Topic
Sincerity
sincerity of intent
7 entries
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What does the hadith of the three men trapped in the cave teach about sincerity?
Abdullah bin Umar narrated from the Prophet the account of three men of an earlier nation who entered a cave at night and were shut in when a big rock rolled down the mountain and closed its mouth. Each man recalled a deed of his own and asked Allah to relieve them if he had done it for His sake only; the rock shifted a little, then a little more, then completely, and they got out. It is a hadith on the importance of sincerity.
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What are the sins of the heart?
There are two kinds of action from which one should abstain, disbelief and disobedience. The major disobedience of the heart includes lack of sincerity, vanity, pride, boasting, haughtiness and despair of Allah's mercy.
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What character does the path of Suluk produce in a person?
Thinking lowly of oneself, compassion to the creation of Allah, generosity, forgiveness, reliance on the Creator, fulfilling promises and service to other Muslims are among the morals of the Sufis, which are the same as the morals of the Prophet. All that is mentioned in the Hadith is also inclusive of the morals of the Sufis.
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Why does intention (niyyah) matter so much in Islam?
The first hadith of Sahih Bukhari says that the reward of the deeds depends upon the intention. Every action has an external aspect and an internal aspect: the intention with which the deed is performed, for whom it is performed and why, the motive behind that deed.
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What are the conditions for a deed to be accepted by Allah?
A deed must be among the actions Allah declared as good deeds, must be performed according to the method outlined by the Shariah, and must be done purely for Allah, if it is to be accepted on the Day of Judgement. The third condition deals with the inner aspect of the deed, which has to be practised, and Tasawwuf is the practice of those disciplines.
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Do good deeds still count if they were done to be seen by people?
In the hadith related in Muslim, the first person judged on Resurrection Day is a man martyred in battle; next come a man who learnt and taught Sacred Knowledge and recited the Qur'an, and a man given various kinds of wealth. Each is told that he did it to be called a hero, a scholar and a reciter, or generous, and each is flung into the fire. Without a pure and sincere intention the deed is not accepted by Allah, even when one willingly gives away his life or his wealth.
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Why isn’t a sincere heart enough? Why do outward deeds matter?
Because for every internal action there has to be an external action, and the value in that external action is achieved by the internal aspect. There is no sincerity without action, and no action becomes worship without sincerity.