The Best Deed

On a Monday, when at the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (as) for a voluntary service, with a deep snow in Mashhad, we were asked to shovel the snow away.

At noon, while sitting in line waiting for saying my zuhr (noon) prayer in congregation, I had an urge to weep, which is normal at holy places. The sound of the muezzin echoed in my ears, reciting at the moment HAYYA ALAA KHAYR-IL-AMAL (Make haste towards the best deed). I suddenly remembered a hadith by Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) saying, 'The best deed is to do good to Fatimah (as) and her children' (Ibn Shar Ashoob, Manaqib, v.3, p.326). I wondered if our shovelling away the snow for the pilgrims of Imam Reza (as), a descendant of Hazrat Fatimah (as), would be accepted as doing good to her and thus the best deed. Thinking on this, I burst into tears hoping my service to be accepted, Insha’Allah.