You will only enter Paradise by His mercy….

My friend sent me a voice message, and she was incredibly sad. She is pregnant mashAllah, and expressed how difficult this pregnancy was. She could not fast and she was tired all the time, so she was ‘just’ doing the basics: her obligatory prayers. She could not even pray the sunnah prayers, nor recite much Qur’an. And this was breaking her. She asked whether this meant that Allah was angry with her, and what the state of her child would be since her ritual worship was so much less.

Wanting to worship Allah is beautiful, and that pain that we feel for not being able to do that is appreciated by Allah. The Prophet (pbuh) told us that, “When the child of Adam falls ill or travels, the reward of the devotional actions he used to perform while in residence or in good health is recorded for him” (Bukhari). Allah takes into account your sincere intention, your desire to do, and the circumstances that prevented you. And He rewards you for what you would have done. When it comes to mothers in particular, no one appreciates the struggles that they go through like Allah. So much so that He obligates thanks to Him and thanks to our parents in one sentence. He says,

We have commanded people to be good to their parents: their mothers carried them, with strain upon strain, and it takes two years to wean them. Give thanks to Me and to your parents- all will return to Me. (31:14)

But there is also a bigger lesson in being unable to do. These acts of worship are a means to His pleasure, and we are of course encouraged to do what we can. Allah in the Qur’an repeatedly praises “those who believe and do good.” But sometimes we rely on our deeds and forget about His mercy. Ibn Ata’illah stated,

Among the signs one is relying upon actions is a lessening of hope when a slip or setback occurs.

When we do good deeds, we are almost assured by us doing those good deeds and not by the mercy of Allah. And so when our ability to do is taken away or we mess up, we despair. This is different to feeling regret if we make a mistake or sadness at not being able to do the good works we had wanted to. Those are natural and a sign of a heart that is attached to Allah, that loves what He loves and hates what He hates. But the heart that is perhaps too self-reliant and attached to the performance of the deed itself loses hope in Allah when the deed is out of reach. We feel that because we cannot do, then there is no point in having hope, because our hope was dependent on our actions and not on the All-Merciful. We project on to Allah the worldly mantra that we are only ‘worthy’ when we achieve, because that is what the world values.

And so sometimes in order to remind us, our ability to do certain actions is taken is away, so that we know what it means to truly rely on His mercy. The Prophet (pbuh) reminded us to: “Follow the right course, be devoted, and give glad tidings. Verily, none of you will enter Paradise by his deeds alone.” The companions said, “Not even you, O Messenger of Allah?” The Prophet said, “Not even myself, unless Allah grants me His mercy. Know that the most beloved deed to Allah is done regularly, even if it is small.” (Bukhari and Muslim)

Who worshiped Allah better than the beloved of Allah (pbuh)? Who did more than him? Whose heart was more pure? But he taught us that even he is reliant on the mercy of Allah. And Allah takes into account our circumstances. For the person with time and good health, we should do what we can for His closeness and pleasure, and be humble in the process, hoping for His mercy in accepting our deeds. And for the person struggling with health or any other reason that prevents them from doing, supplication is always there. Talking to Allah. Remembering Him. Seeking His forgiveness. No matter our state, we can always be with Allah. And we ask Him to accept us through His mercy.

Think of a child who wants to do something for his parents, but gets sick. Would the parents love him any less? Would they deny him a gift they would have given him because of his illness? And Allah is more merciful towards us than our own parents.

Relying on the mercy of Allah also helps us to ward off entitlement - ‘I did x therefore I am entitled to…’ Jannah or a good life in this world - and complacency with sincerity. When we rely on the mercy of Allah, even when we are able to do amazing deeds, we ask Him to accept them (instead of assuming), we want Him to forgive our shortcomings (because we need it), and we hope that He will take the best of what we did and overlook the deficiencies (because He is merciful!). We have hope that He will reward us better than we deserve because He is the Most Noble, the Most Generous. Indeed, relying on our deeds is actually limiting because no matter what we do, we do not really deserve the eternal bliss of Paradise. It is only because Allah Himself magnifies and elevates our actions and intentions through His mercy that we are granted Paradise - and we hope for its highest level.

Some of the salaf would take comfort in their deeds at the time of death. This does not contradict having hope in His mercy. Rather, it simply indicates their gratitude that Allah enabled them to do what they could, and they desired that their effort would be met with His all-encompassing mercy. They were still relying on Allah, because they believed in His promise of reward.

Focusing on Allah’s mercy also prevents us from thinking we are better than others who appear to be doing less. Since we know that Allah is so merciful and generous, and that He knows what is in the hearts, we should assume that others have their secrets with Allah that no one knows of, and that Allah may love more than anything that we have. Indeed, we are told this explicitly with the Companion who was not observed to have ‘many’ extra deeds, but simply cleared his heart of malice and envy towards the believers every night - and he was of the people of Paradise (Ahmad). Similarly, one who is incapacitated may be more loved by Allah than the one praying all night - and vice versa, depending on the state of the hearts and the reliance on His mercy.

In every circumstance, there is a door to Him. And the worship of the heart may outweigh the worship of the limbs, though they are interrelated and interdependent. A heart that is pure finds expression in the limbs, and good actions may soften a hard heart. In suffering, it is the person exhibiting patience, hope in, and love for Allah, like the Prophet Ayyoub, that may enter them into Paradise. A person who cannot fast but is working on remembrance and feeding others is rewarded by Allah. And the parent who is up all night with a sick child , unable to do extra prayers or recite the Qur’an the way they had wanted to, may be even closer to the mercy of Allah.

So the lesson is to hope in Allah and His mercy. The sign of hope in Allah is in pushing ourselves to do the deeds that He loves depending on our circumstances, because hope is not complacency. And when we are not able to do those deeds, we remain optimistic in His grace, and we still do what little we can. And perhaps Allah takes away your ability to do one thing so that you can discover the other doors to Him, doors from the heart, and can learn true reliance.