Every Worship Has a Rate, Except One

Every ʿibādah in Islam has an amount written against it. When a person works for a company on a casual basis, he is paid an hourly rate; when he works on a salary, he is paid a fixed amount. In the same way, the majority of the acts of ʿibādah, the majority of the worships, the good deeds a person does, have a rate in the sight of Allah (swt). How much? Two million ḥasanāt, three million ḥasanāt, or five billion ḥasanāt, whatever the case may be. But for fasting — what does Allah (swt) say in the ḥadīth qudsī? Kullu ḥasanatin bi-ʿashri amthālihā ilā sabʿi miʾati ḍiʿf, illā al-ṣiyām, fa-innahu lī wa anā ajzī bih. Allah (swt) says that every good deed has some rate of ḥasanāt, from ten-fold to seven-hundred-fold. Ten-fold to seven-hundred-fold.

Say al-salāmu ʿalaykum to another Muslim — what is earned? Ten rewards. Spend money from one's own pocket on one's parents — how much is earned? Seven hundred times. Simply spending on one's parents — buying gifts, looking after them, paying for or buying whatever they need — earns seven hundred times. Spend a million dollars on one's parents, and how much does one get? Allah pays it back, and the ratio, the exchange rate, is seven hundred times: seven hundred million dollars, Allah (swt) pays back. This is what Allah (swt) says. However, Allah (swt) says, fasting is different. Fasting is for Me. Why do people put up with hunger and thirst and all the suffering of Ramadan? No one sees it. Anyone who wanted to eat could go around the corner to the canteen where no one is looking; the non-Muslims do not even know that one is fasting. So why fast? It is for Allah (swt). Why suffer at all? Why ever show patience? For Allah (swt). That is what Allah (swt) says: it is for Me; fasting is for Me; therefore I shall reward the fasting person personally.

On the Day of Judgement, when a person appears before Allah (swt), his scales are weighed, and sometimes the wrong side is heavy — in other words, he has so many sins that he does not know what to do, and he is worried sick. All of a sudden the malāʾikah say: this is from Allah (swt); put it on the scale. And the scale swings the other way. What happened? What was that? It is only a piece of paper. This is the reward that Allah (swt) promised for fasting. If Allah wants khayr for a person on the Day of Judgement, goodness for him, who is going to stop Allah (swt)? Ṣabr. Fasting is ṣabr, and Allah (swt) pays it back.