contradictions of Ikhlas

As-Salam Alikom wa rahmatol Allah

Actions are (judged) by motives (niyyah), so each man will have what he intended. Thus, he whose migration (hijrah) was to Allah and His Messenger, his migration is to Allah and His Messenger; but he whose migration was for some worldly thing he might gain, or for a wife he might marry, his migration is to that for which he migrated."

This Hadith is focusing on Ikhlas (sincerity ) which it is not accepted without ikhlas.

So Ibadah (action of worship) is not accepted unles these two condions are fulfilled:

1. Ikhlas (sincerity) 2. to be in accordance with the prophet Mohammad's عليهالسلامteachings.

How to acheive Ikhlas??:

To achieve ikhlas, we have to avoid shirk (associating others with Allah, which causes insincerity). Al-Imam al-Harawi said the root cause for insincerity (or shirk) is self-desire (al-hawa). Therefore no action should be done because of self-desire.

Imam al-Harawi states that there are 7 types of self-desires:-
1. To make oneself appear good in the hearts of others
2. To seek the praises of others
3. To avoid being blamed by others
4. To seek the glorification of others
5. To seek the wealth/money of others
6. To seek the services or love of others
7. To seek the help of others for oneself

How to obtain Ikhlas?

Ways to obtain ikhlas:

Do righteous deeds - the more good deeds we do and hence get closer to Allah, the more sincere we will be.

Before we do any deed we should firstly seek knowledge (ilm) - our actions/deeds should be guided by knowledge so that we do them in accordance to the Shariah.

Do not give false impressions - do not make others believe that an action we did was good when it was not.
Al-Imam Ahmad said: Before you do anything, check your intention (niyyah) - ask yourself before performing an action: "Is it for the sake of Allah?"

Defects of our action:

Ibnu al-Qayyim says: Any action we do is subject to three defects:

Being conscious that others are observing our actions

Seeking a return (benefit/reward) for the action

Being satisfied with the action

Examples:

If we go to the masjid for the salah and we are early, arriving before the Imam and finding a place in the first saff, we should not be proud of ourselves and think of ourselves being better than others. We should praise Allah for enabling us to go to the masjid and for being able to perform the salah without any difficulties.
After every salah, we should tell ourselves that we could have performed it better and try to improve in our next salah.

1. a. There are four contradictions of Ikhlas, mention two?
There are four things that contradict ikhlas:
1. Ma'siatمعاصي - committing sins - this will weaken our ikhlas
2. Shirk - الشرك associating others with Allah
3. Riya' - الرياءperforming an ibadah with the intention of showing off to others
4. Nifaq - النفاق hypocrisy

1. 2. b. State two rulings (ahkam) which we derive from this hadith?

a. Intention is the base for every Ibadah therefore no intention no correct ibadah (act of worship)

b. One can join two actions with one Ibadah for example one gives sadaqah (charity) to his kenship he can join two intentions two join his kenship and to give charity.

The place of the intention is in the heart

People deal with each other by actions not by intentions.

3. State an incident which you have done,you felt it was not sincere ? why you thought so?

This is up to each individual to check his (her) actions.

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“And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad) concerning Me - indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me (by obedience) and believe in Me that they may be rightly guided.” (Al-Baqarah: 186))