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Reward
Only From Allah
Reflections
on the Hadith on intention and its impact on our salaf.
By
Khalid Baig
One of the most important
teachings of Islam has been captured in a well-known hadith in a few words.
Sayyidna Umar bin Al-Khattab, Radi-Allahu unhu, narrates: I heard Allah's Apostle
saying, "The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions. And every person
will get the reward according to what he has intended."
Because of the great significance
of this hadith, many hadith compilers including Imam Bukhari have chosen to
begin their compilations with this hadith. It reminds us to keep our intentions
pure, to avoid contaminating our motives, and to seek Allah’s pleasure
and nothing else when performing an act of virtue. The message is central to
all Islamic teachings and is repeated at many places in the Qur’an. For
example: "So whoever looks forward to the meeting with his Lord, let him
work righteousness and associate none as a partner in the worship of his Lord."
[Al-Kahaf, 18:110]. A few verses earlier we are told that the worst losers in
the hereafter will be the people whose efforts were lost in this world while
they were thinking that they were doing good. Their actions might have been
good, but their intentions were not and so those actions would carry no weight
in the hereafter.
It is a terrible possibility
that all of our good deeds might be wiped out because of a corruption of our
motives. To avoid that fate, one must know the danger and be on the lookout
for it at all times. Every believer knows that we should be performing the acts
of worship solely to seek Allah’s pleasure. We may begin a good deed for
the sake of Allah alone. But there may be other worldly rewards associated with
the same act and we may start enjoying them and even seeking them without any
realization that a switch has taken place internally. Many such rewards are
intangible: fame, glory, appreciation, recognition, honor. They satisfy our
deepest hidden desires. They are hard to detect and harder to repel. Besides,
the chance of getting caught by others is so small. The net result is that we
may be under the illusion that we are performing a certain act of virtue for
the sake of Allah, but we might actually be in it for the praise from people.
Qur’an and hadith warn
us that that is shirk, or associating partners with Allah. And shirk is the
most severe and unforgivable sin anyone can commit. A hadith informs us that
such people would be asked to go get their rewards in the hereafter from the
people for whose sake they were performing those virtues. Another hadith tells
us that the first three people to be thrown in the hell would be believers,
known for their virtue. One would be a scholar of the Qur’an who had learnt
and taught it. Another would be a philanthropist who had spent tremendous wealth
in charity. The third would be a mujahid who fought and gave his life in the
path of Allah. But in reality all were looking for fame and recognition instead
of truly seeking Allah’s pleasure.
The impact of these teachings
on our elders has been profound. They always prayed for ikhlas (sincerity) in
all their good deeds. They always monitored their own motives carefully and
ruthlessly. They were always concerned that carelessness here could lead to
disaster. Through such concern their lives became totally devoted to Allah.
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It
is a terrible possibility that all of our good deeds might be wiped out
because of a corruption of our motives.
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Just two accounts from the
recent past may illustrate this devotion. Once Shah Ismail Shaheed Dehalvi (d.
1831 CE) delivered a Khutbah at the Jamia Masjid in Delhi, India. Afterwards
as the people dispersed and he was about to leave, a villager met him at the
door. “Has the khutbah ended,” he asked. Upon being told that it had,
the villager expressed his disappointment for missing it, for which he had come
from a long distance. Shah Ismail introduced himself to the villager and told
him not to worry for he would repeat the khutbah for him. Then he sat down with
the stranger right there, on the stairs, and repeated his entire khutbah for
the next couple of hours. Someone later expressed great puzzlement that he repeated
the entire khutbah for just one person. “I had spoken earlier also for
the sake of the One,” he replied quietly.
The other incident is equally
telling, although from an opposite direction. As a young teacher, Maulana Ashraf
Ali Thanvi (d. 1943) once invited his mentor and ustaz Sheikhul Hind Maulana
Mahmoodul Hasan (1851-1920) to speak to a distinguished gathering in Kanpur.
As he states, his purpose was to impress the people with the academic caliber
of Deoband as it was not getting much respect from them yet. Without mentioning
his motive, he did ask his ustaz to tailor the discourse to the needs of an
educated audience. Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan did proceed with the lecture but
then abruptly stopped when he had just begun to discuss some fine academic points.
“I am sorry I am unable to continue,” he said and sat down. It was
not just disappointing; it was disastrous. After the program he was asked what
happened. “I stopped because I had started to get a feeling that I am now
speaking only to show my academic prowess,” he told Maulana Ashraf Ali
Thanvi. “I was not sure I was still speaking for the sake of Allah.”
In addition to so powerfully
warning us of the danger of the corruption of our motives, Islam also dispels
a commonly held illusion: That there is such a thing as true selflessness or
altruism. Normally what passes for such attributes is a trait that thrives on
advertisement. Many of life’s evils are based on a distorted and unsustainable
idea of virtue. Instead of allowing us to hide our desire for reward behind
high-sounding phrases, Islam teaches us to be true to ourselves. We should seek
our rewards, because that is built into our nature, but we should seek them
from our Creator and Lord, not from other destitute people like ourselves.
That is why all the prophets
told the people. “No reward have I asked of you: my reward is only due
from Allah” [Yunus 10:72]. "And O my people! I ask you for no wealth
in return: my reward is from none but Allah.” [Hud 11:29]. “Say: "No
reward do I ask of you: it is (all) in your interest: my reward is only due
from Allah." [Saba 34:47]. That is why the Qur’an quotes the truly
generous persons feeding the hungry as saying: “We feed you for the sake
of Allah alone: no reward do we desire from you, nor thanks.” [Al-Insan
76:9]
[reproduced with permission
from www.albalagh.net]
Date/Time Last Modified: 6/18/2002 8:05:04 AM
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