The earth will testify to every deed
“When there is something very little in your assessment it's not necessarily very little on the scale of hasanat or the scale of bad deeds.”
Surah al-Zalzalah teaches that on the Day of Judgment the earth itself will rise, throw out its burdens, and testify to every deed, so believers must never belittle even an atom's weight of good or evil.
The khutbah in 8 steps
- Opening: linking the end of Surah al-Bayyinah (promise of paradise) to the rhetorical question 'when will this reward come?' answered by Surah al-Zalzalah
- Allah ties faith in the Last Day to its signs rather than a fixed time, despite Meccans' repeated questioning of the Prophet
- The two shakings of the Last Day (from Surah an-Nazi'at) and two readings of 'the earth throws out its burdens': treasures of gold, or the buried dead themselves
- Humans and jinn as 'al-thaqalain', the only legally responsible creatures, hence a burden the earth longs to be rid of
- The earth will speak and testify, understood by mufassireen as complaining to Allah, His angels, and His awliya about what happened on it
- People will be sorted into recognizable groups, friends of Allah versus enemies of Allah, grouped with those they accompanied in dunya
- The atom's weight of good and evil: seeing one's record precedes recompense; never scorn small charity (half a date) or dismiss small sins; intention and mindset are what count
- Closing du'a, including for the oppressed in every land, then the prayer
In the khateeb's words
“Rather Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wanted to connect us with alamat al-sa'ah, with the signs of the day of judgment.”
“for this money, for this wealth for this power you were seeking in this life it's right in front of you but you're very zahid of it”
“we're the only creatures that are legally responsible and that's why we violate and transgress the rights of Allah”
“when there is something very little in your assessment it's not necessarily very little on the scale of hasanat or the scale of bad deeds”
For the dinner table
Today's khutbah was a journey through Surah al-Zalzalah, the surah of the great shaking of the Last Day. The khateeb explained that when the believers heard the promise of paradise at the end of Surah al-Bayyinah, it was as if they asked, 'When will this be?', and Allah answered not with a date, but with signs, because no one, not even the Prophet, knows the hour. On that day the earth will throw out what is inside it, and one powerful meaning is that the earth will give back us, the buried, whom Allah calls 'burdens' because we alone are responsible for our choices. The earth itself will speak, telling Allah and His angels everything that ever happened on it. People will be separated into groups, the friends of Allah and His enemies, and every deed, even an atom's weight of good or evil, will be shown. So the khateeb urged us: never think a good deed is too small to matter, and never think a sin is too small to worry about.
- If the ground under your feet could talk about your day, what would you want it to say?
- What is one 'tiny' good deed our family could start doing this week?
- Why do you think Allah kept the time of the Last Day a secret from everyone?
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