| Today's lesson is about sincerity. The meaning of sincerity is to do everything in the cause of Allah, only for His sake alone. Sincerity is about the worship of the heart. How can we do that? We can do that all with our worship, e.g. prayer, fasting, etc. with clear intentions deep down in our hearts that it is all for Allah and not for any other, for example, not for showing off in front of people that you are a believer, etc. Furthermore, sincerity is not for all forms of worship but also for all forms of your daily life, for example, your work, marriage, raising your children. How to treat people should also be done for the sake of Allah. And in that meaning, the Qur'an says: "Say that all my prayers, worships, life and death are for the cause and sake of Allah. Even when you are choosing your clothes, food, these actions should be done with sincerity for the sake of Allah. The value of sincerity and the reward of sincerity are from the following verses from the Qur'an: 1-"We were ordered to worship Allah only, sincere in our religion; submitters to the will of Allah" 2- "Say: I was ordered to worship only Allah, and be sincere in my religion". Allah (swt) has said that His Prophets were very sincere in their worships and belief. For Example, when Prophet Yusuf faced a very difficult test and his Master's wife ordered him to commit a sin, he refused to obey her for the sake of his faith to his Creator! Allah has described him as a sincere slave. Furthermore, when it comes to "Satan" and his hard work to mislead mankind and drive them away from the straight path. He has sworn to Allah (swt) that he will do his very best to mislead people, except for those who are sincere to their Lord Allah. This becomes very clear when you are performing your Hajj. All of the Pilgrims must call and repeat "Labaik Allah homa Labiak", "Here I come my Lord! Here we have come to answer your call!" We should pay a great deal of attention to this Duaa (supplication). Why must Pilgrims repeat this Duaa continuously? So that they can declare their sincerity to their Lord! They are announcing to themselves and to the whole world that the main reason for their journey and obligatory worship is for Allah's Sake. Thus, the more they declare this Duaa (supplication), the deeper you are clearing your thoughts and intentions to Allah. In addition, we will discover that one of the most important Surah [chapter] in the whole of the Qur'an, which is Surah Al-Ikhlas [Chapter of Sincerity; 112]. This Chapter displays the declaration of the Oneness of The Creator. Moreover, the meaning of "Al-Samad" is the Only One who we all should ask for help and protection, as He is the Only One Who is able to grant our requests or fulfil our needs. Therefore this Surah is equivalent to a third [1/3] of the whole Qur'an! There are two rules to accept when one is performing a good deed. In order for us to make sure Allah will accept our good action there are two rules. 1) The first rule is one should do a good action, for example, taking something from the Sunnah, or a good action that the Prophet Muhammad (saw) used to do. 2) The good action should be carried out purely for the Sake of Allah. Again, not for showing off in front of people or for other reasons. Therefore, the following Hadeeth (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad [saw]) was mentioned when the issue of Ikhlas [sincerity] was discussed. The Hadeeth tells us about three friends travelling in the dessert. When night fell, they decided to camp in a cave for the night. It was a windy evening and an enormous stone fell from the top of the mountain and blocked the entrance of the cave. So they were unable to leave the cave. Since there was no way out, they were sure that they were going to die inside the cave. Therefore they started to pray and call on Allah's help. One of friends told the other two that they should all think and remember at least one good deed they had done with true sincerity, purely for the sake of Allah. So, they started to remember. The first friend said: "I used to milk the sheep every night and serve it to my elderly parents. One night I was late in milking the sheep. I went home and found my parents fast asleep. But my children were awake and hungry. The children were crying from hunger, but knowing my old parents needed it more, I waited until dawn at their door until they woke up so I could give them the milk. Only after that, I gave my children the rest of the milk to drink." The first friend continued, "O Allah, if I had done that for your own sake and only to please you, obeying my parents as you have ordered us, please save us from dying in this cave." At once the big stone blocking the entrance to the cave moved a few inches, but not enough for them to escape through it. The second friend remembered a good deed he had done and said, "I had a close relative who I loved dearly, but for some reason could not marry. She went through a very bad time and was in deep debts and financial difficulty. She desperately needed money and asked me if I could lend her some. I agreed but told her under one condition. That she spend one night with me. She completely refused and left me. However, when her circumstances became worse, she came back to me and agreed reluctantly on my condition. On the night when we were all alone in the bedroom and I was about to do what I had always dreamt of, she told me 'O you servant of Allah, Fear Allah and do not commit this sin for His sake'. When she said this, I gave her the money she needed and left her." The second friend continued, "O Allah, if I had done this only because I was sincere and not disobeying you, please save us from this hardship". Soon the stone moved a few inches more, however it was still not big enough for them to leave the cave. Hence, the third friend started to recall one action he had done with a sincere intention to Allah. He said, "I used to hire people to work for me, and I gave them their wages, except one person who went without taking his money. Business was not going as well as before. I started to use the money which belonged to the man who had forgotten to take it. I succeeded and had a lot of sheep and other things. One day this man came back, asking for his wages. I told him that all of the farm belonged to him. He thought I was making fun of him. But I showed him I was sincere and gave him what I had. He left me with almost nothing. The third friend continued, "O Allah, if I had done that for your sake, please save us from this cave". Only then the stone was moved again with a big enough space for the three friends to escape from. They were saved, only by their sincerity to their lord. Now I would like to ask everyone here a question. Do you have a good and sincere secret that is only between you and Allah? For example, something you did for the sake of Allah. One of the Scholars said that if someone had a sincere intention between him and Allah for 40 days, he or she will see the result of this sincerity in his action, in what she or he says, and in the way that he or she feels. It is a great feeling of harmony with oneself. This is since you are doing everything for the sake of Allah. All our actions are strongly judged by our intentions. Therefore if your intention is to seek worldy pleasure, wealth, ladies, etc, you will get what you intended to have. On the other hand, if your intention was to gain Allah's blessings in all your actions, surely you will gain what you have intended! This is depending on your sincere intention. For example, to avoid showing off in front people when giving charity, this should be done for the sake of helping poor and deprived, less fortunate people, in order to gain Allah's blessing and mercy, and to show that you are grateful and thankful to your Lord. That is why the scholars advise us to learn how to practise our intentions in every and each action we do. The best way is to start your intention with worships. For example, before going to pray, start your intention, saying to yourself, I am going to go to the Mosque and pray for Allah's sake and to give up on other pleasure and worldly things, and obey Allah. Deep down you know that and we do it automatically. But we should try to re-make the intention everytime. Therefore our worship will not be out of habit but for new worship. Ask Allah to guide you for clear intention for all of your actions Insha'Allah. 1) Clean your intention in your worship 2) Clean intention for our daily doing (actions). E.g. your studying. When you are studying ask yourself, why am I studying? What is my intention for my studying? The answer would be, because I do not want my folks to be angry with me or because I wish to finish my education and get a job. Fine, but what about making and clearing your intention for Allah's sake and changing it for this. I am studying because I want to be a good and succesful Muslim! It is about time we took things in our hand once again. I would like to succeed in my own profession. To show the world that we are able to worship as well as to be talented scientiests or doctors, etc. Imagine if you managed to achieve this level of clear intention for Allah's sake. Every minute you spend in your studying will be counted in your good deeds. All your hard work will be saved for you and acknowledged not all in this life but also in the hereafter. Imagine if you wish with a clear intention to achieve Shahada [martyrdom] and asked Allah sincerly, you would achieve it. In the Hereafter you might find yourself in the same place with Hamza! The Prophet's Uncle. If your intention was clear and sincere. Once the Prophet (pbuh) was coming back from a strong battle in the middle of summer with hardship and intensive heat. He revealed to his companions that there were some people in the city who would claim the same reward as them and all the soldiers with them. They did not go to war with them but they had the intention to go but for some reasons they could not. Let's agree to make intention for these three things: 1- Worship with intention. 2- Have intentions behind our daily actions 3- Have intention with what we do, not have. Hence, when we neglect our humbleness, then boasting will take over. You will find yourself full of vanity and your ultimate goal will be to show off in front of people to gain their respect and admiration. But if you had done it all for Allah's sake, you would have achieved many good deeds behind your intention. May Allah's fullest salawaats be upon our Lovely Prophet Muhammed al-mustafaa, his gifted wives, our mothers in dunya and akhira, his pure progeny from ahlul al-bayt, al-Hassan wa al-Hussain, Fatima and Ali, his companions and followers from ahlul al-sunati wa al-jamaa3a, that is including all of us ilaa yaum al-diin ~ameen! ameen~ |
| Sincerity (al-Ikhlas) |