Malfuzat – Volume I — Page 72
72 Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad old man circuiting the Ka'bah from a distance. The noble man was astonished to see this and relates that when he approached him, the old man was first to say: 'Did my feeding seeds to the birds go in vain or have I received my reward?" The Reward of a Good Deed is Never Wasted Now one ought to reflect that Allah Almighty did not even waste the good deed of a disbeliever, then would He let the virtuous deed of a Muslim go in vain? I am reminded of a companion who asked the Holy Prophet" whether he would be rewarded for the substantial amounts of charity that he gave during the time that he was a disbeliever. The Holy Prophet" responded: "These very alms have become the cause of your accepting Islam. " What is Virtue? Virtue is a ladder that lifts one towards Islam and God. But remember, what is virtue? On every route, Satan raids the people and leads them away from the path of truth. For example, let us presume that one night more bread is cooked than necessary and the following morning there is some leftover. Just before the first morsel, as one is about to begin their meal and many delicious foods are placed before them, a beggar comes to the door and calls out asking for bread. If the person says: "Give the leftover bread to the beggar,' would this be deemed a good deed? The left over bread was going to remain unused anyway. Why would an indulgent person eat such bread? Allah the Exalted states: وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلى كيم مسكينا ويتهما واسِيرًا And they feed, for love of Him, the poor, the orphan, and the prisoner. It should also be remembered that the Arabic word ta'am used here refers to de- sirable food. Stale leftovers are not referred to as ta'am. Therefore, if at the sound of a beggar, the person were to give away their desirable and delicious food freshly placed in their plate just before they began to eat it, this is what constitutes a good deed. No individual who spends that which is useless and worthless can claim to have done a good deed. The door of virtue is narrow, so bear well in mind that no one can enter it by spending things of no value. There is a clear statement in the ad-Dahr, 76:9