Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Wrong intentions for good actions. SubhanAllah. This element of cognitive dissonance is one of two transgressions that are really important for us to understand. See, you could say, oh, you know, I'm doing good. But if you're doing it for the wrong reason, it's of little to no value. In fact, it can be countering to the value that you seek. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is Tayyib, is the source of all good. Wa laa yaqbalu illa tayyiba. And he only accepts that which is good, that which is sincere, and that which is seeking him with your intent in worship, in love, in fear, and hope of him. SubhanAllah. It's not enough to do a good deed if your heart is not targeting, seeking, yearning for Allah's pleasure, fearing and hopeful to be escaping of Allah's punishment and wrath. And yes, as believers, we speak of Allah's Ridwan and also of Allah's Ghadab, of Allah's contentment and pleasure with us and of Allah's wrath and anger. We are a people who understand that there's a balance of doing good, seeking good for it and doing good, but we can be from those who want to escape evil as a consequence of it. And in between that is where we seek to establish the good deed, but always with the right intention. See, wrong intentions are of three important type. The first type is to be seen. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala warns us, yura'oon an-naas. You know, somebody might stand up to pray. They pray just a little bit better because others are observing them. Their prayer is there, but it's hollow. At the end of it, has received little to no reward. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said,
rubba ar-rajulim, perhaps a person will stand up and pray and they will only get nisfuha or rubu'uha or ushruha. They only get half of its reward or a quarter or even a tenth, because at the end of it, it wasn't for Allah on the inside. It was just done and the outside. Another important way that intentions can be done and has been polluted and done with the wrong intentions is that we are seeking to please Allah, but we are seeking to please others more than Allah. So yes, you are worshiping Allah and you did your salah, but it's more because you want your parents to acknowledge that you did it. It's you want your parents to reward you in one way or another. You want other people to know and make known that you have accomplished this or done this. And Allah warns us about this in the Quran. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam warns us about scholars and rich giving charitable people and about those who fought in defense of others, that it was a sin on their behalf because the scholar wanted people's praise. The rich person wanted to be acknowledged as charitable and that mujahid, that person who fought to defend the truth wasn't for the truth, but for people to say they were courageous. The third false intent that you and I need to protect ourselves from is that we started off with the right intent, but we ended off with the wrong intent. That at the end of it, it wasn't about Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la more so than about political gain or financial gain or being acknowledged or being rewarded in one way or another by other people. Don't ever assume that because you're doing something good, that its reward is intact if your intentions are not solely for Allah. Any act of worship, any act that is targeting Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la's pleasure must meet two simple conditions.
It must be sincere, complete in its ikhlas and the word ikhlas means freeing everything and everyone from it except Allah. And number two, that it must meet the tradition, the sunnah, the habit, the lifestyle of the Prophet Muhammad SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. It must be taught to us by him, shown to us and its roots must be taken from his action. We don't invent things along the way and claim that they will be accepted if there isn't evidence from his life SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam Wa umirtu li an akuna awwal al mu'mineen. I've been ordered to worship Allah mukhlisan lahuddeen. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la commands the Prophet to tell us to have ikhlas and to be from those who do it with submission to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. May Allah free our hearts of attachments to other than him and allow us to continue doing good deeds that are seeking him Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
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