Shazzan Ahmed Mohamed

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Sincerity (Ikhlas) in Islam

In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful

Verily it is We Who have revealed the Book to thee in Truth: so serve Allah,

offering Him sincere devotion. Surah Al-Zumar(39:2)

The issue of ikhlas, is indeed of colossal significance in Islam. It is the key that opens ones heart to
receive the mercy of Allah. However ihklas despite its great importance-is often overlooked and
given the cold shoulder by many Muslims. Hence it is vital that we understand ikhlas in relation to
the elevation of the Muslims character. The verse above highlights the importance of this aspect. It
shows that in order for us to genuinely please Allah, we must take into account sincerity. On that
account, only sincere devotion, towards Allah, will secure the acceptance of our deeds.
Before we delve into the discussion of the weight of ikhlas in Islam, it is necessary to understand the
word lkhlas itself. This word is from the Arabic root word kh-l-s which means to be purified,
liberated or sincere1.
Applying ikhlas within the fold of Islam, it is to establish in our hearts its characteristic and value as a
state and to keep firm in the submission, obedience and devotion towards the creator and worship
none but him. A sincere Muslim will go to great lengths in order to purify his soul from vices and
exerts himself to perform ibadah with the sole intention of seeking Allahs pleasure alone. Hence in
this way, the Muslim will always serve the Islamic faith and thought, rather than trying to gain
worldly favours in terms of self-promotion or personal interests

Umar ibn Al-Khattab was on the pulpit and he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace
and blessings be upon him, saying, Verily, deeds are only with intentions. Verily, every
person will get rewarded only for what they intended. Therefore, whoever emigrated for
worldly reasons or for a woman, then his emigration is for that to which he has
emigrated.*Sahih Bukhari, Book 1, Number 1+

This fundamental hadith is of extreme bearing. It is considered by Imam ash-Shafi as constituting a

third of all the knowledge.
The phrase deeds are only with intentions implies that the validity or invalidity of a deed depends
on the intention behind it; and every person will get rewarded only for what they intended
means the doer will be rewarded or punished according to the intention that renders his deed valid,
invalid, or allowable.2
As mentioned earlier, this hadith bears high priority due to its emphasis on intention being the
cornerstone in performing good deeds for the sake seeking Allah alone. Consequently, by upholding
the correct intention, we are guarding our sincerity as well.

Taken from http://wahiduddin.net/words/arabic_glossary.htm, who in turn made use of the following

resources: An Arabic-English Lexicon (Edward W. Lane), Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic(J.M
Cowan) and Dictionary of the Holy Qur'n, Abdul Mannn Omar.
2
Jami Al ulum wal Hikim, ibn Wahab

Shazzan Ahmed Mohamed

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UNIMKL-009466

"And they have been commanded no more than this: To worship Allah,
offering Him sincere devotion, being true (in faith); to establish regular
prayer; and to practise regular charity; and that is the Religion Right and
Straight. (Surah Bayyinah, 98:5)

In the relevant part of the verse above (in bold), Allah (s.w.t) commands us to worship him alone,
making the religion purely for him alone. The word hunafa in the above verse is plural for hanifan,
which refers to the people who avoid shirk and are sincerely devoted in tawhid.3
However, merely mentioning the significance of sincerity alone is not enough. We must also learn
the practical methods to maintain our sincerity.

Say: Verily, I am commanded to serve God with sincere devotion; and I am commanded to
be the first of those who bow to God in Islam.(Az-Zumar: 11-12).

The phrase given in bold font above can be interpreted as to realize happiness in this world and the
highest levels of Paradise in the hereafter. Therefore, the first step in maintaining ikhlas is to ordain
a solemn promise in complete humility to Allah. This is to make your soul display sincerity, such that
it becomes natural part of your existence. In this way, we can unlock our hearts to make our ibadah
a very pleasing, satisfying and pleasant experience.
Besides making a promise to Allah, the following practical tips can be considered when it comes to
maintaining sincerity in almost every aspect of our life:
Give Sadaqah(almsgiving) in secrecy. The following references from the Quran and the Sahih
hadith further expound and emphasize this point:
o "If you disclose your Sadaqat (almsgiving), it is well: but if you conceal them and give
them to the poor that is better for you. (Allah) will expiate you some of your sins.."
[Surah Baqarah 2:271]
o Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, "Seven people will be shaded by
Allah under His shade on the day when there will be no shade except His. They are:
(1) (6) a person who practices charity so secretly that his left hand does not
know what his right hand has given (i.e. nobody knows how much he has given in
charity). (7) a person who remembers Allah in seclusion and his eyes get flooded
with tears."
[Sahih Muslim: Chapter 24, Book of obligatory charity tax(zakat), Hadith 504.]
Perfect your duty in private and public. The above hadith, in point 7) shows the importance
of performing deeds in secrecy and in sincerity to Allah alone.
Avoid praising others in their presence and dislike being praised by others.

Tafsir ibn Kathir

Shazzan Ahmed Mohamed

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UNIMKL-009466

Abu Musa al-Ash'ari said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant
him peace, heard a man praising another man, extolling him greatly. The Prophet
said, 'You have destroyed him - or you have broken the man's back.'"
[Sahih Bukhari, Chapter 48, Book of witnesses, Hadith 831]
We should be mindful of ones shortcomings and to advise or wish others well.
We should avoid boasting about our accomplishments or deeds.
Do not adamantly seek leadership and do not nominate yourself for positions of authority.
Always appreciate and welcome advice from your friends no matter how trivial they maybe.
Have the hunger to constantly yearn for expanding the horizons of our Islamic knowledge
and wisdom.
o

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The seeking of knowledge is
obligatory for every Muslim." - Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 74
Try to remind yourself of your duties and judge your intention and actions based on the light
of the following verse of the quran
o Say: "Truly my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death are (all) for
Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. (6:162).
Supplicate to Allah in forgiveness. This can be constituted by also regularly asking ourselves:
Are we doing this to please Allah Almighty and seek his reward or are we doing it for the
people? If in doubt it is the latter, we must renew our intention and remind ourselves that
there is no reward for the latter either from the people or from Allah in the hereafter.
o On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that
the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: Allah (glorified and exalted be He)
said:I am so self-sufficient that I am in no need of having an associate. Thus he who
does an action for someone else's sake as well as Mine will have that action
renounced by Me to him whom he associated with Me.
[Muslim, Hadith Qudsi no.4]
We must love performing the fajr, ishaa and night prayers. The reasoning for this is given in
the hadith. As we all know hypocrites are the antipodal of a sincere person. Their good
deeds are only for the purpose of showing off and not for fear of Allah.
o The most burdensome prayers for the hypocrites are Isha and Fajr, but if they only
knew what they contain, they would come even if they had to crawl. *Riyad-ussaliheen, chapter 192, hadith 1072]
However, although I have repeatedly mentioned the significance of this vital issue, it is not easy to
sustain high levels of sincerity in ones deeds. Even the great scholars of our Ummah, have ranked
highly the vitality of this aspect.

Sahl bin Abdullah said, Nothing is more difficult for human nature than being sincere,
because it has no share in it.
Yusuf bin Al-Hussein Ar-Razy said, Sincerity is the most precious thing in this life. I am
striving hard to rid myself of boastfulness, but unfortunately it appears as if it were planted
in it in different colour.4

Jami al Ulum wal Hikam, Ibn Rajab

Shazzan Ahmed Mohamed

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UNIMKL-009466

One of the biggest stumbling blocks we can encounter in our drive to perform our deeds sincerely is
riyaa (showing off).
Riyaa, coming from root word ruyah (to be seen), is the intention to enhance ones dignity in the
eyes of the people by means of act of worship to Allah. As this involves division of purpose, it can be
considered as a lesser form of shirk. If one involves riyah in ones ibadah, the purpose is split to
attain both public acclaim as well as the pleasure of Allah.
One can easily fall into this sin of riyaa. For example, if you are regularly observing night prayers, you
may be tempted to talk about the weather conditions during the dawn or fajr prayers. Another
example can be the tendency for the writer of this article, to boast to others about his essay to his
fellow colleagues. In both cases, it can be considered riyaa, thus rendering the good deeds, a waste,
worthy of nothing but a waste of time.
This issue is so serious, that the Prophet was reported to have said that a deed contaminated by
even an atom riyaa is unacceptable by Allah. Hence it is of grave importance for us to stay away from
this, as accentuated by the hadith:

The Prophet Muhammad PBUH said "What I fear for you the most is the minor shirk, that is
ar-riyaa. Allah will say on the Day of Judgement when He is rewarding the people for their
actions: Go to those for whom you did riyaa for in the world then see if you find the reward
with them." [Related by Ahmad (5/428, 429) and al-Baghawi in Sharh as-Sunnah (4135) from
the hadith of Mahmud bin Lubayd, radiallahu 'anhu, with an authentic chain upon the
conditions of Muslim]

This hadith alone is enough to explain the alarming concern and fear we need to have with this issue
of riyaa.
Nonetheless, that does not mean we can abandon all our good ibadah, simply due to having the fear
of falling into riyaa. In fact, it is of great misjudgement and error to step away from good deeds,
even if it is due to the presence of the danger of riyaa. Instead the true Muslim must strive and exert
against this deadly notion and thought. For this, as mentioned earlier, we must ask duaa to Allah
that he may accept our deeds and be modest in performing our deeds to Allah in complete fear of
him. Thereby, inshallah, we can change the praise and admiration of creation to the praise and
admiration to Allah.
We have thus far very lightly touched on the significance of maintaining ikhlas in our deeds. From all
those warnings and ominous signs, we must take heed of the danger and crush the head of egoism
under ones foot, abandoning self-love. From this we can purge our actions from all impurities or
anything other-than-God having a role in it when doing our good deeds. Thereby, the performer of
the action will not desire any reward from the deed in this world but only from the hereafter.
I implore to Allah almighty to make us sincere and among those who are mindful of Allah without
others knowing about it. The people with this characteristic perform their duties without others
knowing who they are. May Allah grant them the highest ranks of Jannah.