Fulfilling an obligation is better than doing many optional deeds:
بسم الله والحمد لله
والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله ، وبعد
Many times we see people preoccupied with optional deeds
while ignoring the obligatory ones, example:
1) Eager to feed the poor while ignoring the obligatory Salaah
(prayers).
2) Being cheerful with their friends but not with their
wives and children.
3) Being generous with old people while ignoring their
own parents.
4) Eager to help the strangers but not their own
brothers.
5) Standing up for the (optional) night prayers but
missing on the Fajr with the congregation.
***
Shaikh Muhammad Ibn Saaleh al-`Uthaymeen رحمه الله said:
❝Fulfilling
an obligation is far more superior to doing optional deeds, because of the
saying Allaah تعالى
in the Hadeeth al-Qudsee:
❝{And the most beloved things with which My slave comes
nearer to Me, is what I have made obligatory upon him…}❞ [Saheeh
al-Bukhaaree]
But the Shaitaan (diverts) the man and increases his
interest in the optional deeds (by making them more attractive and pleasing to
him) while reducing his interest in the obligatory deeds (by making them less
attractive to him).
Example: you will find a person keen in giving Sadaqah
(optional charity) while missing on the obligatory one (i.e. Zakaah); or that he
spends on the poor (and the homeless) while ignoring the obligations towards
his family; or he spends on the poor and ignores the obligations that are upon
him like paying off the debts. His creditor would be requesting him to pay off
his debts; but instead of discharging his debts, he goes and gives charity to
the poor or goes to perform optional `Umrah or Hajj while not fulfilling that
which is obligatory upon him. This is against the Sharee`ah and this is not
Hikmah (wisdom). He is foolish in his understanding and has gone astray
regarding the Sharee`ah.❞
[Sharh Riyaadh al-Saaliheen of Shaikh Ibn
al-`Uthaymeen (3/158-159)]
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