BE A QUALIFIED PEOPLE BY HAVING THE SINCERITY 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.
