Actions of Hearts and Keys to Acceptance

By Safa Suling Tan

A Muslim Writer—UK

"Why did you do that?" I kept asking myself. And on this very rare occasion, it was me who was posing the question to.

We often hear such questions being asked, be they exclamations from mothers to their children, or real somebody's criticism of another. Often the question is directed to someone other than oneself. But why is that the case?

It would save us a lot of pain in the hereafter if we were to pose that question to ourselves more often in this world.

I had just offered my seat to an elderly lady on the tube. It was that time of the day where the human traffic was extremely thick and infuriating. Being able to sit one's journey home after a day's work is a luxury in London. So now I was standing amidst bodies trying my best to keep my big bag on my shoulder, my coat on my arm, my book in one hand, and holding on to the rail with the other; not to mention all parts of my body and my possessions clear from any contact with anyone else on the tube. 

No, I was not regretting my action. I was trying to think if my intention was sincere. Did I get up because she was elderly and needed the seat more than me? Did I stand so that the uncaring commuters would see that Muslims are different and that we treat the elderly with compassion and respect? Or did I do so purely to please Allah, hoping for His reward?

All of the above reasons did pass through my mind between the time I saw her to when I made the decision to stand up. She did need the seat more than me. I wanted to be a good representative of Islam. And I wanted to add a good deed to my scales for that important Day. But I took a few seconds to make sure that when I finally stood up, my heart felt in close communion with Allah, "O Allah, I am doing this only for you."

Some of the Salaf (Muslim pious predecessors) used to say,There is no action, even if it is insignificant, except that it will have two questions put to it: "Why did you do it?" and "How did you do it?" Allah says,

(Who hath created life and death that He may try you, which of you is best in conduct; and He is the Mighty, Forgiving(Al-Mulk 67: 2)

In his tafsir, (interpretation) Ibn Kathir explains,

Allah did not say 'more in deeds' but says 'best in deeds'. A deed cannot then become good except when it is done sincerely for the sake of Allah alone and in accordance with the tradition of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Whenever a deed loses one of these two conditions, it becomes null and void.

The saddest person will be the one who thought he was accumulating good deeds but because they were not done sincerely for the sake of Allah, all his deeds will be like ashes in the wind.

So, What is Ikhlaas "Sincerity"?

Ikhlaas is singling out Allah with one's intention in all acts of worship. It is a secret between the servant and his Lord which an angel does not know so that it is not written, nor a Shaytan (Satan), so he cannot make it futile and neither the whim of the soul, so that it does not corrupt it. Ikhlaas cannot coexist in a heart which embraces the love of praise and commendation, nor the fear of people's criticisms for actions Allah has commanded, nor the yearning to obtain what other people possess.

With Ikhlas, any action, no matter how small, is accepted by Allah, but without it, even the most knowledgeable of scholars, the bravest of warriors, and the most famous philanthropists will be flung into the hellfire. Allah has warned,

(Verily, the hypocrites will be in the lowest depth (grade) of the Fire; no helper will you find for them.) (An-Nisaa' 4:145)

The issue of sincerity in Islam is so great that it could be the one thing to guarantee us Jannah (Paradise). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says, “Indeed Allah has forbidden for Hell the person who testifies: 'There is nothing worthy of worship in truth (no true God) but Allah', seeking thereby nothing but Allah's Face (pleasure)" (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Ikhlas is a command from Allah and the essence of tawheed (Oneness of the Allah). Allah the Exalted says,

(And they were not commanded except with this: that they should worship Allah, being completely sincere in the deen…) (Al-Bayyinah 98:5)

Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him), the Abyssinian slave, was severely tortured with scorching heavy rocks on his naked chest for days on end in the desert sun for his emracing Islam. His torturers agreed to set him free on condition that he would speak well of their gods. Bilal refused to concede and kept repeating, "The One…The One!" (Allah is the One and Only God). Bilal's pure sincerity to Allah prevented him from even saying something –only by word of mouth and not from his heart- to save his life.

The key to Allah's acceptance of all actions is Ikhlas. It is an action of the heart that none sees but Allah and He accepts or rejects an act based on it. He, the Most Exalted, taught us in the Qur'an to beseech Him thus,

(Say: Lo! my worship and my sacrifice and my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the Worlds. He has no partner. This am I commanded, and I am first of those who surrender (unto Him) (Al-An`am6: 162,163)

Excerpt from Sisters magazine courtesy of sisters-magazine.com

Safa Suling Tan is a journalist for The Muslim Weekly.

Source: www.islamonline.net