A believer hastens in doing good deeds. He does not procrastinate, as he fears that death may overtake him and thereby deprive him of the opportunity of earning great rewards in the Hereafter.

Allah says:

وَسَارِعُوٓا۟ إِلَىٰ مَغْفِرَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتُ وَٱلْأَرْضُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ

“Hasten towards the forgiveness of your Sustainer and towards Paradise, the width of which spans the heavens and the earth. It has been prepared for the Allah-fearing.” [Aal Imran3: 133]

Here, Forgiveness stands for the means of obtaining forgiveness, that is, good deeds which bring forth forgiveness.

A point worth considering is that Allah Almighty has mentioned ‘Forgiveness’ first and ‘Paradise’ after it. May be, this is to suggest that entry into Paradise is impossible without Divine Forgiveness. The reason is obvious. Man may spend a life-time doing good and abstaining from the evils. Still the aggregate of his good deeds cannot pay the price of Paradise. What will take him to Paradise is only Forgiveness of His Lord, and His grace. The Holy Prophet ﷺ has said: “Strive to be straight and true, take the middle course and seek glad tidings (of Allah’s grace), for one’s deeds shall not take anyone into the Paradise’. People said: ‘Not even yours, O Messenger of Allah?’ He said: ‘Not even mine, unless it is that Allah covers me up with His mercy.’ [al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib, with reference to Bukhari and Muslim].

In short, our deeds are not the price of Paradise. But, as is the customary practice of Allah, He does bestow His grace upon a servant who does what is good. In fact, one who is given the very ability to do good deeds is really given the signal that Allah is pleased with him.

So, let none of us be tardy in the performance of what is good.

Daily Duas

Although one should pray to Allah at all times for all one’s needs, our eternally blessed Prophet has taught us some specific prayers for special occasions at different times of night and day, e.g. upon waking up, when going to the toilet and coming out of it, when performing ablution, upon entering and coming out of the Masjid, upon entering the house, before meals and after meals, hearing the adhan, when dressing, when looking in the mirror, before falling asleep in bed.

These duas are all-embracing and extremely useful for all our worldly and other-worldly needs.

We, by ourselves, can never think of such prayers which the eternally blessed Prophet ﷺhas taught us.

These prayers are not time consuming nor ablution is their precondition nor is one to raise his hands. If one commits them to memory, one reaps a very rich harvest both here and in the Hereafter.

Hence every Muslim must commit these prayers to memory. There are many books wherein they are listed. Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi R’s “Munajat-e- Maqbul” has most of them. We should commit them to memory and ask your children to memorize them too.