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Sincerity - By Shaykh Ashraf Salah
Sincerity
By Shaykh Ashraf Salah
Dear
Muslims:
Sincerity is the
freeing of one's intentions from all impurities in order to come nearer to
Allah (SWT). It is to ensure that the intentions behind all acts of worship and
obedience to Allah (SWT) are exclusively for His pleasure. It is the perpetual
contemplation of the Creator, to the extent that one forgets the creation.
Sincerity is a
condition for Allah's acceptance of good deeds performed in accordance with the
sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH). Allah
(SWT) has commanded this in the Holy Qur'an:
"And they
have been commanded to worship only Allah, being sincere towards Him in their
deen and true". (98:5). Also, our Prophet (PBUH) said: "The reward of
deeds depends upon the intentions, and a person will get the reward according
to what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a
woman to marry, his emigration would be for what he emigrated for". (Bukhari
& Muslim).
Abu Umama has
related that a man once came to the Prophet (PBUH) and said: "What of a
man who joined us in the fighting, his intention being for fame and
booty?" The Prophet (PBUH) said, "He recieves nothing". The man
repeated the question three times and each time the Prophet (PBUH) said:
"He receives nothing". Then he said, "Allah only accepts actions
that are intended purely for His pleasure". (An-Nisa'i).
Abu Sa'id
al-Khudri related that the Prophet (PBUH) said in his khutba during the farewell
pilgrimage: "Allah will bless whoever hears these words and whoever
understands them, for it may be that those who pass on this knowledge are not
those who will understand it the best.
There are three things concerning which the heart of a believer should
feel no enmity or malice: devoting one's actions to Allah, giving counsel to
the Imams of the Muslims, and being loyal to the majority." (Ibn Ma'jah
& Ibn Hibban). What is meant here is that these three things strengthen the
heart, and whoever distinguishes himself in them will have a heart purified
from all manner of deceit, corruption and evil.
Dear Muslims:
A servant can only
free himself from shaytan through sincere devotion, for Allah (SWT) tells us in
the Holy Quran that Iblis said: "..By your Might, then I will surely
mislead them all, Except those of Your servants who are sincere" (38:83).
It has been
related that a rigtheous man used to say, "O self, be devout and you will
be pure." When any wordly fortune, in which the self finds comfort and
towards which the heart inclines, intrudes upon our worship, then it impairs
the purity of our efforts and ruins our sincerity. Man is preoccupied with his
good fortune and immersed in his desires and appetites; rarely are his actions
or acts of worship free of temporary objectives and desires of this kind. For this reason it has been said that whoever
secures a single moment of pure devotion to Allah (SWT) in his life will
survive, for devotion is rare and precious, and cleansing the heart of its impurities
is an exacting undertaking.
Dear Brothers And Sisters In Islam:
Devotion is the
purifying of the heart from all impurities, whether few or many, so that the
intention of drawing nearer to Allah (SWT) is freed from all other motives,
except that of seeking His pleasure. This can only come from a lover of
Allah,(SWT) who is so absorbed in contemplation of the next world that there
remains in his heart no place for the love of this world. Such a person must be
devote and pure in all his actions, even in eating and drinking.
The everyday
actions of a person who is overwhelmed by his or her love for Allah (SWT) and
the akhira are characterised by his love and they are, in fact, pure devotion.
In the same way, anyone whose soul is overwhelmed by love for and preoccupation
with this world, or status and authority, will be so overwhelmed by these
things.
Dear Muslims:
The remedy for
love of this world is to break the worldly desires of the self, ending its
greed for this world and purifying it in preparation for the next world. This
will then become the state of the heart and sincere devotion will become easier
to attain. There are a great many actions where a man acts, thinking they are
purely intended for Allah's pleasure, but he is deluded, for he fails to see
the defects in them.
It has been
related that a man was used to praying in the first row in the mosque. One day
he was late for the prayer, so he prayed in the second row. Feeling
embarrassment when people saw him in the second row, he realised that the
pleasure and satisfaction of the heart that he used to gain from praying in the
first row were due to his seeing people seeing him there and admiring him for
it. This is a subtle and intangible condition and actions are rarely safe from
it.
Dear Muslims:
Apart from those
whom Allah (SWT) has assisted, few are aware of such delicate matters. Those
who do not realise it only come to see their good deeds appearing as bad ones
on the Day of Resurrection; they are the ones referred to in Allah's words:
"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).
Also:
"Say: Shall
We tell you who will lose most in respect 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).
Yaqub said:
"A devout person is someone who conceals things that are good, in the same
way that he conceals things that are bad".
Ayyub said:
"It is much harder for the people of action to purify their intentions
than it is to execute any of their actions".
Al-Fudayl said:
"Forsaking action for the sake of other people is to seek their
admiration. To act for the sake of their admiration is to associate others with
Allah. Devotion is when Allah frees you from both of these states".
May Allah (SWT)
make us from those who listen to the truth and follow it, guide, bless and
forgive us all (Ameen).
