In the Name of Allah the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Let us explore our inner selves………..are we leading a life for the sake of Allah? Do we have good intentions doing anything for the sake of Allah. Are we not aware of Allah’s presence within us, He watches each movement of our deeds and He knows each movements of our hearts. Allah will inspect our daily thoughts, speech and actions to determine whether they are truly acts of righteousness. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: "Deeds are judged according to the intention."
Our heart is the place where the correctness of deeds is judged. [The hadith in full:- Bukhary, Volume 1, Book 2, Number 51: Narrated 'Umar bin Al-Khattab: Allah's Apostle said, "The reward of deeds depends upon the intention and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for Allah and His Apostle, then his emigration was for Allah and His Apostle. And whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for what he emigrated for."]
Sincerity is the freeing of one’s intentions from all impurities in order to come nearer to Allah. It is to ensure that the intentions behind all acts of worship and obedience to Allah are exclusively for His pleasure.
No matter what we are doing in our struggle as acts of righteousness will be valued by Allah according to our intention. In an authentic narration, Imam Muslim narrated on the authority of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Three categories of people will be the first to be thrown into Hell-Fire: a scholar who taught people merely to be praised as a scholar; a generous person who gave charity just to be called generous; and a person who participates in Jihad to be recognized as brave.”
The first 3 people who would be cast into the Hell Fire as informed by the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) are people we consider as doing great acts of righteousness in our eyes. They are the scholar who taught knowledge; the wealthy person who gave for his wealth in charity and the martyr who gave his life fighting in the path of God. The scholar would be thrown into the Hell Fire because when he taught the knowledge that Allah gave him, he did not do it for the sake of Allah. He wanted to be praised by people, he was not sincere in his thoughts, speech and actions. He wanted people around him to praised him as a great knowledgeable scholar. The second person who will be cast into the Hell Fire is the rich person. He gave his wealth and seek admiration from people. He wanted people to praise his generosity. The third person who would be cast to the Hell Fire is the martyr, the one whom we all assumed had died fii-sabilillah. We think he will be placed in the Jannah as we think that he has done a great deed. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said that they would be the first groups of people thrown into the Hell.
So, let us explore our inner selves, are our thoughts, speech and actions in our struggle to uphold the dignity of Islam for the sake of Allah? Are we seeking human admiration or Allah’s redha? Let us follow the humility of the Prophet (pbuh) by the dua he used to make very often, beginning: "I seek refuge in you, O Allah, from knowledge that does not benefit and from a heart which does not fear".
La haula wala quwwata illa billahil aliyyul azim
With love and duas always
