The road to Hell is paved with good intentions...

[Flame of Hope]

If your intention is truly sincere, then i think you get the reward anway don't you?

True sincerity would compel you to do things according to the Sunnah. If you do it contrary to the way of the Prophet (saws), you won't get any reward at all. Instead, you would incur Allah's displeasure and wrath.

Here's something for you to consider:

Al-Fudayl b. ‘Ayyâd [187H] – Allah have mercy on him – said:

“Allah (‘azza wa jalla) accepts only those deeds which are both correct and sincere (pure). If the deed is done correctly but not sincerely, it will not be accepted. And if it is sincere but not correct, it will not be accepted.” He was asked, “Abû ‘Alî! What is the sincere and correct deed?” He replied, “The sincere deed is one that is done only for Allah ‘azza wa jall. And the correct deed is one done according to the Sunnah.”

Abû Nu’aym, Hilyah Al-Awliyâ` Vol.8 p95.

 

[Flame of Hope]

What your question brought to my mind are those who think that they are doing the will of Allah (swt), but yet they are astray from the Straight Way. This passage in the Quaran illustrates this idea 18:103-107 Say: Shall We inform you who will be the greatest losers by their works? Those whose effort goes astray in the life of the world, and yet they reckon that they do good work. Those are they who disbelieve in the revelations of their Lord and in the meeting with Him. Therefore their works are vain, and on the Day of Resurrection We assign no weight to them. That is their reward: Hell, because they disbelieved, and made a jest of Our revelations and Our messengers. Those whose good works are in vain include those who disbelieve in the Divine revelations with the Quran being the last one. Ayat 108 contrast the losers with the winners as Lo! those who believe and do good works, theirs are the Gardens of Paradise for welcome, wherein they will abide, with no desire to be removed from thence.

A similar quotation from the Bible is from Matthew 7:21-23 where Jesus (as) is quoted as saying Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.' Here Jesus illustrates the importance of following the Law as doing the will of God.

These are very good points and things to think about. We do need to check our deeds and examine our intentions behind our deeds.

Jazakallah khair.

 

[Flame of Hope]

'That the end justifies the means is a flawed proposition.
If the means are bad they debase the end, even if the end was
orginally well intended, history is littered with examples
of how bad means corrupt good ends'.

A quote from the late Jimmy Reid.

^i dont get it. can you explain it?

I'll try, sister.

An end is something good we want to achieve or do. We start out thinking about the good we want to do and think about the reward we would get for doing that good deed.

But the principle goes that you can't achieve something good if you are doing something bad in order to get it. So even if the end you have in mind is good, the evil means you used in order to achieve your end would debase the end.

Here's a story I read that could illustrate the point for you.....

Jafar had heard that an old man had become famous for his piety. One day, he saw him surrounded by a large crowd. A little later, the man came out of the crowd and distancing himself from them, proceeded alone, whereupon Jafar began to follow him. After a short time, Jafar observed that he had stopped near a bakery from where he stealthily picked up two loaves of bread. After a short distance, he stopped at a fruit store, picking up two pomegranates in the same manner and once again continued on his way.

As he walked further, the old man approached a sick person, handed over the loaves and fruits to him and was about to move on when Jafar came up to him and said, "I have witnessed something greatly astonishing from you", and then proceeded to narrate the acts, which he had witnessed.

The man said, "Do you not know that God has said in the Noble Qur'an "Whoever brings a good deed, he shall have ten like it and whoever brings an evil deed, he shall be recompensed only with the like of it".

"On this basis, since I have stolen two fruits and two loaves of bread, I have four sins in my account, but on the other hand, since I have given it in the way of God, I have earned forty good deeds. Reducing four from forty, I still have thirty-six good deeds in my account; a pity that you possess no knowledge of such computations!"

Jafar explained to him, "But have you not heard this verse of the Noble Qur'an, which says: "Allah only accepts from those who guard (against evil)". [5:27] You have earned four sins by stealing those four items and four more sins for giving them to someone else without the permission of the owners, so you have collected eight sins but not a single good deed."

------------------

The old man thought that he was doing good by handing over the loaves of bread and fruits to the sick man. It would have been a good deed if he had got the loaves of bread and pomegranates by way of honest earning. But he had procured those things by stealing them....which is of course an evil thing to do. So the end was debased by the means he used. This is an example of how bad means corrupt good ends.