Al-Salam ‘Alaykum, this is Syed Ali Imran – and you are listening to the Forties podcast, brought to you by Mizan Institute.
This is episode 42 – God’s Mercy in Rewarding His Servants
مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ سِنَانٍ عَنْ عِمْرَانَ الزَّعْفَرَانِيِّ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ مَرْوَانَ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا جَعْفَرٍ ع يَقُولُ مَنْ بَلَغَهُ ثَوَابٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ عَلَى عَمَلٍ فَعَمِلَ ذَلِكَ الْعَمَلَ الْتِمَاسَ ذَلِكَ الثَّوَابِ أُوتِيَهُ وَ إِنْ لَمْ يَكُنِ الْحَدِيثُ كَمَا بَلَغَه
In Hadith #1 we read from Imam Baqir (a) who said: One to hears about a reward of Allah for an act, and then does that act hoping to attain that reward, he will be given the reward even if the ḥadīth as it reached him was not correct.
This narration gives us a little glimpse of Allah’s mercy upon us, that His mercy is to such an extent that if someone hears about an act, an act of worship, has a certain amount of reward, and he performs the act seeking this reward, Allah will grant him or her the reward even if the narration or report he had heard was incorrect. It isn’t the case that if the person did this act, that if a ḥadīth was wrong about the reward, that Allah (swt) will let this person’s deeds go in vain.
There are many other similar narrations that convey the same point, and many scholars have used these traditions to justify the recitation of some of the du’as and ziyarat, since we have been given the report about them and we do not know if these are lies or fabrications. So the scholars say we can recite these du’as and ziyarat hoping to get the reward that some of these supplications promise us, and that Allah’s Mercy is all encompassing.
Of course, if we know for sure that a certain ḥadīth or a report is false, that someone is attributing a lie to the Prophet (p) or one of the Imams (a), then in that case it doesn’t make sense to do an act seeking that reward – because you know it’s a lie. These narrations are speaking about a scenario where you don’t know if a certain report or ḥadīth is false, and in fact on the contrary you may think it is correct and true. In this case, if you were wrong in your judgement, then Allah will still reward you for your act.
This is an act of Mercy that Allah has bestowed upon us and it is a way by which He has encouraged us to do good deeds in society especially those for which a reward has also been mentioned.
The next 39 narrations will be generally speaking about the rewards for various deeds, and though the narrations are relatively reliable, if it just so happens to be that we are wrong, and one of the narrations that we’ll be quoting is not true, and we aren’t able to figure out, then know that Allah (swt) will still reward us for it and excuse our ignorance.
In the next narration, we’ll read a Prophetic ḥadīth in which the reward of fasting in front of group of people who are eating is mentioned.
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Sayyid Ali studied in the seminary of Qom from 2012 to 2021, while also concurrently obtaining a M.A in Islamic Studies from the Islamic College of London in 2018. In the seminary he engaged in the study of legal theory, jurisprudence and philosophy, eventually attending the advanced kharij of Usul and Fiqh in 2018. He is currently completing his Masters of Education at the University of Toronto and is the head of a private faith-based school in Toronto, as well as an instructor at the Mizan Institute and Mufid Seminary.
