Don't Spoil Your Good Deeds

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

If our good deed such as praying, fasting, giving charity, teaching or reciting Qu'ran, helping people, is driven by habit or force or for some worldly benefit and gain, this is not worship of Allah. The acceptance and correctness of any action depends upon the intention behind it.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

"Actions are but by intentions and every man shall have only that which he intended. Thus he whose migration (Hijrah to Madinah from Makkah) was for Allah and His Messenger, his migration was for Allah and His Messenger, and he whose migration was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman in marriage, his migration was for that for which he migrated."

An action which is apparently good, such as giving charity, will be rejected if the intention behind it is wrong, such as to show off. If a person performs an act for Allah's sake and also for the sake of someone else, then Allah will reject the deed entirely and leave the whole of it for the partner that the person made.

The one who genuinely does a good deed for the sake of Allah alone, turning his entire being to Him is the one who will get the reward for his good deed compounded over and over again. So pay attention to our intention when we do something.

The top on the list of enemies that can spoil our good deeds is our own lust and ego, our lower self (nafs).

Allah says:

أَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلَـٰهَهُ هَوَاهُ أَفَأَنتَ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِ وَكِيلًا

Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own lust? (Qur'an Al-Furqan 25:43)

and

وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لَرَفَعْنَاهُ بِهَا وَلَـٰكِنَّهُ أَخْلَدَ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ وَاتَّبَعَ هَوَاهُ ۚ فَمَثَلُهُ كَمَثَلِ الْكَلْبِ إِن تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْهِ يَلْهَثْ أَوْ تَتْرُكْهُ يَلْهَث ۚ ذَّٰلِكَ مَثَلُ الْقَوْمِ الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا ۚ فَاقْصُصِ الْقَصَصَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

And if We had willed, we could have elevated him thereby, but he adhered [instead] to the earth and followed his own desire. So his example is like that of the dog: if you chase him, he pants, or if you leave him, he [still] pants. That is the example of the people who denied Our signs. So relate the stories that perhaps they will give thought. (Qur'an Al-A'raf 7:176)

And about the person who controlled the passion of his lust and ego, Allah says:

وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ ﴿٤٠﴾ فَإِنَّ الْجَنَّةَ هِيَ الْمَأْوَىٰ ﴿٤١

But as for he who feared the position of his Lord and prevented the soul from [unlawful] inclination, (40) Then indeed, Paradise will be [his] refuge. (41) Qur'an An-Nazi'at 79:40-41)

Also, beware of the accursed shaytan, who has vowed to take us to the wrong path. Most hearts have been seized by the soldiers of shaytan, who fill them with the whispers that call one to love this passing world and disregard the next. The shaytan stands for waswasa against inspiration (ilham), success (tawfiq) against disappointment (khidhlan).

الشَّيْطَانُ يَعِدُكُمُ الْفَقْرَ وَيَأْمُرُكُم بِالْفَحْشَاءِ ۖ وَاللَّـهُ يَعِدُكُم مَّغْفِرَةً مِّنْهُ وَفَضْلًا ۗ وَاللَّـهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ

The devil threatens you with poverty and enjoins you to immorality, while Allah promises you forgiveness from Him and bounty. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing. (Qur'an Al-Baqara 2:268)

The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, said: "There is none among you in whom there is not a devil" They said: "Even in you, O Messenger of God?!" He said: "Even in me, but God helped me to overcome him and he has submitted to me, so he doesn't order anything except good" [Muslim]

May Allah give us tawfiq. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam