In Islam, one of the attributes that Allah has is the "Thankful" or "Al-Shukoor".. this means that that allah rewards you for every good deed that you do. Never underestimate the generosity of Allah the most merciful the most gracious.
Here is a true and touching story to think about -
There was once a man that was very very poor (a long time ago), and one day the pain of the hunger was so severe that he started to cry in the mosque. The imam of the mosque came to him and asked whats wrong? The man told him about the state of himself and family being so hungry. So the imam took him to the closest body of water and told him to pray and submit to Allah, say "Bismillah" (in the name of allah) and throw the net in the water. The poor man did so and he miraculously caught a big fish. He took this fish to the market, sold it, and bought a small basket of food. The man said hamdillah (thank you allah) and he went home so that he can feed his family. On his way home, he saw a homeless woman with her young child. The child was staring at the basket of food and the woman was in pain from the hunger. So the man gave them the basket of food for the sake of allah because he knows that Allah is the only one in the world that knows his intention and will reward him for this amazing deed. The child started smiling and the mother was so happy that that tears started to come down her face. The man went home and there he was met by a friend that told him that your distant father is dead and you have inherited his money. The man automatically said hamdillah and he went on to use this money to invest and the money started to grow. After a couple of years, the man was very well off and he always donated thousands of dollars to the poor. Then one night, the man went to sleep and had a dream. He dreamed that it was the day of judgement and he was his turn for his deeds to be measured. There was a large scale and on end was all his sins and on the other end was his good deeds. The side with the sins was Huge! and much outweighed his good deeds which seemed to be so tiny compared to mountain of sins that he had. So then an angel said, "is there anything else that can be added to his good deeds?", there was an answer of "yes" and the basket of food showed up and was placed on the scale.. The scale started to sway a lil but the sins were still heavier. The angel once again asked, "Is there anything else?", a reply of "Yes", and the smile of the small kid came and went on the scale. The scale started to sway again and the sins and good deeds were dead even now. The angel once again asked, "Is there anything else?", a reply of "Yes", and the woman's tears showed up and went on the scale and the good deeds were extremely heavier than the sins now. The angel went on to say, "he has won, he has won". The man woke up and went on to say thank you allah for giving me the opportunity to make those good deeds.
So the moral of the story is.. only allah knows your intention behind your good deed, don't ever underestimate the worth of one good deed, even a smile that you give that might change a persons mood could have a mountain of reward behind it.
Allah is the most generous, most merciful, most gracious.. All praises are truly due onto him..
