Name: Cherish the Simple and Mundane
Uploaded: 2020-05-22T08:30:00.000Z
Channel: Dr. Mohamed AbuTaleb
Description: We all set ambitious goals, but we often struggle to meet them. Dr. Mohamed Abu Taleb reflects on how we can be more like Uwais al-Qarni, who was considered the very best of his generation for his devotion to Allah through simple deeds.

<p>We all set ambitious goals, but we often struggle to meet them. Dr. Mohamed Abu Taleb reflects on how we can be more like Uwais al-Qarni, who was considered the very best of his generation for his devotion to Allah through simple deeds.  </p>

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Dr. Mohamed AbuTaleb

The Prophet ﷺ said that the best of deeds are those that are done consistently, even if they are small. In the Deeds to Habit series, we explore several seemingly small deeds that when adopted as a habit can have a transformative effect on one’s life.

Whether you implement one new deed or more, set your intention, begin where you are most capable of acting consistently, and may Allah enable you along the way!

Learn more about the good habits that can bring you closer to your self-improvement goals by visiting our <a href="https://yaqeeninstitute.org/tag/self-improvement">Self-Improvement page</a>

<a href="https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/books/habits-to-win">Download the Habits to Win workbook</a> to kickstart your journey towards implementing good habits.

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Deeds to Habit

 Bismillah walhamdulillahi wassalamu ala rasulillahi wa ba'd. I'm your brother  Muhammad Abu Talib. You know, so many of our days will start with huge ambitions,  great goals, things that we'd love to get done. But then when the day passes and  you're looking back at the end of the day you say, where did the hours go?  Between the commute, work, exams, if you have young children, preparing food, and  the never-ending to-do list, you just can't get enough checks in and you can't  seem to get to those goals. That's why today's habit is one that many people  don't think of. It's to cherish the simple and mundane. One of the  representatives of this habit was a man that was forecast by the Prophet  salallahu alaihi wasalam in his hadith. In the hadith he says,  Inna khayrat tabi'ina rajulun yuqalu lahu uwais. That the best of the generation of the  successors, the tabi'in, those that would come after the companions of the Prophet  peace and blessings be upon him, is a man named Uwais. The Prophet alaihi salatu wasalam  connected the generation of the companions with him because he  salallahu alaihi wasalam would die before they would meet him. He would tell people like  Abu Huraira, the narrator of the hadith, and Umar and Abu Bakr, many companions  heard of him. And the hadith continues,  Walahu walida wakana bihi bayad. He gave some marks by which you would know him.  He says he has a mother, but there is an intricacy here in the hadith. The  indication is that his relationship with his mother, his service of his mother is  so special that you can know him by that mark. And he used to have a skin disease,  but he made dua to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and it was cured except for a  very small part that remained an indication of this great blessing of  Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. Then the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam says,  famuroohoo fal yastaghfir lakum. If you're to meet him, then ask him to make istighfar,  to ask Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala's forgiveness on your behalf. This is so  incredible. Who is a person that is so special that the likes of Umar ibn al-Khattab,  the likes of Abu Huraira would be asked if you see him, ask him to make  istighfar for you. Well, Uwais al-Qarnayn actually could have been a companion  because he lived during the lifetime of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam.  Had he traveled to al-Madinah, he may have met him, but a duty kept him back in  his native land of Yemen, in his tribe named the tribe of Qarn. And that duty  was serving his elderly blind mother. Uwais al-Qarnayn accepted Islam when a  number of companions came to the land of Yemen, making da'wah. And had he  traveled then, he would have caught the last years of al-Madinah. But he  understood that his responsibility to his mother was sacred and special and  cherished by Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. He would go to the market, tend to her  needs, make sure that she had what she needed around the house, see to her food  and the other things that we do, taking care of especially the most vulnerable  in our families, such as young children or the honor of caring for our elderly  parents. He was a person that never had much wealth, but he worshipped Allah  subhanahu wa'ta'ala devoutly, made sincere dua, was very regular in his worship, and he  wasn't attached to this dunya. He didn't covet or desire what was in people's  hands. What's amazing is that not a historian, not a great scholar, but in fact  the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam himself, none less, is the one who says  that he is the best of this incredible generation. A generation that had the  likes of Imam al-Hassan al-Basri, Imam Sa'eed ibn al-Musayyib, Abu Hanifa  rahimahullah, and Najashi, great scholars, great theologians, great statesmen, great  politicians, great leaders, but all of them in this generation were outclassed  by a simple man named Uwais al-Qarnay, who Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala said was the  very best of that generation. Years later the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam  would pass away and Uwais never got to meet him in this dunya. Then Abu Bakr  came and after some years he passed away as well. The companions would ask about  him during the season of Al-Hajj and one time they found a group from Al-Yaman  that knew of a person but they were surprised that they were asking about  him, just a simple person that wasn't known, but he wasn't at Hajj that year.  Why? Because his mother was still alive and duty still called him. But the years  would pass and eventually the mother of Uwais al-Qarnay passed away and it was  then that on a Hajj that he would meet Umar ibn al-Khattab and some of the  luminary companions and imagine they're asking him please make istighfar for us  and Uwais al-Qarnay has never heard of this hadith. Why would someone like Umar,  like these companions, people that are known in the eastern and western  reaches of the lands, ask for istighfar for a simple poor man from the tribe of  Qarn. Imagine the feeling in his hear…

Deeds to Habit

Dr. Mohamed AbuTaleb

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