BECOME A
QUALIFIED PEOPLE WITH THE SINCERE OF INTENTION (IKHLAS)
(Summarized from many sources by MasKatno Giri)
All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger
of Allah, and upon his family and his companions.
With regard to the matter of sincere intention, it seems that some people are
confused with regard to certain aspects. Therefore, I just sugest me by writing
the following points, and all success is from Allah:
1. Firstly, the correct intention is one of two conditions for every act of
worship to be accepted, along with the action being in accordance to the Sunnah
of the Messenger of Allah. The proof for this principle can be found in Allah’s
statement: “So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord (Allah) – let him do
righteous work and not associate anyone in the worship of his Lord.” [Al-Kahf
18:110].
2. Secondly, the essence of the correct intention is for an action to be
sincerely for the sake of Allah, and not to contain any form of shirk, or
giving some of Allah’s rights to someone or something else. Fadl bin Ziyaad
said, “I asked Abu Abdullah (i.e., Imaam Ahmad) about the intention in action,
how should it be? He said, ‘One should treat his self when he intends to do an
action, not desiring by it the people (RIYA”).
3. Thirdly, intention is something that needs to be constantly reviewed and
worked upon. Sufyaan ath-Thawree said, “I have not battled with anything more
difficult than my intention.”
4. Fourthly, the fact that another person is the cause for some of our good
deeds, or that they call us to guidance, or that they encourage us to do
something which we were not intending to do, does not affect our intention.
This is part of the foundation of da’wah and calling people to guidance. The
Prophet – may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him – used to encourage
some of the companions to do actions that they were not intending to do, and he
encouraged others to do the same. The Prophet – may the peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him – said, “Whoever calls to guidance has the reward of it and
the reward of everyone who acts upon it, until the Day of Resurrection (hari
kebangkitan), without their reward being decreased in any way.” So if a brother
comes to you and says, ‘come to the masjid’, and you were not intending to
come, but because of him calling you to guidance, you decide to come, and you
make your worship for the sake of Allah alone, then your intention is correct,
if Allah wills, and the fact that another brother called you to do something
that you had not planned to do does not affect our intention.
Similarly, if your intention was not pure, and then you realise that we have
been showing off in some of our deeds, then we correct them and seek Allah’s
forgiveness, then your intention returns to being correct, and if you do so
before we complete the action (such as before we finish praying), then we do
not lose the reward of the entire prayer.
5. Fifthly, showing off is a form of minor shirk (kelalaian) and is extremely
serious, but it is equally serious to not perform good deeds out of fear of
showing off. Al Fudayl bin ‘Iyaad considered it another form of riyaa’. Rather
you should say, ‘O Allah, I seek refuge with you from making partners with you
while I realise, and I ask your forgiveness for what I do not realise.’ Leaving
that which Allah has ordered you out of fear of what people may say can even
reach the level of major shirk, so do not allow the shaytaan to open a door to
your destruction!
A person’s Islam is not accepted by Allah until it is sincere – this is one of
the conditions of laa ilaaha ill Allah, but as Muslims we are commanded to
treat them as normal Muslims, since the matter of intention is left to Allah.
In general, we shouldn’t rush to encourage a person who is not sincere. This
does not benefit Islam and the Muslims, and the person themselves may be
harmed.
However, we may see someone who has some fault in their intention, and we
believe that there is a good chance that the person will be corrected, based on
their environment and their character. First of all we should try to correct
their intention before they become Muslim. In the example of marriage, we try
to make the marriage secondary to pleasing Allah. If we believe that they will
change, then we may accept their Islam. However, if the person who they are
marrying is not even practising Islam, then it is unlikely that they will see
the beauty of Islam, when the person they are marrying does not even see it.
So, I think that we should be very careful in some of these cases.
6. Sixthly, a person may enter Islam for the sake of the dunyaa, or with a
fault in their intention and then correct his or her intention, as Imaan enters
their hearts, and so become from the true Muslims. This was the case of some of
the companions, especially those who became Muslim after the conquest of
Makkah. Some of them became Muslim for worldly reasons, but the sun did not set
before Allah and His Messenger were more beloved to them than the earth and
whatever was in it. This does not mean that we should encourage people to
become Muslim who do not want to, however, we have not been asked to rule based
on the hearts of the people, and it is possible for people to change once they
see the beauty of Islam.
7. Finally, do not succumb to the whispers of shaytaan, that when a person
calls you to do something good you say, ‘my intention is not right’ – this is
nothing but the whisperings of the shayaateen, may Allah protect me and you
from them. Rather embrace this good deed and make it sincere for Allah without
showing off. This way you will get the reward for your action, as will the
person who called you to do good. At the very least be honest and say, ‘I am
too lazy to do it’, rather than inventing a religious excuse that Allah has
given you no authority for; perhaps Allah will open your heart to the truth
because of your honesty.
Don’t forget that intention alone is not enough for your deeds to be accepted.
They must also be in accordance with the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah – may
the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. ‘Aa’ishah – may Allah be pleased
with her – narrated that the Prophet – may the peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him – said, “Whoever does an action that is not in accordance with my
affair [i.e., my sunnah] then it is rejected.”
May Allah grant us all beneficial knowledge and the ability to act upon it, and
save us from the whisperings of the shaytaan