Any act that is received and accepted by God is a Righteous Act.
The acts that do not reach God are not Amal e Saleh.
The clergymen will say, 'Oh, look he is saying that salah is not a Righteous Act'.
Then say to them, 'If the act of salah of every man is righteous,
then why does the Qur'an say the worshippers shall be destroyed?'
Is Your Salah A Righteous Act?
The Qur’an frequently mentions Amal e Saleh, the righteous deeds.
However, the interpreters, translators and orators have given the incorrect meaning of this.
There are basic good and bad deeds which are apparent,
for example, helping someone is a good deed and humiliating someone is a bad deed.
So, a good deed is to help someone and to be cruel is a bad deed.
So, they have given the impression that [the Amal e Saleh] are simple good deeds.
However, that is not the case.
Amal e Saleh has a different meaning.
The Righteous Acts are used to refer to the acts of worship
Those whose worship is good. But all acts of worship are good.
Is there any act of worship that is bad?
However, if you take a closer look, it is proven that there is good and bad worship.
If there was no bad worship, then why would God have said,
'fa wailul-lil musalleen allazeena hum 'an salaatihim saahoon'
'destruction and woe upon the worshippers who pray yet are heedless of their prayer'?
So, all acts of worship that are performed without the purification and presence of the spiritual heart,
such worship become a source of hardship for the human being.
Any act of worship performed without the purification of the spiritual heart is not delivered to God
but is seen by the general public,
who then begin to praise you
for something that is not being received by God,
therefore, it then becomes the reason for your destruction.
The good acts in the acts of worship become Righteous Acts.
So, which acts of worship are considered Righteous Acts?
The acts of worship which are conducted with the presence of an enlightened heart.
Those acts are righteous in the eyes of God.
Saleh means 'good’.
In the Arabic language, Saleh generally means ‘good’.
However, when it is about the Qur’an,
even if the definition is the same,
you must find out the definition used by God for this word.
When you don’t find that out, this is what happens.
For example, I mentioned helping someone - that's a good act, right?
However, if your intention is different, that act won't remain good.
Although, it's a good act to help someone,
however, if your intent behind that act is different,
it shall not remain good, it won't reach God.
If you do it to show off, it won't reach God.
How will you find out whether an act you have performed is good or not?
Forget about helping someone, just contemplate worship.
A Muslim prays 5 times a day,
has he ever pondered that salah stops one from indecent and bad acts?
If his salah is not stopping him from indecent and bad deeds,
then can we say his salah is Amal e Saleh?
Why not? Because that salah is invalid.
If the salah was valid and Amal e Saleh,
then it would have stopped one from indecent and wrong deeds.
Now, salah in itself is free of defect,
salah itself is faultless,
it is in how it is offered,
and the requirements imposed by God are lacking.
For instance, the primary principle of Islam is
‘iqrarul bil lissan wa tasdeequn bil qalb (verbal proclamation and affirmation of the heart)’.
And then the Prophet (s) said,
'la salata illa bi huzoori e qalb'
'there is no salah without the presence of the spiritual heart'.
So, can any Muslim say that their salah is Amal e Saleh?
They do believe it. Who would say their salah is not Amal e Saleh?
Salah in itself is not Amal e Saleh, it has to be made so.
Salah can become Amal e Saleh through the purification of the spiritual heart and [then] the presence of the spiritual heart.
Without the purification and presence of the spiritual heart,
your salah is only a ritualistic offering,
which is lacking its requirements and shall not be accepted by God.
This is why God has said,
'Destruction and woe to the worshippers who are heedless of the reality of their salah'.
So, a Righteous Act is done with the purification of your spiritual heart,
then every act of yours is a Righteous Act.
Because God did not say, ‘I look at your deeds’,
‘inna allah la yanzar ila soorukum wa la aamaalukum’.
God does not look at the way you appear, your face or your body,
nor does he look at your acts.
What does he look at then?
‘wa lakin yanzar ila quloobukum wa niyaatukum’.
However, God looks at your heart and the intentions therein.
This is why the Prophet (s) said,
'niyat ul momin khairum min amli'
'The intention of a Momin is greater than his deed'.
So, a Righteous Act is one
in which your spiritual heart is present in every act.
For example, you are reciting the Qur'an,
if any Muslim is asked,
'is it a Righteous Act to recite the Qur'an?'
What would he say? He would affirm without any doubt.
Isn’t that so?
If you ask, 'is it a Righteous Act to recite the ahadith?',
they will affirm without any doubt,
‘Absolutely.
What else would be a Righteous Act but to recite the Qur’an and ahadith?’
But then the question is,
why are those that recite the Qur'an and ahadith engaged in sodomy?
To recite the Qur'an, the ahadith,
to fast, to go on pilgrimage, to offer salah,
all these are the acts of worship
that are dependent on Amal e Saleh in order to be accepted by God.
Without the purification of the spiritual heart,
the recitation will not be Amal e Saleh.
If the recitation of the Qur’an is done with the purification of the heart, then it would be Amal e Saleh.
Now, someone is reciting Naat Sharif and someone asks,
‘Is it a Righteous Act to recite Naat Sharif?’
Everyone would say, ‘Yes, absolutely.
It is a Righteous Act to recite Naat’.
But who would say this?
One who does not possess the esoteric knowledge of the Qur’an and ahadith.
Now, whether reciting a Naat is a Righteous Act
depends on your intentions.
Because, the Prophet (s) said,
'inna mal amaalu bin niyaat'
'The acceptance of your deeds is dependent upon the intention behind it'.
Your intention determines the outcome of your deed.
So, fundamentally, all acts such as reciting the Qur'an, Naat Sharif, ahadith, fasting, and performing Hajj
are fundamentally acts of worship
that we need to transform into make Righteous Acts.
Most people did not understand what the Qur'an has to say.
For example, the Qur'an states,
'nahnu aqrabu ilaihi min hablil wareed'
'I am closer to you than your jugular vein'.
Now, God has revealed his location here.
[He is saying], 'this is how close I am'.
Now, this is God's own way of explaining what he wants to say.
Mulla Ali Qari elaborates on this point:
'The reason why God mentioned the jugular vein is
that it is the main vein that connects to the heart,
hence this is a reference to the heart'.
Because it is the heart that is close to the jugular vein.
And, [the Muslims] did not understand this.
Every Muslim thinks that God is closer to them than their jugular vein,
however, if that is the case,
then why doesn't God listen to your prayers?
If God is closer to them than their jugular vein,
then why did God say,
'destruction and woe be unto those who pray, yet are heedless of the reality of their salah'?
If God is closer to everyone than their jugular vein
then why would people be sent to hell?
He is not closer to your jugular vein,
however, he can be when you bring God into your heart.
Bring him even closer than the jugular vein,
then he would be ‘closer than the jugular vein’!
How is he closer than your jugular vein at the moment?
Right now, you are occupied by the Devil.
When you bring God into your heart, then he would be closer to you than your jugular vein.
So, the common person doesn't even know of the Righteous Acts,
[they don't even know] whether their fast has been accepted [by God].
I mean, if they are Righteous Acts [already], then why are you concerned about them being accepted?
There is no bravery in performing salah.
Even Yazid performed salah,
as well as Imam Hussain (a).
If the individual is righteous, his every act is righteous
and if the individual is satanic,
like Yazid, Shahbaz Sharif and Qamar Bajwa,
their every act will be rejected by God,
whether they are reciting the Qur’an, ahadith, performing Hajj
or offering salah.
If it is done by a satan, it is a satanic act.
If the devil offers salah, it is a satanic act.
You offer salah in the mosque every day.
If I were to ask you, ‘Has your salah been accepted?’
[You would say,] ‘I don’t know’.
Why don’t you know?
If you don’t know whether your salah has been accepted, then why do you believe it is a Righteous Act?
And you should know whether it has been accepted or not.
Why must you know?
God did not introduce salah as worship alone,
rather, God introduced salah as spiritual medicine.
'inna salata tanha anil fahsha wal munkir'
'Salah will stop you from all indecencies and wrongdoings'.
Isn’t it so easy to find out whether your salah has been accepted or not?
Perform salah and when you stop engaging in all indecencies and wrongdoings,
then you will know that your salah is reaching God.
But, if after a year, 5 years or 10 years of praying every day,
you are still engaged in indecencies and wrongdoings,
then how can your salah be reaching God?
Had your salah reached God,
you would have stopped from indecencies and wrongdoings.
These are the applications of worship.
It is the enlightened spiritual heart of a human being
that can render any act a Righteous Act.
So, those who perform Righteous Acts shall enter Illiyeen.
And who shall perform Righteous Acts?
Let’s say there is someone standing on the Day of Judgement,
who, for example, lived for 50 years,
and salah was obligatory upon him by the age of 15 or 12.
So, he lived till the age of 50
and offered salah every single day, from the day he reached puberty, for 35-37 years.
And on the other hand, there is someone
who never recited salah all their life
and at the very end of his life,
he somehow prayed 2-4 rakahs, which he performed with the presence of the spiritual heart.
I say four, whereas the hadith states two,
that merely two rakahs of salah with the presence of the spiritual heart may be enough for one's salvation.
So, on the Day of Judgement, there is one who offered salah for 36 years, he didn’t miss a single one,
whereas the other only ever offered two rakahs,
but he possessed the presence of the spiritual heart
and he shall enter Illiyeen and the other shall enter Sijjiyeen.
You may have offered salah but they did't reach God,
therefore, you are not considered a worshipper in the eyes of God.
Now, just look at this.
Let’s say I borrow £1,000 from Farid bhai,
and I promised that 'I will return £100 a month to you',
paying him the sum back in 10 months.
Then what do I do?
I say, 'Ayyaz, take £100 from me and give it to Farid bhai for me'.
Now, Ayyaz doesn't give the money to Farid bhai,
and from my end, I have paid off the debt by paying £100 every month.
Then, I bump into Farid bhai one day,
who says, ‘You have not returned the money. You promised me’.
And I say, ‘I sent you money every month without fail’.
Farid Sab says, ‘I didn’t receive it’.
Now, I had paid the debt off,
but it was my responsibility to make sure
that he received the money as it was he I borrowed from.
I did not fulfil the responsibility of making sure whether Farid is receiving the money or not.
Similarly, to make sure whether or not my salah is reaching God is my responsibility.
Otherwise, I could stand on the Day of Judgement and say,
‘I offered salah every single day’
but God would say, ‘where is the proof, show me’
because it is not the salah that reaches God,
it is the divine energy.
It is not your qurbani and zabiyah that reaches God,
it is not the meat that reaches God, it is the intention behind it.
Similarly, God will not look at your salah,
God will look at the divine light that your salah is supposed to generate.
If, after everything, you do not have divine light, then you are a non-worshipper [in the eyes of God] despite offering salah.
A Righteous Act is one that has the purification and presence of the heart,
because it is the heart that delivers that act to God
so that it is registered.
Any act that is received and accepted by God is a Righteous Act.
The acts that do not reach God are not Amal e Saleh.
The clergymen will say,
'Oh, look he is saying that salah is not a Righteous Act'.
Then say to them,
'If the act of salah of every man is righteous,
then why does the Qur'an say the worshippers shall be destroyed?'
So, salah in itself is an act,
however, it is your job to make it righteous.
How will you make it righteous?
This is why God stated this in Alhamdu Sharif:
‘iyyaka na’budu - we wish to worship you’,
‘wa iyyaka nasta’een'
'and for us to become worthy of your worship, we require your aid’,
without which, our worship will be in vain.
Now, what is that aid, with which our worship will be delivered to God?
That aid is to find a spiritual guide,
so that the spiritual guide activates, purifies and enlightens our spiritual heart.
Thereafter, our path is cleared and our salah, our fasting, recitation of the Qur’an and ahadith shall all reach God.
Why?
Because now you have become righteous, every act of yours is righteous.
Those who learned how to make every act righteous,
the Qur’an refers to them as the 'Saliheen'.
They are Saliheen, they are the righteous people.
Who? Whose hearts are righteous,
whose ethereal being is righteous.
There was a mass of people outside HDE Gohar Shahi's residence in Kotri among whom was Noor Muhammad Sarhandi and others.
HDE Gohar Shahi pointed their finger at him and said,
'You have such a long beard, you must think you are a pious person, right?'
He said, 'Yes, Master'.
HDE Gohar Shahi said, 'You think you are pious, but that's not what God thinks'.
‘You are righteous in your own eyes’.
He asked, ‘Master, who is righteous in the eyes of God?’
HDE Gohar Shahi said,
'One whose heart and lower self is purified
is righteous in the eyes of God.
If you just keep a long beard, you pray and fast
but Satan occupies your heart, then you are not righteous.
The world thinks you are righteous
because the world goes on face value.
The world sees your prostrations,
God does not look at your prostrations.
God does not look at your qiyaam and ruku.
God looks at your heart,
and your heart is concerned about the provision of your house
and the health of your wife'.
So, those of Righteous Acts - they are guaranteed Illiyeen.
Why are they guaranteed?
Because if the heart is enlightened, how can it bear arrogance?
The fundamental condition is the heart cannot bear arrogance even the size of a mustard seed.
God detests arrogance.