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Building Your Portfolio of Good Deeds📈
Diversify Your Spiritual Investments for Maximum Rewards this Ramadan (InshAllah)
Workship Labs
March 14, 2025
Al Salam Alaikum 🌱
Last week, we kicked off our Trading with Allah series by exploring the best trade of your life- how the blessed month of Ramadan presents a once-a-year investment opportunity for believers.
This week, we’re looking at how to build a well-balanced portfolio of good deeds- because smart investors don’t put all their capital into one asset. They diversify. And Ramadan is the perfect time to do the same with our spiritual investments.
But before we jump into that, we need to first orient our hearts and minds to an Islamic worldview of success.
💎 Reframing Success: RODAK Over ROI
Having spent almost six years in a capitalist world, where ROI (Return on Investment) was the gold standard, I often felt uncomfortable how short-term and dunya-focused business thinking had become.
Every decision was measured in profits, growth, and efficiency- with little or no concern for God’s approval or ethical trade-offs.
It almost sucked my soul dry.
But when I started thinking about what it means to be a faith-first entrepreneur, I realized that ROI alone wasn’t enough.
That’s why I started measuring decisions by RODAK- Return of Dunya and Akhirah.
A faith-first entrepreneur doesn’t just ask:
“What’s the best financial return?”
They ask:
“How will this benefit both my dunya and akhirah?”
This is exactly how we should think about Ramadan- not just as a month of worship, but as a strategic investment window where we go all in for rewards that will pay off in both worlds, inshAllah.
📊 Portfolio Management: Active vs. Passive Investments
A smart investor diversifies their portfolio- balancing between active and passive investments to maximize gains.
Similarly, in Ramadan, we should balance consistent, foundational acts of worship (passive investments) with high-impact opportunities that (inshAllah) yield exponential returns (active investments).
Why is this important?
Because passive investments build stability, but active investments accelerate growth.
If we only focus on passive worship, we limit our potential returns.
A spiritual trader knows when to go all in. And Ramadan is that moment.
🌱 Quick Note: By calling obligations ‘passive investments’, I’m not downplaying their importance- far from it. Just like in business, where passive income is a powerful wealth-building tool, our foundational acts of worship are the bedrock of our spiritual wealth. I’m simply using investment terminology to illustrate the two types of spiritual assets we can grow in Ramadan.
📊 Diversifying Your Portfolio: Worship & Charity
The two primary spiritual assets we should invest in are:
1️⃣ Ritual Worship: Strengthening Your Spiritual Foundation
Your daily obligations (fard) are the foundation of your spiritual wealth, but if you want higher returns, you need to expand your portfolio:
📖 Reciting and Listening to the Quran
🕌 Taraweeh and Qiyam-ul-Layl
📿 Making Dua and Dhikr
🤲 Praying in Congregation
❤️ Visiting Family and Strengthening Ties
💸 Charity and Zakat
But worship it’s just about rituals- it’s also about how and where you invest your wealth and resources.
2️⃣ Charity: Thinking Beyond the Usual
Many people give the same way every year- donating to a masjid or feeding the hungry. While these are amazing, we should think like investors and diversify our charitable impact:
🏫 Education & Dawah
🧑🎓 Sponsoring Orphans & Students of Knowledge
💸 Poverty Alleviation
🕌 Building & Maintaining Masjids
📺️ Investing in Muslim Media
🌱 Environmental & Sustainability Causes
Sample RODAK Portfolio Breakdown
The above RODAK portfolio breakdown is just an example of how you can allocate your resources across the causes that matter the most to you. Your percentages may vary, but the key is to be intentional and strategic in diversifying where you invest your time, wealth, and energy.
The beautiful thing about investing in causes you believe in?
Even if you don’t have the means to start them yourself, you can contribute time, skills, or money to make them more sustainable- and become a stakeholder in their success, inshAllah.
That’s why I’ve been especially passionate lately about investing in Muslim Media- spaces that preserve, share, and elevate Islamic through. Two initiatives that I deeply believe in are:
🎙️ The Thinking Muslim Podcast- Engaging, high-quality discussions on Islamic thought, history, and contemporary challenges.
📚️ Blogging Theology- A treasure trove of intellectual discourse on Islam, history, theology, helping Muslims strengthen our faith and understanding.
By supporting similar causes, we help ensure the beautiful and universal message of Islam continues to be heard and shared, even if we aren’t the ones producing the content ourselves. That’s the beauty of impact investing in the spiritual economy.
But just like in the financial world, not all investments are good ones.
❌ The Risk Factor: Protecting Your Investments
A smart investor doesn’t just focus on profits- they also minimize risk.
Likewise, in Ramadan (and outside of it), we need to protect our good deeds from loss.
💰 A bad financial move can wipe out years of savings.
😞 A careless sin can wipe out years of worship.
A wise investor is careful about where they put their money.
A wise believer is careful about where they put their intentions, energy, and actions.
Don’t let your Ramadan profits vanish overnight due to carelessness.
A spiritual trader safeguards their earnings by minimizing risks (sins) and constantly making tawbah (repenting to Allah).
Be a spiritual trader.
This week, take 15 minutes to map out your personal RODAK strategy/portfolio.
1️⃣ Identify one active investment you want to go all in for the remainder of Ramadan.
2️⃣ Pick one passive investment you’ll commit to maintaining beyond Ramadan.
3️⃣ Diversify your sadaqah portfolio- choose one new cause you’ll support.
📝 Write it down. Make it real. And start investing like a spiritual trader.
💭 Final Thought: The Best Trade is Still Open
Allah (SWT) tells us:
“Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth in exchange for Paradise…”
(Surah At-Tawbah 9:111)
This trade is still open. The rewards are unmatched. The question is:
Will you go all in?
🌱 Please share your reflections with me- I’d love to hear how you’re applying these strategies! Simply reply back to this email, or DM me on LinkedIn!
📩 P.S. Don’t forget to share this newsletter so others can receive Part 3 next week, inshAllah!
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