Shopping For Good Deeds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cWho is this for? We don\u2019t want this. Take it back.\u201d The words fell upon my ears like a smack\u00a0in the face. I was expecting to hear duas and praises to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shopping For Good Deeds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cWho is this for? We don\u2019t want this. Take it back.\u201d The words fell upon my ears like a smack\u00a0in the face. I was expecting to hear duas and praises to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grow Mama Grow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-16T09:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-07-06T01:23:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/files\/2012\/08\/shopping-spree.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin GrowMama\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin GrowMama\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/\",\"name\":\"Shopping For Good Deeds\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-16T09:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-06T01:23:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#\/schema\/person\/9041c602d2ec0fd5c1672b303f167e94\"},\"description\":\"\u201cWho is this for? We don\u2019t want this. Take it back.\u201d The words fell upon my ears like a smack\u00a0in the face. I was expecting to hear duas and praises to\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Shopping For Good Deeds\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/\",\"name\":\"Grow Mama Grow\",\"description\":\"A Community for Muslim Mothers\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#\/schema\/person\/9041c602d2ec0fd5c1672b303f167e94\",\"name\":\"Admin GrowMama\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23cfdf6b964e678e9143f8dc0edbc32b?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23cfdf6b964e678e9143f8dc0edbc32b?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin GrowMama\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/author\/admingrowmama\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Shopping For Good Deeds","description":"\u201cWho is this for? We don\u2019t want this. Take it back.\u201d The words fell upon my ears like a smack\u00a0in the face. I was expecting to hear duas and praises to","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Shopping For Good Deeds","og_description":"\u201cWho is this for? We don\u2019t want this. Take it back.\u201d The words fell upon my ears like a smack\u00a0in the face. I was expecting to hear duas and praises to","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/","og_site_name":"Grow Mama Grow","article_published_time":"2012-08-16T09:00:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-07-06T01:23:31+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/files\/2012\/08\/shopping-spree.jpg"}],"author":"Admin GrowMama","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin GrowMama","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/","name":"Shopping For Good Deeds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-08-16T09:00:16+00:00","dateModified":"2013-07-06T01:23:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#\/schema\/person\/9041c602d2ec0fd5c1672b303f167e94"},"description":"\u201cWho is this for? We don\u2019t want this. Take it back.\u201d The words fell upon my ears like a smack\u00a0in the face. I was expecting to hear duas and praises to","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Shopping For Good Deeds"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/","name":"Grow Mama Grow","description":"A Community for Muslim Mothers","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#\/schema\/person\/9041c602d2ec0fd5c1672b303f167e94","name":"Admin GrowMama","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23cfdf6b964e678e9143f8dc0edbc32b?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23cfdf6b964e678e9143f8dc0edbc32b?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Admin GrowMama"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/author\/admingrowmama\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1573"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":4479,"date":"2012-08-16T05:00:16","date_gmt":"2012-08-16T09:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/growmama.com\/?p=4479"},"modified":"2013-07-05T21:23:31","modified_gmt":"2013-07-06T01:23:31","slug":"a-good-deed-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/growmama\/motherhood\/a-good-deed-please\/","title":{"rendered":"Shopping For Good Deeds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ \u201cWho is this for? We don\u2019t want this. Take it back.\u201d The words fell upon my ears like a smack\u00a0in the face. I was expecting to hear duas and praises to Allah when Ramadan groceries showed\u00a0up at the doorstep of this needy family. Instead, I was shocked, confused, and hurt upon being\u00a0turned away and unwelcomed. Why did this happen? Ya Hayyu, ya Qayyumu, bi-rahmatika\u00a0astaghith. O the Living, O the Eternal, I seek help by Your grace.<\/em> I believe I had good intentions. I took care to think thoughtfully about what ethnic foods they would like, and tried to choose\u00a0suitable treats for the children. What went wrong?<\/span><\/p>\n

I realize now, when we set out to do good deeds, the red carpet may not always be\u00a0rolled out for us. The path to Jannah isn\u2019t all roses. We should have determination and plan <\/span>to do well. But also, we should not deter easily when things don\u2019t go as expected. Maybe this is a\u00a0reason why doing good deeds is always prefaced in the Quran by patient perseverance<\/em> (Surat\u00a0Hud v. 11).<\/span><\/p>\n

I recall <\/span>the story<\/span><\/a> of the man who set out to pray fajr at the masjid. He was tripped <\/span>up by shaytan along the way. He had the fortitude to go home, change and set out once again. And once again shaytan tripped him. This\u00a0reoccurred to the point where with each attempt, Allah forgave his sins and those of more\u00a0and more people around him. On the last attempt, shaytan himself made sure to help the man\u00a0complete his task. He feared that Allah\u2019s mercy would extend to even more<\/em> people!<\/span><\/p>\n

When I critically think back to my doorstep food visit, I wonder if I had volunteered mainly out\u00a0of\u00a0convenience. \u00a0The timing and effort required, fit with\u00a0my routine and schedule. Could that have tainted my intention? Like many of us, I admit I am\u00a0accustomed to doing things on my own terms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now especially that we are about to leave Ramadan, we need to be watchful of \u201cshopping\u201d only for good deeds that fit conveniently into our lives.\u00a0Would you still share a plate of food with your neighbor, if it meant you wouldn\u2019t have leftovers\u00a0the next day? How would you respond when your grandmother says \u201cNo thanks, I don\u2019t want to\u00a0inconvenience you\u201d after offering her a ride to pray in the masjid? One option is to take the out,\u00a0the easier route. Your neighbors likely won\u2019t miss the plate of food. Your grandmother thanked you for the thought, and then let you off the hook. Yet, only Allah\u00a0knows what lies beyond, if only you were to persevere a little further.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Push aside your own comfort. Battle against your grandmother\u2019s reluctance for help, and overcome the unwelcomed words of\u00a0others. \u201cFor them who have done good is the best reward and extra. No darkness will cover their\u00a0faces, nor humiliation. Those are companions of Paradise; they will abide therein eternally\u201d (Surat Yunus v. 26.). Let\u2019s be true to the Ramadan spirit of sacrifice, perseverance, and generous giving all year round.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dalal Kanan<\/span><\/p>\n

Dalal is currently a chemistry graduate student who above all loves being mom to a precious 3 yr old. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"