Explanation of Riyadh as-Saaliheen
By Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saaleh ibn ‘Uthaymeen
[May Allaah Mercy on him]
The author, May Allaah have Mercy on him, has named this chapter; ‘Protecting your actions’, meaning your righteous deed. He has also named a chapter that has proceeded; ‘Chapter of Intentions in your Acts of Obedience’.
It is important for the person doing deeds not to tear himself away from doing acts of worship and it is equally important for him to walk upon this path upon the guidance of the Prophet [Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him], which is the name of the next chapter. Based upon this, most people, may start doing many good deeds due to their enthusiasm and wanting to strive to do them, however after a while you will see them being lacking and being negligent. This is apparent in many of the youth today because the youth either have a strong sense of zealousness or the opposite; they lag behind a great deal. Therefore, most of what the youth do is based on emotions and not on intellect. So you will find some of them doing a lot of acts of worship, then you will find him eventually slacking. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the person, as the author has mentioned, that the he be balanced in his deeds and not to get carried away. This is done by one protecting his deeds, because protecting your good deeds is a sign that one has ambitions with them, and the most beloved deeds to Allaah are those that are continuous, even if they are little. So if a person can protect his acts of worship by being constant upon them, then this is a sign that he is loves doing them and that he has hope and seeks to do good.
The author mentioned a series of Ayaat, from them are the following;
“And do not be like she who untwisted her spun thread after it was strong...”
[Nahl 16:92]
This is about a woman who spun thread. She spun it well as it became strong and solid. After all of this, she let it go and it became unspun until nothing was left. This is like a parable for the person who does a lot of acts of worship and after some time of doing them, he nullified them all by totally abandoning everything he used to do.
Likewise, there is the Ayah in which Allaah informs us about Banee Israaeel;
“And We placed in the hearts of those who followed him compassion and mercy and monasticism, which they innovated; We did not prescribe it for them except [that they did so] seeking the approval of Allah . But they did not observe it with due observance. So We gave the ones who believed among them their reward, but many of them are defiantly disobedient.”
[Hadeed 57:27]
Meaning, they didn’t continue in doing good deeds nor did they seek to protect the deeds they had already done, rather they became negligent. This is like the saying of Allaah, the Most High;
“And let them not be like those who were given the Scripture before, and a long period passed over them, so their hearts hardened; and many of them are defiantly disobedient.”
[Hadeed 57:16]
Meaning they had huge gaps between their acts of good deeds and because of these gaps, it created hardness in their hearts as they constantly were leaving off doing good deed, May Allaah Protect us from this.
So what is important is that a person realise the importance on protecting his good deeds. He doesn’t become lazy and he doesn’t neglect them, rather he continues upon what he is doing.
So when one has this attitude towards worship, it will become easily applicable for him to do this as part of his daily routine. So it is incumbent that we should set out ourselves a routine and not spend the hours in our days spontaneously, rather he should be consistent. The person shouldn’t set foot on something until he knows where he is treading. Some people don’t give this point any importance; you will find them thinking every hour about what they should do next. Every day they wake up and ponder on the day ahead of them. These are causes of one losing his time and not benefitting himself in anyway whatsoever. It is for this reason that is has been narrated that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab [May Allaah be Pleased with him] said, “If you have left something unfinished then this is what is binding upon him.” This is an amazing statement. It means that if somebody is in the process of finishing something then this is what he should attend to and it is incumbent that he doesn’t leave it, doing a bit now and then. So he should make time for this and should digress in doing something else.
I ask Allaah to keep us and you on the truth and to make us callers to the truth and the supporters of it.
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