Sincerity

[BOXER]

Its narrated that the authority of commander of faithful ' Umar ibn-Alkhattab (may allah be please with him) said he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) say:

Deeds are judged by intensions (niyyah) so each man will have what he intended. Thus he whose migration (hijrah) was to Allah and his Messenger, his migration is to Allah and his messenger, but he whose migration was some wordly thing, he might gain, or for a wife he might marry his migration is to that for which he migrated (albukhari and muslim).


The basic hadith sets the exotric realm of actual ikhlas:
Its the relation to intention and actions as product of that. Still as many books related to this adab (manners) and values all three - intention, sincerity and truth - seem to be interlocked. there is no doubt that the essence of sincerity is between intention and truth.

Still as for the essence of ikhlas in itself, it was narrated in the musnad by imam Ahmad that the prophet (peace be upon him) narrated that he asked jibreel and then he asked Allah ( Majestic in his praise) about sincerity and he answered, "Sincerity is a secret of secterts i stored in the hearts of the ones i love among my servants".

So lets understand Ikhlas in its nature is a secret stored and treasured. We will find out then that the rest of known hadiths will then either deal, in principle with the secretive nature of ikhlas or with its being treasured.

Let it be noted that the following hadiths are taken from the magnum opus of the most respected and highly steemed imam Al Gazhali " the revival of religious sciences", which i highly recomend for further reading on the subject matter (Book37).

The first hadith states that "there should be no envy for three matters related to the heart of Muslim:... devoting works for allah" (At-tarmidi). This hadith shows preciousness of such a trait. A comment of this hadith says " whoever works for Allah's sake sincerily for fourty days, the fountains of wisdom will flow from his heart to his mouth." Narrated from Ibn Adii and from the same chain, Ibn Al Jawziah in Almawdo'at through Abu musa.) in this hadith, the fruits of ikhlas are presented.

There is also hadith narrated by Al-Nasai that the Prophet ( peace be upon him) said " The angels lift the works of servant , multiplying it and purifying it, then Allah (Majestic in His praise) reveals to them " You are custodians over my servants work and i am watchful over what is inside him. My servant didn't act with sincerity; take him to sijjn ( a low place of hellfire). And they - the angels - lift the works of servant thinking of decreasing it's worth. Then it's revealed to them: "You are custodians over my servant's work and I am watchful of what is inside him. Multiply it and make him in 'Illiyin ( a high place in paradise).

If anything, this Hadith shows the ultimate secretive nature of ikhlas between the servant and Allah ( Majestic in his praise)

May Allah increase our ikhlas.

Source: islamonline.net