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Sincerity in Islam


        All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, and seek
His help and ask Him for forgiveness.  We seek refuge from 
the evil of ourselves and from the adverse consequences of
our actions.  Whomsoever Allah guides, there is no one to 
misguide him and whomsoever He misguides, there is none to 
guide him.  I testify that there is no deity except Allah and
I testify that Muhammed (S) is His servant and messenger.

        The Prophet of Allah Muhammed (S) said:  Actions are 
only by intention, and every man shall only have what he 
intended.  Thus he whose hijra was for the sake of Allah and 
His Messenger, his hijra was for Allah and His Messenger, and 
he whose hijra was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take 
some woman in marriage, his hijra was for that for which he 
made hijra.(bukhari)
        
        This hadith clearly indicates that ones actions are 
accepted by Allah (swt) only if they are done with the right 
intention, i.e. truly for the sake of Allah (swt).  This brings 
us to a very important aspect of  the religion of islaam - the 
concept of Sincerity.  The arabic word used for this is 'Ikhlass'.  
What is meant by sincerity in islaam, is to ensure that all of our 
deeds of worship and other matters are solely for Allah (swt) and 
to gain His pleasure.  Hence, sincerity is a condition for the 
acceptance of our deeds that are performed in accordance to the 
sunnah of Prophet (S).  Allah (swt) says in the quran in 
sura Bayinah 5:

        And they have been commanded to worship only Allah, being 
sincere towards Him in their deen and true.

        Thus we are commanded to perform our religious acts, what 
compose our religion for us, based on sincerity.  This is what Allah 
has commanded us.  This is the foundation of our faith. In one of 
the statement of prophet (S), He (S) said, Whoever says 'La ilaha 
ill aalah' will enter paradise.  He made a general statement, but he 
further clarified his statement by saying whoever says 'La ilaha 
illaalah' sincerely from his heart will enter paradise.  Hence, once 
the true faith has entered your heart, it will never go.  You may do 
wrong, may go astray sometimes but once you have tasted the reality 
of faith, it causes you to be sincere in all your deeds; and this 
sincerity will inshAllah, ultimately make you attain paradise.
        
        A heart that lacks sincerity is, from an Islamic point of view, 
the worst of hearts.  It is the heart of a hypocrite, or the heart of 
the enemy of Allah.

        Dear brothers and sisters in Islam, this sincerity is not an 
easy thing to achieve.    As someone said: It is much harder for the
people to purify their intentions than to execute any of their actions 
In order to be truly sincere, one has to give up the worldly desires, 
and devote himself to the love of Allah (swt).  He has to contemplate 
on the next world, that is to come and this would leave no place in 
his heart for the love of this world.  Such a person should be devout 
in his actions, even in eating, drinking and answering the calls of 
nature.  Without that it is very difficult for a person to be really 
sincere to Allah (swt).

        Many a times, it so happens that we think that our actions 
are for Allah (swt), but it reality, they are lacking sincerity.  
Here is a story of a man who used to stand in the first row for 
every salat.  As the prophet (S) mentioned on one of the hadith that 
if people knew the reward of standing in the first row and calling the
Adhan, they would fight one another to perform these acts.  But once 
it so happened, that this man was late for prayers and had to stand in 
the second row. He felt embarrassed that people would see him in the 
second row, and it was then that he realized that the satisfaction he 
used to get from standing in the first row was from people seeing him 
in the first row and his sincerity in doing this act was impure.  This 
is just a small example of how our sincerity towards our Lord is 
unsafe from being impure.

        It is very important that we realize the gravity of this 
situation in this world.  Because if we don’'t, then on the day of 
Resurrection, these very deeds of ours ,that we thought to be good 
will appear as bad deeds.  As Allah says in the quran: ‘

        And something will come to them from Allah which they had 
never anticipated, for the evil of their deeds will become apparent 
to them.                                                (39: 47-48)

        And also: ‘ Shall We tell you who will lose most in resect
of their deeds? Those whose efforts were astray in the life of this 
world, while they thought that they were doing good works.’ 
                                                (18: 103-104)

        Although these ayats are talking about the kuffars, we too 
must evaluate our actions to  make sure they are sincerely for the 
sake of Allah (swt).

        Brothers and sisters in Islaam, The Prophet mentioned that,
the Sahabah, the best generation of this ummah, were afraid of being 
insincere and hypocrites.  Imam Bukhari mentioned on the authority of 
Abu Maleeka that he said: ‘ I met thirty of the companions of 
Muhammed (S), every one of them fears for himself from hypocrisy.’

        This was the state of the Sahabah then how about us? Hence, 
we should check ourselves and be certain that we are doing our best 
to be sincere to our Lord in whatever we are doing whether it includes 
the religious acts or the acts which we do not consider as religious 
per say. In Islam, principles cover everything and concept of 
sincerity is required in all aspects of our lives.  For example, there 
is no way we can be sincere to Allah and not be sincere to out fellow 
Muslims.  Worshipping Allah sincerely necessitates dealing properly 
and justly with other Muslims.

        Now let us look at some examples from the seerah of Prophet(S)
and the Sahabah, as to how sincere they were.  For example, during the 
battle of Tabuk when the call for Jihad was made, some people came to 
the Prophet (S) and wanted to join in the Jihad; however due to lack 
of sufficient resources, there was no opportunity for them to join in 
the Jihad.  Hence, these people turned away by the Prophet (S). It is 
described in the quran that they left with tears in their eyes. This 
was the sincerity of these people, for their deen.  They knew that 
they are dealing with their Lord who was the owner of their lives and 
wealth, for the ever lasting life in the hereafter.  This is why they 
had no problem in giving their lives for the sake of Allah (swt).  
Who amongst us would cry because he could not go to Jihad, where his 
life is in danger twenty four hours a day?  When we look at the lives 
of these people, it tells us where we really stand in terms of our 
imaan, and informs us of the states of our hearts.

        Another example is of a desert Arab, who when he became Muslim
went to Jihad.  When, after the jihad he was offered some booty 
gained from the war, he replied that he didn't make the oath of
allegiance for the booty, but to find an arrow in his heart and to  
die to achieve Paradise.  

        Brothers and sisters in Islaam, it is due to this very sincerity 
whatever a believer does, it becomes an act of righteousness.  How can 
we achieve this sincerity? By looking at the life of the Prophet (S) 
and the Sahabah, and by reflecting on those ayaats and ahadith that 
remind us of sincerity.  For example, those ayaats in which Allah’s
 attributes of being the All-Seeing, All-Knowing and All-Hearing are 
mentioned. Whatever we do and whatever intention we perform those 
deeds with, Allah knows it all.  There is nothing that we can hide.

        One important thing that will make us sincere to Allah is 
keeping away from pride and arrogance. It is this sin of pride and 
arrogance that was committed by Iblees, the shaitan.  Although he knew 
Allah better than all of us, he still disobeyed Him due to his arrogance 
and pride.  Pride is the thing that makes us perform deeds, to show off 
to others rather than for the sake of Allah (swt). We should not only 
try to avoid this pride in ourselves, but also, if we see it in others 
we should advise them and inform them about its consequences.

        Finally brothers and sisters in Islaam, we should seek know
-ledge of our religion of Islaam.  The more we learn about Allah and 
His deen, the more closer we will get towards our Lord.  We will love 
Him more, fear Him more, and will hope in Him to forgive our sins and 
enter us into Paradise. 


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            Last Updated: May 01, 1998 

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