to others. The reality is that this feeling of ‘ujb has made us less favourable unto Allah Ta’ala than that person who has sat out altogether. When Allah Ta’ala wants something to be done, He is in need of nobody; thus when we do receive the opportunity to help this religion in some way, we should take it as a great honour from Allah Ta’ala.

Many people are such that while doing khidmah, they may feel bored and fed up. This is a characteristic that man has within himself. He only feels interested in doing those things in which he will be given some type of material gain. When a person does khidmah of Deen, he doesn’t necessarily see this profit but by Allah, it is stored from him in the hereafter. One thing is to feel bored within your heart and while this is understandable, to openly make a face and sulk only reflects arrogance. Sometimes this can even be seen in those who consider themselves to be of a religious nature.

A person must ponder over the aforementioned hadith. If Allah Ta’ala wanted, He would flip the heart of a sinful person and take huge work of Deen from; and that person who was sulking and being patronising will be left stripped of all reward. Thus, when we are given an opportunity to do some khidmah, even though we may not like it, we should not moan and groan about it. This is just our nafs speaking and it is necessary to swallow this thought.

Verily, a minute in the service of Allah Ta’ala is not left ignored by Allah Ta’ala. Surely He deposits something for His slave and waits to give it to him at its appointed time. There are some bounties that we see in front of us in this life and there are others that we will ogle in amazement in the hereafter. It just requires us to pull our socks up and work with sincerity and humility.

May Allah Ta’ala grant us the ability to do khidmah of Deen with patience, perseverance and humility. Ameen.