Good Deed Series – 6. Anonymous Acts of Kindness – Do it only for Allah!
“If you disclose (acts of) charity, it is well, but if you hide them and make them reach those (really) in need, that is best for you: It will remove from you some of your evil deed…” (2:271)
It is better if we hide it when we do good to others – that way we know for sure our intention is pure and only for Allah. This rhyme is a great one to emphasise that!
Anonymous acts of kindness are a great way of doing this – leaving a post-it with a message of wishing them a good day on someone’s parked car window, paying towards the next person’s order when queuing for a coffee or simply smiling at anyone you pass on the road are all examples of how we can do good to people we don’t know and who don’t know us!
There is a great anecdote about Gandhi: While boarding a moving train one day, one of Gandhi’s shoes slipped off and fell upon the track. As he was unable to retrieve it, Gandhi – to the astonishment of his fellow travelers – calmly removed his other shoe and threw it down the track to where the first had landed. “The poor man who finds the shoe lying on the track,” Gandhi explained, “will now have a pair he can use.”
Some time ago, my kids and I found these smile balls in a pound shop (think they came in a pack of 6) and we bought a few. We then bought some chocolate and had a lot of fun leaving a chocolate and a smile ball with shopkeepers to give to the next customer, handing them out to random strangers and generally just enjoying thinking up ideas of what to do with them!
How about making a good deed jar at home and encouraging the family to fill it up – but in secret? Check out this idea: https://www.buzzideazz.com/idea-5-a-good-deed-jar/
