TWO GROUPS OF DEED

Hadrat Imâm-i Rabbânî (rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih) says in his twenty-ninth letter: 

“Deeds that Allahu ta’âlâ likes can be divided into two groups. The first group makes up the fard, which He has commanded, and the second group consists of those things that are not fard. They are called nâfila (supererogatory). When compared with the fards, the supererogatory things are of no value. Doing one fard in its prescribed time, [or making qadâ of it if its prescribed time is over], is better than doing the supererogatory worships with a pure intention for a thousand years. So is the case with all supererogatory worships, such as namâz, alms, fasting and dhikr. In fact, so is the case with observing one sunnat or adab of a fard or with avoiding one of its mekrûhs when doing a fard. Supererogatory worships done along with the fards are valuable. Because it is fard to give the zakât, giving one gold coin as zakât is better than giving gold coins as heavy as a mountain in the name of alms.” He says in his one hundred and twenty-third letter: “A hadîth-i sherîf declares:  ‘A person’s spending his time on mâ-lâ-ya’nî signifies that Allahu ta’âlâ does not like him.’ Mâ-lâ-ya’nî means useless deeds. Doing supererogatory worships instead of doing one fard is spending time on mâ-lâ-ya’nî.” And he says in his two hundred and sixtieth letter: “Compared with the fard, the supererogatory worships are not as valuable as a drop of water compared to an ocean. Likewise is the value of the sunnat when compared to the fard.