Is actively seeking the rewards of Paradise, genuine Worship in Allah or just greed?

[omar_2133]

Assalamu-Alaikum,

I was pondering over a point raised by my RE teacher the other day, on the motivation of religious belief and greed, so I thought I might like to ask about it here.

Basically, it goes like this: If the motivation of your worship, and subsequent deeds and acts to God (or Alla in this case) is purely for the rewards and gain, and what one gets out of it, then doesn't this cancel the sincerity of your worship and make the whole purpose of striving for Allah, not to please him and get closer, but to obtain the reward and fulfill your personal desires?

I can't help it, but sentences like "seeking the pleasure of Jannah" and "in expectation of reward" seem to crop up, everytime I think about it. Is it striving for Allah, or striving for the goal and pleasure of Jannah? What is Islam's particular answer to this?

[snakelegs]

Assalamu-Alaikum,

I was pondering over a point raised by my RE teacher the other day, on the motivation of religious belief and greed, so I thought I might like to ask about it here.

Basically, it goes like this: If the motivation of your worship, and subsequent deeds and acts to God (or Alla in this case) is purely for the rewards and gain, and what one gets out of it, then doesn't this cancel the sincerity of your worship and make the whole purpose of striving for Allah, not to please him and get closer, but to obtain the reward and fulfill your personal desires?

I can't help it, but sentences like "seeking the pleasure of Jannah" and "in expectation of reward" seem to crop up, everytime I think about it. Is it striving for Allah, or striving for the goal and pleasure of Jannah? What is Islam's particular answer to this?

sorry, i don't know the answer, but i think it is an excellent question.
maybe it is something each individual needs to ask himself.

[Intisar]

I've wondered about this myself, and actually, I don't see it as greed. Every good deed has it's reward, and no bad deed goes unpunished. When you make the niyaah of carrying out the act of a good deed, do you think to yourself, ''One step closer to Jannah..one step closer to Jannah!'' or do you think about the punishments you will receive if you don't strive hard in the way of Allaah? What do you really think about when you're praying? Who do you really want to please? Why are you even doing it? Well, my reason is that I'm doing it for the sake of Allaah. Allaah created us out of his mercy and grace, only to worship him, and I feel that my duty in life is to be the best mu'min that I can possibly be. I am a Muslim for the sake of Allaah, and If I am a good Muslim, then paradise will come but that isn't the reason why I am a Muslim. Jannah is your motivation, 'ibadah is your reason for life, and you do everything for the sake of Allaah. I can only speak for myself, but that is truly how I feel.

Jannah comes after being a good Muslim, and you are a Muslim for the sake of Allaah. So therefore it is not out greed, but out of the love that you have for your creator.

[MustafaMc]

If the motivation of your worship, and subsequent deeds and acts to God (or Alla in this case) is purely for the rewards and gain, and what one gets out of it, then doesn't this cancel the sincerity of your worship and make the whole purpose of striving for Allah, not to please him and get closer, but to obtain the reward and fulfill your personal desires?

This is a good question as it addresses our intentions in worship. Personally, my worship is based upon my belief in 1) Allah (swt) as the Creator and the only god that exists, 2) that Muhammad (saaws) was His Messenger through which the Quran was revealed and who showed us the proper way to worship and live our lives, 3) resurrection from the dead, and 4) Judgement Day that determines whether one will be sent to the Hellfire or be admitted to Paradise. For myself, my motivation is more to avoid the Hellfire than to gain Paradise. I fear the Wrath and Punishment of Allah and I pray for His Mercy and Forgiveness.

[AvarAllahNoor]

If you live by the religion and it's tenets, the rewards will be bestowed upon you by the Mighty Lord automatically. One should not think of what he/she MAY get when living this way. Because It does boil down to greed in my opinion. (& in Sikhism)

[Umar001]

Some faces that Day shall be Nādirah (shining and radiant). (Al-Qiyamah 75:22)

Looking at their Lord (Allāh); (Al-Qiyamah 75:23)

I remember a lecture by Tawfiq Choudary, I believe, based on Nuniyyah of Ibnul Qayyim from Kalamullah, the greatest blessing is seeing Allah! That's what I'm looking forward to.

[AvarAllahNoor]

Looking at their Lord (Allāh); (Al-Qiyamah 75:23)[/B][/INDENT]
.

Splendid! This Is what Sikhism teaches. We do not care for what we may recieve because the worldy goods can be found in this life. We yearn for God, whom will match NOTHING else! :sunny:

Gur Fateh

[hamzahm]

As-Salaamu Alaikum WRWB

Allah, out of HIS Mercy, motivates mankind into obeying him. HE know everything about us, and He knows our every desire. So He uses our desire to motivate us into His obedience, and once we are motivated and start worshiping, then our faith increases to such an extent, that even the rewards might not be as important anymore as pleasing ALLAh purely...

And ALLAH knows best!

was-Salaam
hmz

[Fazii-Ah]

Assalamu-Alaikum,

I was pondering over a point raised by my RE teacher the other day, on the motivation of religious belief and greed, so I thought I might like to ask about it here.

Basically, it goes like this: If the motivation of your worship, and subsequent deeds and acts to God (or Alla in this case) is purely for the rewards and gain, and what one gets out of it, then doesn't this cancel the sincerity of your worship and make the whole purpose of striving for Allah, not to please him and get closer, but to obtain the reward and fulfill your personal desires?

I can't help it, but sentences like "seeking the pleasure of Jannah" and "in expectation of reward" seem to crop up, everytime I think about it. Is it striving for Allah, or striving for the goal and pleasure of Jannah? What is Islam's particular answer to this?

This is an excellent question. Personally, I think one should do Ibaadah only for Allah and should not seek any kind of reward in-return.
Rabia al-Basri (May Allah be pleased with her) Said, "If I adore You out of fear of Hell, burn me in Hell! If I adore you out of desire for Paradise, Lock me out of Paradise. But if I adore you for Yourself alone, Do not deny to me Your eternal beauty."

[greenhill]

Don't know.

Sometimes we overthink. UnderDO.. somehow, most of the times we are just not satisfied with not knowing the answer we stop doing altogether. How we slowly remove ourselves from getting closer. Yes 'ponder'... don't stall.

Know there is eternal life after this. Which side of that I am going is ENTIRELY AT ALLAH SWT's mercy. I am entitled to wish. I am entitled to pray for it. Beg Allah for it.. but I MUST also do what pleases Him. Things that pleases Him sometimes hurts me.. so I have to learn and appreciate the reason for that hurt and turn it to pleasure by seeing the effects.. and being honest but discreet.

[LeerCtote]

According to me personally, I think there is nothing wrong with wishing from God. There is no greed with your Lord. He's the one who created you, he's the one feeding you, he the one providing for u. If greed with Allah existed, we won't be permitted to make dua.

And asking for Jannah is basic for humans. I think it is greed if you asking ppl for rewards or the Jinn or any other creation . But with Creator, there exist nothing as greed. He knows us better.

May he guide us.

[Nitro Zeus]

Assalamu-Alaikum,

I was pondering over a point raised by my RE teacher the other day, on the motivation of religious belief and greed, so I thought I might like to ask about it here.

Basically, it goes like this: If the motivation of your worship, and subsequent deeds and acts to God (or Alla in this case) is purely for the rewards and gain, and what one gets out of it, then doesn't this cancel the sincerity of your worship and make the whole purpose of striving for Allah, not to please him and get closer, but to obtain the reward and fulfill your personal desires?

I can't help it, but sentences like "seeking the pleasure of Jannah" and "in expectation of reward" seem to crop up, everytime I think about it. Is it striving for Allah, or striving for the goal and pleasure of Jannah? What is Islam's particular answer to this?

Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh

There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing obeying Allah and His Messenger just for seeking Allah’s reward.

In fact, there are many verses in Quran which says “those who believe and do good deeds[..]”. This passage is an example.

https://hadeethenc.com/en/browse/hadith/6460

So the fact that you used this word “greed” it is not negative sense rather it can be positive or negative. But “greed” is actually part of which Allah created Children of Adam to have in them. And I’m not making this baseless claim, this is based on observation.

Actually seeking Allah’s rewards means literally seeking the Hereafter.

[Ümit]

According to me personally, I think there is nothing wrong with wishing from God. There is no greed with your Lord. He's the one who created you, he's the one feeding you, he the one providing for u. If greed with Allah existed, we won't be permitted to make dua.

And asking for Jannah is basic for humans. I think it is greed if you asking ppl for rewards or the Jinn or any other creation . But with Creator, there exist nothing as greed. He knows us better.

May he guide us.

Exactly. İt doesn't boil down to greed. Of course, doing good deeds just to please Allah and not expecting any reward would be the best thing to do.
But still there is nothing wrong with striving for Jannah as your motivation.

İsn't Allah offering us those rewards in the Quraan in the first place?
Then why would wanting it boil down to greed?

[Nitro Zeus]

Exactly. İt doesn't boil down to greed. Of course, doing good deeds just to please Allah and not expecting any reward would be the best thing to do.
But still there is nothing wrong with striving for Jannah as your motivation.

İsn't Allah offering us those rewards in the Quraan in the first place?
Then why would wanting it boil down to greed?

English dictionaries are in agreement that “greed” means to seek more things and never be satisfied with what you were given. So if a believer wants more and more things from Allah, then why would this be wrong?

With regards to rewards in Quran, I believe that the only parts from Quran which allows you to seek more and more rewards is by obeying Allah’s Messenger and Allah. Because Prophet Muhammad said “whoever obeys me, will enter Paradise” and the Du’ā is not rejected so as long as one the Du’ā isn’t contaminated, and you can also increase your rewards once you entered in your grave, because Prophet Muhammad Said about those who teaches to others the beneficial knowledge which can be either science of Islamic knowledge.

So, here you have it

[Ümit]

English dictionaries are in agreement that “greed” means to seek more things and never be satisfied with what you were given. So if a believer wants more and more things from Allah, then why would this be wrong?

With regards to rewards in Quran, I believe that the only parts from Quran which allows you to seek more and more rewards is by obeying Allah’s Messenger and Allah. Because Prophet Muhammad said “whoever obeys me, will enter Paradise” and the Du’ā is not rejected so as long as one the Du’ā isn’t contaminated, and you can also increase your rewards once you entered in your grave, because Prophet Muhammad Said about those who teaches to others the beneficial knowledge which can be either science of Islamic knowledge.

So, here you have it

Yes, you are right. English dictionaries are in agreement on that point. However, they forget to mention a few things:
- it only applies to this material world...where resources are limited...which means that the more you have, the less is left for the others.
- it is an act of selfishness. You do not care about others when there is nothing left for them. Stuff is only valuable when it is limitedly available. For example,
İf there was more gold than stone on this earth, then everyone would have lots of it and it would be worthless.

[Nitro Zeus]

Yes, you are right. English dictionaries are in agreement on that point. However, they forget to mention a few things:
- it only applies to this material world...where resources are limited...which means that the more you have, the less is left for the others.
- it is an act of selfishness. You do not care about others when there is nothing left for them. Stuff is only valuable when it is limitedly available. For example,
İf there was more gold than stone on this earth, then everyone would have lots of it and it would be worthless.

I do agree on what you said, but there is blameworthy greed and praiseworthy greed. And btw, I don’t come up this.

And I’m sure you know what is blameworthy greed and praiseworthy greed

[Labayk]

What is commonly referred to as "Greed" is in reality love of this Dunya which is deplorable. To answer the original question: What makes an intention sincere is to do the action out of Love for Allah, Hope in Allah, or Fear of Allah or any combination of the three. All three are mentioned in the Quran and these are the 3 motivators of the Mumin that drive him to Jannah and the Pleasure of Allah. All three are essential and need to make up the personality of the Muslim.

It makes no sense that Allah would promise his slave something in Paradise as a reward for his/her actions and then blame them for wanting it. There is no blame for wanting/longing for Jannah. In fact we should be doing so more than the greediest miser for this life.

What we are trying to convey to people is that Islam is in their best interests truly. So any shrewd kind of person who wants to maximize his/her personal benefit in this life and the next should follow Islam. And greedily seeking after this life is truly of no benefit to the person doing it and they are the ones suffering the most.

By becoming "selfish" for Akhirah, people become more "selfless" in Dunyah. They don't care if they lose some or all of Dunya because it is insignificant anyway. Their eyes are on the true prize. This is what Islam teaches.

Islam is very much practical in this way and fully in line with man's nature. Man NEEDS an incentive in order to be good. It's ingrained in him.

Last point: We were created for Jannah, so naturally nothing will satisfy us accept Jannah.