help in purfying intentions

[anonymous]

what do you do when you feel that temptation to show off and/or feel inclined to do a certain thing (ibaadah) because you know people will speak good about you.
you see, its not the fact htat people may speak good about me part that's so tempting, its more like becuase i know i will receive the attention and acceptance of others. i dont know, i guess its satisfying when you know others are pleased with you or that you've helped others. obviously, when this comes to the deen, it's a no-no so how do you shrug off this feeling and purify your intentions?

 

[KittenLover]

i'm not sure, have you read a book called purficattion of the soul? it covers this in there.

 

[Muslim Woman]

what do you do when you feel that temptation to show off and/or feel inclined to do a certain thing (ibaadah) because you know people will speak good about you.

u mean if I will do a work just to please others ? Or while doing it , if someone watches me and praise ???

Just to please people if we do anything , then we won't get any reward on the final day. Allah will tell us u have got the rewards already in earth.

While doing ibaadah if someone watches me without my prior knowledge and talk good about me and I feel good , then I read that it's ok as my intentino was not to please human being but Allah.

 

[Ali_008]

Try thinking of the max gain that you can have by doing it for the sake of others. The worldly reward will have a limit and it won't be even that pleasing as the reward of the hereafter. Doing something good for such a meagre return isn't a fair deal. Try comparing the rewards of this world and the aakhirah that come as a result of the deed. It helps me at times, hope it helps you too. Most importantly keep praying to Allah for pure intentions.

http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/6356

 

[revert2007]

renew ur intention frequently.even though in the beginning ur intention might be good but then syaitan might hv deviated ur intention.so keep on renewing ur intention.

 

[Hamza Asadullah]

what do you do when you feel that temptation to show off and/or feel inclined to do a certain thing (ibaadah) because you know people will speak good about you.

you see, its not the fact htat people may speak good about me part that's so tempting, its more like becuase i know i will receive the attention and acceptance of others. i dont know, i guess its satisfying when you know others are pleased with you or that you've helped others. obviously, when this comes to the deen, it's a no-no so how do you shrug off this feeling and purify your intentions?

jazakallah for sharing this with us for it shows you have concern over your deeds. It is vital that we check our intentions before we do any good action. All actions and deeds are judged upon intention. So whatever you intended that is what you will recieve.

Jundub ibn 'Abdullah ibn Sufyan said that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Whoever wants his action to be known, Allah will make him known [i.e. on the Day of Rising], and whoever wants to be seen, Allah will make him seen [then]." [Agreed upon]

So if you happen to do a good deed so others may accept you or praise you then you did it for that reason and not for Allah. Allah knows what is in our hearts so we should realise that he knows exactely why we are doing what we are doing. Therefore it is vital that we continuously check our intentions before doing ANY good action otherwise if we become complacent then our intentions will end up being for reasons other than for the pleasure of Allah.

Please read the following hadith:

Abu Hurayra said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'The first of people to be judged on the Day of Rising will be a man who was martyred. He will be brought and will be informed of the blessings he had and will acknowledge them. Allah will say, "What did you do with them?" He will say, "I fought for You until I was martyred." Allah will say, "You lie. Rather you fought so it would be said, 'A bold man!' And so it was said." Then the command will be given and he will be dragged on his face until he is thrown into the Fire. There will also be a man who studied knowledge and taught it and recited the Qur'an. He will be brought and informed of his blessings which he will acknowledge. Allah will say, "What did you do with them?" He will say, "I studied knowledge and taught it and I recited the Qur'an for You." He will say, "You lie. Rather you studied so that it would be said, 'A scholar!' and you recited so that it would be said, 'He is a reciter!' And so it was said." Then the command will be given and he will be dragged on his face until he is thrown into the Fire. There will also be a man to whom Allah gave a lot of wealth and all sorts of property. He will be brought and informed of his blessings which he will acknowledge. Allah will say, "What did you do with them?" He will say, "There was no path in which You like spending to be done but that I spent in it for You." He will say, "You lie. Rather you did it so that it would be said, 'He is generous.' and so it was said." Then the command will be given and he will be dragged on his face until he is thrown into the Fire.'" [Muslim]

It is clear from this hadith that there will be MANY of our Muslim brothers and sisters who will claim they did an action for Allah but Allah knows otherwise.

Therefore it is incumbant on us that we check our intentions every single time before doing any good action and make sure we are doing it for Allah. The best deeds are those that we do when no one else can see us or good deeds that are hidden from the view of the world. So we should mainly engage in hidden good deeds but that does'nt mean never do any good deed in public but one has to be careful and continuously check ones intentions otherwise if we become complacent then the whispers of shaythan will cause us to have other intentions and we will then burn away our deeds and therefore risk being burnt in the fire.


Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Anyone who learns knowledge which should be learned for the sake of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, only to obtain by it goods of this world, will not experience the scent of the Garden on the Day of Rising." [Abu Dawud]

Remember the more good intentions one has before doing any good action then the more reward one will recieve for that good action but the more bad intentions one will have whilst doing a good action then the more sin one will recieve for doing so for reasons other than solely for the pleasure of Allah.

:wa: