Less than 1 percent of what you say can change people’s lives forever…
Last weekend, I was driving and watching a YouTube video, and I got a notification from my substack app. I don’t remember exactly what the notification was, but all I remember was that the notification banner mentioned something about...istighfar.
I realized at that point that while I am alone in the car, with no one to talk to, now would be a good time to talk to Allah and ask for forgiveness. Surely you can never ask for too much forgiveness, since we are perpetual sinners!
It also reminded me of the blessings of istighfar, one of them being that it will increase your wealth. That is exactly what the people of Nuh (AS) were told, that forgiveness will give you abundance:
I said to them: “Ask forgiveness from your Lord; surely He is Most Forgiving. He will shower you with abundant rain, and will provide you with wealth and children, and will bestow upon you gardens and rivers.”
Surah Nuh (71:10-12)
Subhan Allah, look at what forgiveness can bring your way!
All these thoughts were going through my head, all from just a quick banner notification that I dismissed so quickly so I could continue to watch YouTube.
Even though I dismissed the notification as fast as I could, I saw the notification long enough that it made me pause the video, take a few minutes to be as genuine as I can about my sins and ask Allah for forgiveness, and then continue with my day.
I am not even sure who wrote the substack post because I can’t even find it 🙃, but it just shows us that as long as we have a sincere intention to please Allah and to bring people closer to Allah, we can get rewarded for those small actions.
This person who wrote this post got good deeds from JUST the notification sent to my phone, without me even reading the article in detail, and allowed me to write my own post about istighfar and its benefits!
Most of what we say online, or even to our families, may be dismissed and not even seen by most people, but there might just be that 0.5% of what you say that touches someone a certain way, and that causes them to make a small change in their life or just reflect and connect with Allah for a few minutes.
Those are the moments that will matter at the end of the day, because if we have helped someone come closer to Allah even for just a few moments, Allah will take note of that.
If Allah has liked what you have done, it doesn't matter what kind of engagement your post gets, because the one who can change your life has already liked what you have done!
The like of all likes!