Class 2
RELIGION IS SINCERITY
SINCERITY TOWARDS ALLAH
Sincerity, just like intention, is important with every action and form of worship. It is key that you are sincere. There are three types of sincerity: faith and belief, acts of obedience, and morals and manners. Being sincere involves attaining faith the way Allah wants us to, which entails sincerity in faith, intention, and fear of Allah’s punishment.
Sincerity is not something you show off or convince yourself of. Instead, sincerity occurs when a good deed becomes available by the will of Allah, and you attain this reward with an action supported by sincere intentions. Your happiness in life lies in your sincerity regarding actions and your desire to fulfill rewarding deeds.
Moreover, if a person is sincere towards Allah in all their affairs, Allah will give them more than He gives to others. This sincerity stems from a true love of Allah and true trust in Him. Therefore, the most sincere people are those who love Allah the most and place their utmost trust in Him.
Religion is Sincerity
The Prophet ﷺ said, “Religion is sincerity, religion is sincerity (Al-Nasihah), religion is sincerity.” They said; “To whom, O Messenger of Allah?” He ﷺ said: “To Allah, to His Book, to His Messenger, to the imams of the Muslims and to their common folk.” (Sahih Muslim)
Sincerity towards Allah
Sincerity towards Allah is the best type of sincerity. The Muslim is being sincere towards his Lord if he achieves sincerity in three aspects:
1. Faith and proper belief,
2. Acts of obedience, and
3. Morals and manners.
1. Faith & Proper Belief
Believing in Him, rejecting shirk and disbelief and ascribing anything imperfect to Him, learning aqida, obeying Him and avoiding disobedience, loving for His sake and hating for His sake, recognizing His blessings and being grateful, sincerity in every affair.
2. Acts of obedience
Conditions for good deeds to be accepted are two – For the sake of Allah (sincerely) and in the way of the Prophet ﷺ.
One can find out whether one is being sincere in his/her deed, and whether he/she is striving only for the sake of Allah, by paying attention to the following:
He/she should not do that deed for fame
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever talks about his good deeds (to show off), Allah will expose him (on the Day of Resurrection), and whoever makes a (hypocritical) display, Allah will make a display of him.” (Bukhari & Muslim)
Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“Al-Khattabi said: What this means is that whoever does a deed that is not sincere (for the sake of Allah), rather he wants people to see him and to hear about him, will be recompensed for that by Allah exposing and disgracing him, and will make known what he used to conceal.
And it was said: whoever intends by his deed to seek high status among people, and does not intend it for the sake of Allah, Allah will cause him to be talked about among those with whom he sought to attain high status, but there will be no reward for him in the hereafter." (Fath Al-Bari 11/336)
Al-‘Izz ibn ‘Abd As-Salam (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Exceptions from the recommendation to conceal one’s good deeds include: one who does his good deed openly so that his example may be followed, or so that people may benefit from it, such as writing books of knowledge." (Fath Al-Bari 11/337).
Ibn Al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: ‘When a person reaches a high level of devotion to his Lord and becomes steadfast in that, he will rise above being concerned with people’s praise and criticism, and he will not rejoice when people praise him or be upset when they criticise him. This is the description of one who is not swayed by his whims and desires and has attained true servitude to his Lord, and whose heart has tasted the sweetness of faith and certainty." (Madarij As-Salikin 2/8)
Should not show-off in worship
It was said that sincerity means that a person’s deeds are the same whether they are done openly or privately.
Showing off occurs when the deeds one does openly are better than those that are done privately."(Madarij As-Salikin 2/91).
Concealing our good deeds and keeping them secret should be dearer to us than doing them openly.
It was narrated that ‘Asim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “When Abu Wa’il prayed in his house, he would sob greatly and he would not do that in a place where people could see him, even if he were to be offered the entire world in return for anyone seeing what he did.” (Narrated by Ahmad in Az-Zuhd).
We should be keen to avoid situations where we could become prominent and famous, unless that serves a legitimate Shar`i interest.
Ibrahim ibn Adham (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “He is not sincere towards Allah who wants to become famous." (Ihya’ ‘Ulum Ad-Din 3/297).
We should always think of ourselves as falling short, and should not attribute any good deeds to himself, and he should realise that all blessings come from Allah, and were it not for Allah, may He be Exalted, he would be doomed.
Allah, said: “And if not for the favour of Allah upon you and His mercy, not one of you would have been pure, ever, but Allah purifies whom He wills” (An-Nur 24:21)
He should pray a great deal for forgiveness (Istighfar ) after doing the deed, and should feel that he has fallen short.
As-Sa‘di (may Allah have mercy on him) said: ‘Every time a person finishes an act of worship, he should seek Allah’s forgiveness for his shortcomings, and thank Him for enabling him to do it. He should not be like one who thinks that he has perfected his acts of worship and done a favour to his Lord, and think that it has given him a high status, for such a person deserves rejected and for his deed not to be accepted, just as the former deserves to be accepted and enabled to do more deeds." (Tafsir As-Sa‘di p. 92)
He should rejoice when Allah enables him to do righteous deeds.
Allah said,: “Say, in the bounty of Allah and in His mercy - in that let them rejoice; it is better than what they accumulate” [Yunus 10:58]
If a person pays attention to these matters with regard to his deeds, then there is the hope that he will be one of the sincere.
3. Morals and manners
One of the most beautiful things in Islam is the emphasis on good manners. This is something so many Non-Muslims have been attracted to, before eventually accepting Islam. One quote a shaykh once made in a lecture particularly stuck: A Muslim is made by manners.
The Prophet ﷺ was asked, “What will enter the greatest amount of people into Paradise?” His response was, “Taqwa of Allah and a good attitude.” (Tirmidhi)
This is a beautiful Hadeeth which shows the importance of doing good at everything, having Taqwa of Allah is between the Slave and His Lord but the manners is between people and so along with being a good Aa'bid (worshipper of Allah) being a well-mannered person can get us to Jannah by the Mercy of Allah!
Furthermore there are other ahadeeth emphasizing the importance of Manners & Character, we will list some of them below the Prophet ﷺ said:
"The only reason I have been sent is to perfect good manners." [Al-Bukhaari, Ahmad]
“There is nothing heavier than good character put in the scale of a believer on the Day of Resurrection.” (Abu Dawood)
“The best among you are those who have the best manners and character.”(Sahih Bukhari)
“The dearest to me among you and the nearest to me on the Day of Judgement are those who have the best character.” (Sunan At-Tirmidhee: 2018)
Even though such great importance and rewards have been mentioned sadly nowadays something strange is going on.
Muslims are seen as the untidy ones when its said the Purity is half Imaan.
The Islamic schools are becoming known for bad manners— Students, Teacher & Parents all equally blame worthy.
It is the Muslim Communities where the neighbors do not help each other when there has been so much emphasis given to it.
The Muslim Areas are the dirtiest of all and so landlords (even Muslims) prefer to have Non-Muslims tenants.
The Muslim Business Man are trusted the least
The Muslim workers are seen as lazy, unreliable and deceiving.
Men with beard are seen and referred to as harsh people.
The Ummah is sleeping none has the courage to stand up for justice.
The Muslims are more into arguing and making their points to win rather than trying to simplifying things and making things easy.
It is usually a Muslim trying to pull down another brother when the non-Muslims are supporting each other to grow.
There’s clearly something wrong. Why is there such a massive difference between what Islam teaches us and what is being reflected in society? The answer is: manners.
To summarize
Being a Muslim or having faith does not mean mere wishful thinking. The one who is sincere in his faith is the one who attains faith in the way his Lord wants from him, which includes sincerity in faith, sincerity in intention, and sincerity in fear of Allah, may He be exalted. Not every act of obedience is sincere unless it is done, both outwardly and inwardly, in a manner which Allah likes.
We should note that sincerity with Allah is not something that we can make a show of and convince ourselves of whilst abandoning righteous deeds. Rather sincerity towards Allah is in the intention and in the action when we do it and when the means of doing it become available. The one who is sincere towards his Lord will, by means of the sincerity of his intention, attain that (reward) which the one who does the action attains, if something keeps him from doing the action. It was narrated from Sahl ibn Hunayf (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever sincerely asks Allaah for martyrdom, Allaah will cause him to attain the status of the martyrs, even if he dies in his bed.” (Sahih Muslim).
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A person can have nothing more beneficial than sincerity towards his Lord in all his affairs, along with sincerity of resolve, so he should be sincere towards Him in his resolve and in his actions. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “And when the matter (preparation for Ji haad) is resolved on, then if they had been true to Allaah, it would have been better for them” [Muhammad 47:21]. So his happiness lies in sincerity of resolve and sincerity of action. Sincerity of resolve means certain desire to do an action and not hesitating to do it. If his resolve is sincere, all that is left is sincerity of action, which is doing one’s best and striving one’s utmost when doing it , and not letting anything, outward or inward, hold him back from it. Resolve of purpose prevents him from becoming weak-willed and sincerity of action prevents him from becoming lazy or lethargic. If a person is sincere towards Allah in all his affairs, Allah will give him more than He gives to others, and this sincerity results from true love of Allah and true trust in Him. So the most sincere of people is the one who loves Allah most and puts most trust in Him.
May Allah make us all sincere in our faith and actions. Sincerity is the essence of true worship and the key to gaining Allah’s pleasure. Let us strive to purify our intentions and renew our sincerity constantly.
TIPS FOR THE TEST
Do not have to memorise the ayahs or hadeeths word for word and their references, but remember their meanings and the msg being given.
Remember the how to be sincere to Allah
Remember the virtues of good manners
ASSIGNMENT
There will be an Assignment Question asked in the Test. Marks will be given based on the following: -
I. Invite atleast 10 people to the course (can invite via WhatsApp, Facebook, Email, telegram or word of mouth) 4 Marks. (check the note below for exceptions)
Note:
Those who have already invited whether on Whatsapp, Email or FB, do not need to invite again.
It does not matter, whether people join or not, our job is to invite.
II. Talk to 5 people (friends or family) about any three topics from the course - (5 Marks)
III. Pray for the Ummah, pray for the ease of all the poor & oppressed Muslims and Maghfirah of the Muslims who passed away. Pray that Allah make us all strong in imaan and give us the hidayah to work for the aakhirah and to help each other. - 1 Mark
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