Sincerity and Its Fruits-I

Allaah The Almighty has created all of creation to worship Him, and He
sent Messengers to people so they would worship Him alone with no
partner.
Allaah The Almighty Says (what means):
• {And they were not commanded except to worship Allaah, [being]
sincere to Him in religion} [Quran 98: 5]
• {And We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to
him that, "There is nodeity except Me, so worship Me."} [Quran 21: 25]
• {And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying],
"Worship Allaah and avoid Taaghoot.} [Quran 16: 36]
Allaah The Almighty cannot be worshipped perfectly except by
dedicating all acts of worship to Him in all sincerity.
Sincerity is the basic building block of religion, the essence of
worship, and prerequisite for the acceptance of any action. It is
likethe foundation of a building and the soul to the body. Therefore,
Allaah The Almighty made the actions of non-Muslims like dust
dispersed because they lack the essential two elements: belief in the
oneness of Allaah The Almighty and sincerity. Allaah TheAlmighty Says
(what means): {AndWe will regard what they have done of deeds and make
them as dust dispersed.} [Quran 25: 23]
Such loss will be the fate of all those who did not sincerely dedicate
their worship to Allaah The Almighty, and those who sought with it
other than Allaah The Almighty. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means):
{Whoever desires the life of this world and its adornments - We fully
repay them for their deeds therein, and they therein will not be
deprived. Those are the ones for whom there is not in the Hereafter
but the Fire. And lost is what they did therein, and worthless is what
they used to do.} [Quran 11: 15-16]
The loser in the true sense of the word is the one who performs
numerous deeds and then Allaah The Almighty makes them as dust
dispersed and throws him inHellfire on his face. Abu Hurayrah narrated
a Marfoo' Hadeeth that reads:
"The first one among the people to be judged on the Day of
Resurrection will be a man who was martyred. He will be broughtand
Allaah will remind him of His blessings and he will acknowledge them.
He will say: 'What did you do with them?' He will say, 'I fought for
Your sake until I was martyred.' He will say: 'You are lying; rather
you fought so that it would be said that you were brave, and that was
said.' Then He will order that he be dragged on his face and thrown
into Hell. "And there will be a man who acquired knowledge and taught
it, and recited the Quran. He will be brought and Allaah will remind
him of His blessings and he will acknowledge them. He will say: 'What
did you do with them?' He will say, 'I acquired knowledge and taught
it, and I recited the Quran for Your sake.' He will say: 'You are
lying; rather, you acquired knowledge so that it would be said that
you were a scholar, and you recited the Quran so that it would be said
that you were a reciter, and that was said.' Then He will order thathe
be dragged on his face and thrown into Hell. "And there will be a man
to whom Allaah gave abundant wealth of all kinds. He will be brought
and Allaah will remind him of His blessings and he will acknowledge
them. He will say: 'What did you do with them?' He will say, 'I did
not leaveany way that You like charity to be spent but I spent charity
for Your sake.' He will say: 'You are lying; rather, you did that so
that it would be said that you were generous, and that was said.' Then
He will order that he be dragged on his face and thrown into Hell."
[Muslim]
May Allaah The Almighty guard usagainst such disappointment.
Glory be to Allaah The Almighty, from Whom none of our affairs
ishidden. He knows the treachery of the eyes, and all that the breasts
conceal. No matter how much a person deceives and misleads people with
his outward appearance, all such deception will be to no avail. Allaah
The Almighty Says (what means): {Indeed, the hypocrites [think to]
deceive Allaah , but He is deceiving them. And when theystand for
prayer, they stand lazily,showing [themselves to] the people and not
remembering Allaah except a little.} [Quran 4: 142]
Moreover, the Prophet said: "Allaah does not look at your outward
appearance or your wealth, rather He looks at your hearts and your
deeds." [Muslim]
Surely, people will know the truth soon, either in the worldly life or
in the Hearafter. Allaah TheAlmighty Says (what means): {As for the
foam, it vanishes, [being] cast off; but as for that which benefits
the people, it remains onthe earth. Thus does Allaah present
examples.} [Quran 13: 17]
One of the greatest reasons behind the absence or lack of sincerity in
our actions is seeking worldly gains or aspiring to earn the praise
and commendation of people. Ibn Al-Qayyim said, "Sincerity cannot be
combined in the heart together with love of being praised and
commended, and greed for what other people have, except in much the
same way that water and fire, and lizard and fish are combined."
He added, "
So if your conscience tells you to seek sincerity, then turn to greed
first, and slaughter it with the knife of despair, then turn to the
love of being praised and abandon it in the same way those who love
the pleasures of this world abandon the Hereafter. If you are
successful in slaughtering greed and in abandoning love of being
praised, then sincerity will be easy for you. And if you ask, and what
will facilitate slaughtering greed and abandoning love of being
praised for me? I reply: as for slaughtering greed, then what will
facilitate this for you is your knowledge with certainty that there is
nothing whatsoever that is desired, except that with Allaah alone are
its treasures, none possesses them except Him,and the slave is given
nothing from them except by Him. As for abandoning love of being
praised, then what will facilitate this for you is your knowledge that
no one's praise benefits and adorns, and no one's dispraise harms and
makes one ugly, except the praise and dispraise ofAllaah Alone. A
Bedouin said to the Prophet 'Indeed whoever I praise is adorned, and
whoever I dispraise is unadorned.' The Prophet said: 'That is [for]
Allaah The Almighty [alone].' " [At-Tirmithi and Ahmad]
So abandon seeking the praise of the one whose praise does not adorn
you and whose dispraise does not make you any worse, and seek the
praise of the One whose praise is the source of all beauty and whose
dispraise results in all forms of ugliness.