Think of this ayah when you need motivation to do more dhikr, especially during the mundane parts of your day. Instead of going through the motions with your mind occupied with random thoughts which are of no benefit to you, why not use that time to remember Allah while concurrently adding good deeds to your scales? You'll save your brain from being polluted and stressed with random, meaningless thoughts and you'll bring peace to it with the remembrance of the One who gives comfort to your heart. 

#dhikr

A short verse yet motivational enough for us to be encouraged in doing a good deed. Everything, like literally, EVERYTHING we did or intent to do, will be countable, and His promise is definite. I always ask my students what good they did for that day. They would happily tell me their stories, and I would congratulate them just for being able to wake up early to go to school. It is actually a reminder for me to always be kind even it's just a small act. Some people feel encouraged listening to other's stories, some by witnessing and some by a constant reminder. 

There's this one habit I always do that might be beneficial to others. I always greet my family and friends by asking, 'How are you?' every time I met them. They always thought I was joking and messing around since I'm pretty playful. Still, it is what strengthens our relationship. Some of them even said, no one ever asked them how they're doing and it somehow makes them feel appreciated. It has become my habit, and I hope Allah bless me for making my family and friends happy. I wish the same goes for everyone here too. May Allah grant you happiness here and in the Hereafter.

Alhamdulillah. Indeed, we shouldn't because that might be the most generous and significant action to others. May Allah bless us all for our every effort.

Bismillah

' Give a hand to broken, fallen, shaken with your presence with no expectation, just being a good soul human and the simple reward never be forgotten'

Life experience gives a simple glimpse of Allah swt reward and how a simple word can be very heavy on a soul. 

We don't know just being a simple concerning human being, how it can be so huge to someone else and how Allah swt never forgets. 

I was one day coming from work and came out of bus. I walked down towards my house passing through an alleyway and  see an 11yr old boy fallen, his glass broken and crying, clearly I could see him shaken.
'I tripped and fell over,' He cried profusely. 
I took my tissue out and placed it on his head and told him to hold it. 
I picked him up and picked his glasses.
'Where do you live?' as I was also in a rush to pick my kids from school awaiting for me.
He showed me the direction and it was down my road.
I knocked on the door and his brother opened.
'He has fallen and is bleeding a little, could you take him to the hospital,' I said. I sounded so insensitive but just needed to make sure he was safe and cared for. 
Brother nodded and I rushed off and left it like that. Completely forgotten about the incident. 
I always walk down the road but never noticed the house and even forgotten which house it was, never even came to my mind if the boy is OK or not. 

Then oneday after 5yrs I walked with my eldest daughter down the road and this young man stood there.
'Excuse me, are you the lady who got me home injured many years back?'
I said, 'Are you that boy?'
He goes to me, 'I just wanted to say, Thankyou.'
He then goes, 'You actually saved my life. My family took me to hospital and they saw that fall damaged my brain, it was bleeding internally so I was in hospital for a while and if you didn't do what you did and say to my brother to go hospital, I'll be dead by now.'

I was shocked and overwhelmed and didn't know how to respond to this.
I walked away and my daughter said,' What did you do? 
I said, 'He fell and I put tissue on his head and took him home and told his brother take him to hospital. That's all I did? Didn't realise it would save his life. SubHan Allah!'

It just made me realise how a small act of kindness is so effective. The boy never forgot, I didn't see it as important but Allah swt showed me how an insignificant action to me was heavy on others and valued. Also how that boys 'Thankyou' was so heavy in the words that it was so overwhelming that I cried because I didn't know how to respond to it. It was so heavy on my soul because rarely we get appreciated for what we do and he may have forgotten he said, Thankyou but I remember how it was valued and appreciated. It was returned back to me with the weight of my insignificant action. 

I realised how one small act can be a good deed so heavy on the scale in the day of Judgement such as saying, 'La ilaha illallah. ' it can tip the scale. SubHanAllah

We may forget but Allah swt doesn't forget your small action that is not even recognized  by your own self and it will comeback with tenfolds of reward. SubHan Allah!

So never underestimate your small action to others with your presence. It maybe insignificant to you but it's significant to others and Allah swt.
This is barakah in action.

Amazing example! Thank you for helping, this is a powerful story to always attach to this surah. Thank you for sharing.

An interesting reflection I was reading was speaking about all the steps they walk in a day and what were the meaning behind them, and that thought process made me think about how many words I speak in a day and whether I remember them. on average a human says around 16,000 words in a day.

How many of these are Alhamdulillah? Subhan'Allah? or any other kind of Dhikr? 

How many of those words are from your Qur'an recitation and how many are from the good and benefit you spoke?

At the same time how many of those words were from backbiting and gossip? how many from slander? how many were true and how many were lies?

It both scares and encourages me that every word we have spoken will be accounted for and that makes me want to be more mindful of the conversations I engage in and the words I choose to make use of in my daily life. May Allah make us of those who guard our tongues and use it in a way that is beneficial to us. Ameen.

JazakAllahu khair for sharing your reflection brother, the use of scientific and Qur'anic evidence was very interesting, and I can see a common theme in the verses you used that remembering Allah and tying your intention to speaking to Allah can help protect someone from falling into harmful talks. definitely something to apply my daily life Insha'Allah.

اس آیت میں ہمارے لیے امید اور بڑا سبق بھی ہے۔ ہمیں لگتا ہے کہ جس نے حج کیا یا بہت سا مال اللہ کی راہ میں خرچ کیا تو اللہ اس سے بہت راضی ہوگا۔ لیکن ہم بھول جاتے ہیں کہ اللہ تعالیٰ بہت  باریک بین اورقدردان ہے، کیا پتہ کہ چھوٹی چھوٹی نیکیوں کا وزن میزان میں زیادہ ہو جائے۔ اور آپ کو پتہ ہے چھوٹی چھوٹی نیکییاں جو دنیا کی نظر میں معمولی ہوں اللہ کے نزدیک محبوب ترین ہو جائیں اور ایسا ہونے کے پیچھے ایک وجہ جو میرے ذہن میں آتی ہے وہ میں آپ کو بتاتی ہوں۔ مثال کے طور پر آپ سخت گرمی میں کمرے میں بیٹھے ہیں اور ایک کوئی اڑنے والا حشر آپ نے دیکھا کہ اس سے اڑا نہیں جارہا تو آپ نے پنکھا بند کیا اور اس کے کمرے سے جانے کا انتظار کیا۔ اب یہ نیکی محبوب کیوں ہوسکتی ہے کیونکہ یہ وہ ہے جو بات اللہ اور آپ کے درمیان رہ گئی، آپ کسی کے سامنے شیخی نہیں مار سکتے کہ آج میں نے ایک کیڑے کی جان بچائی ہے یہ نیکی ریاکاری سے پاک ہے منافقت سے پاک ہے۔ ایسے بہت سے موقعے ہمیں زندگی میں ملتے ہیں جنھیں ہم اگنور کر دیتے ہیں جیسے پانی میں ڈوبتے ہوئے کیڑے کی جان بچانا، کسی غریب کے چہرے پر مسکراہٹ لانا، چڑیوں کو کھانا کھلانا، راستے میں پڑا پتھر ہٹانا، ملازم کو جان بوجھ کر اس کی اجرت سے زیادہ معاوضہ دینا۔ یہ سب اس لیے اہم ہے کیونکہ اس کا صلہ دینے والی دنیا نہیں ہے جو کہ دوسروں سے کمپئر کرکے اور اپنی محدود فہم کے مطابق صلہ دیتی ہے بلکہ اللہ کی کریم ذات ہے جو دلوں کے حال جانتی ہے  اور نیکی کا ارادہ کرنے والے کسی سائل کا ہاتھ نہیں لوٹاتی۔ 

Assalamu alaykum wbt, 

This ayah reminds me story of Yusuf (AS). When he used his talent in deciphering dreams, he has no idea that he will become a bigshot in Eqypt. 

He used his talent for goods and Allah take care of him just as Allah said in surah Az-Zalzalah ayah 7 [99:7]:- 

'Whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it.'

Wa Jazaki Allah khairan my dear sister Marina 🌷that's alright my dear sister 😊 may Allah swt bless you and accept from all of us ameen - Keep up your beautiful writings 🌷

I learned from my Ustadza that after crossing the Bridge of Sirat, I will find myself at a crucial point (Qintaar).                                                             What am I thinking? I have only a few deeds in my bag, and I am yearning to rush into Jannah. But there are guards standing there—they won’t let anyone in without their ticket.

To my surprise, here comes my .., A. I owe her. And then my cousin, my friend, my aunt, and so many others—B, C, and D. Oh my God! How greedy they all look today, as if they want to take every single one of my deeds. I scream silently in my heart, wishing they would vanish into thin air. But no, I must return what I owe to them for the wrongs I’ve done. My eyes well up with tears.

Wait—I’ve forgiven all of them in this world. So why are they still demanding their share?

This fear jolts me out of my thoughts. I am still in this world, and there’s time. I will work on suppressing my ego now, so I can pass by that moment without any Qisas. I am so greedy for my deeds, Ya Rab! I will give away my pride in this Dunya, Insha’Allah, for that Day.

Please, Ya Rab, don’t let me plead for this later. Make things easy for me. I want to be among those who pass by without any Qisas.

Search for the reward and let everyone else take the credit. For anything done for His sake never goes in vain, not even an atoms worth. 

and he  found you lost and guided you
99:7

I recently started to wear a device that counts the number of steps I take. It's been surprising to see the numbers at the end of the day. It's like having the ability to see one of my actions being accounted for and it makes me wonder, 'What was I doing taking those 10,000, 12,000, 13,000 steps?' Where was I going? What was the purpose behind it? What were my intentions when I was doing all that walking?' And I draw a bit of blank when I think about it. I don't have clear answers to explain the numbers.

What if there was a device that counted all the words I say and type? What about every morsel I eat, every sip I take? I can't even imagine how high those numbers would be.

Even though I was unaware of how many steps I was taking before wearing this device, it was still all being recorded. And so are all of our words and deeds. Can you imagine coming on the day of judgement to see the numbers? They are going to be massive. How will we explain them? It's a scary thought and I pray that we are pleasantly surprised instead of being confused and unable to give a good explanation for our actions. 

After this experience of seeing my step counts, I am more mindful of the part of wudhu that involves washing my feet. 

Thank you, Allah, for guiding us not only to purify ourselves physically, but for also allowing us to purify ourselves spiritually with the wudhu. If you hold us to account for every step we take and every word we speak, we will surely be doomed. Oh Allah, have Mercy on us and forgive us and let us walk on the straight path until we return back to You. Ameen.

Discussion questions: 

1) What can we do to be more mindful of our actions? 

2)Are there any other hadith or ayat that come to mind with regards to this topic? 

3) Do you have reflections on any of the ayat noted below? 

4) How would being mindful of these ayat be helpful to you in your daily life? 

Comment below! I'd love to hear from QuranReflect regulars and newcomers :)

Thank you for your kind words. May Allah bless you! 