Sincerity – Its Reality and How to Attain it

Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Al hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah Assalamu alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh brothers and sisters and friends and welcome to my new YouTube channel in this first video

Alhamdulillah all perfect praise and gratitude ultimate gratitude belongs to the Lord of everything that exists. Brothers and sisters, I wanted to start this YouTube channel with this first video on the topic of sincerity, this sincere intention to floss. And this is such a weighty and profound and important topic because as you know,

any of our acts of a bad any of our acts of worship are only accepted if we have sincere intention. And that those actions are in line with the Sunnah with the way of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and a class in this context, sincerity in this context is doing this act of worship for Allah alone, and we're going to unpack what that really means in a few moments.

And this is such an important topic, brothers and sisters, and it is unfortunate from my limited perspective. I don't know everything that happens online. But from my limited perspective, I have come to the conclusion the unfortunate conclusion that we don't unpack this topic enough to the degree that we facilitate people's journey so they can become a mandalas they can become a sincere worshiper. And we don't emphasize on this topic enough. Think about your brothers and sisters we can do great Tao called people to Allah with hikma and Rama, with wisdom and compassion. We can facilitate nations to become Muslim we can facilitate the alleviation of poverty and so many

beautiful things, which which are accidentally bad are the acts of worship. And if we don't have within those actions, a class sincerity doing it for Allah alone, then they're going to be meaningless. We're not going to have any reward on the Day of Judgment. They're going to carry no weight whatsoever. And that's why it's extremely important brothers and sisters, especially in our kind of narcissistic age, right? Social media, we want retweets and comments and likes and subscribers and fame, and so on and so forth. It is so important that we emphasize this topic even more. Because when we understand this topic, as it should be understood, then a lot what happens

online wouldn't happen. We won't be petty anymore. We won't squabbling argue, we will have a sense of true manliness, because true manliness in our tradition, is obviously emulating the best man to have walked this planet, which is the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who is the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam, and emulating in what sense emulating from the point of emulating His external manliness and internal manliness because sometimes what we do we just focus on the external, how I look, am I assertive? Can I articulate myself can I win an argument? Am I strong, and so on and so forth. But the hardest, and the most difficult struggle, if you like, is to

actually emulate the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam from an internal perspective to to have that internal manliness which includes what includes compassion, includes him forbearance, repelling by that which is better, responding to evil, responding to anything with what is more beautiful, and what is more virtuous, that is very difficult.

Holding down your ego, swallowing your pride.

These are important internal traits that we have to have, which are traits of manliness and if we are sincere, we're more likely to have those traits. If we have a class, we're more likely to have those traits. Because we will have an Allah centric and aka centric mindset, a good centric mindset. And we transcend these petty issues, we'll have a lofty vision for ourselves, and so on and so forth. And it's extremely important, we revive this topic of a class. So especially when it comes to a believers point of view that we have this external and internal true manliness, right. And the reason I'm focusing on this, because a lot of discussion on this topic online, and unfortunately,

the internal manliness, which is the most difficult struggle is not really highlighted. And we have this kind of shallow approach of what it means to be a Muslim male and Muslim man that we're assertive will look good, we're powerful, we're strong, we can articulate ourselves, we can win a debate. But with all due respect, this is just one part of it. There's a massive lacuna and massive gap in the discourse. Generally speaking, I know some people are talking about this but the massive gap is what about the internet?

rates. And when we see this pettiness online, we see grown men having childish debates. We have grown men excessively defending themselves. We have grown men who basically act like children with all due respect and very vulnerable. And they misuse their external power, which is really a veil for an internal pathology, then this is a sign of an indicator of not having a true understanding of loss and not having an Allah centric and akhira centric focus, which we'll unpack in a few moments. And that's very important to add. Now, by the way, you may be thinking, why am I focusing on manliness? Well, it is a very important topic for sure. But these traits, of course, have to be

internalized by our sisters as well, from their own context, that they have the kind of internal o'clock the internal part of beer, for sure, but I wanted to focus on this because the majority of people on YouTube are actually males. And the kind of manliness discourse is highlighted and, and focused on in recent times, so I thought I want to connect it from that point of view. Anyway, brothers and sisters, so we're going to be talking about a class one of the most important topics and the first thing I want to talk about, is a very famous and well known Hadith, prophetic tradition of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and this was narrated by Muslim. It's an

authentic hadith. And I'm going to read this hadith out to you so you understand the gravity of what we're talking about here.

So Abu Huraira Rajala Han may Allah be pleased with him reported that he heard the messenger of allah sallallahu Ailey, who was salam say, the first to be judged on the Day of Judgment is a man who was martyred, he'll be brought, and Allah will remind him of his favor upon him, which he will recognize. Allah will say, What did you do as a token of gratitude for that favor? He will say, I fought for your sake until I was martyred. Allah will say you have light you fought. So it would be said that you were brave. And it was said,

it will be commanded that he will be dragged on his face into his thrown into the fire.

And man who acquired knowledge, taught it and recited the Quran, he will be brought and Allah will remind him of his favor upon him, which he will recognize. Allah will say, What did you do as a token of gratitude for that favor, he will say, I acquired knowledge and taught it, and I recited the Quran for your sake, Allah will say you have light, you learned so you would be said that you were a scholar, and you recited the Quran. So it will be said that you were recited. And that was said,

it will be commanded that he'll be dragged on his face interiors thrown in the fire.

And then for whom Allah expanded his resources and gave him from all types of wealth, he will be brought and Allah will remind him of his favorite upon him, which you will recognize, Allah will say, What did you do as a token of gratitude for that favor, he will say, I left no path wherein you love to spend except that I spent there in for your sake, Allah was say, You have lied. You did. So you did that. So it would be said that you were generous. And that was said, it will be commanded, they will be dragged on his face, into his throne, in the fire. Brothers and sisters and friends. It is so important, based on this hadith, and many other ayat verses in the Quran, and Hadith,

prophetic traditions that we're going to be talking about today.

It is so important for us to understand that when it comes to our acts of worship, we have to do them solely for the sake of Allah to have a class. And we have to understand what that actually means. Because sometimes we say, Yes, I'm doing it for the sake of Allah. But if I were to ask you, what does that actually mean? How do you unpack that? How do you develop that? You may not have an answer. And that's why it's so important for us to have this discussion today. Insha Allah. And it's so important for us to emphasize on this topic, and scholars of the past have actually argued that they wished that there was a group of scholars that only focused on the sincere intention. For

example, it had been a big jumble of said, I had hoped that among the scholars among the scholars, there will be some who would have no other occupation, but to teach people about the intentions behind the actions, and that they would be completely free to sit and teach only the dynamics of intention. And its details, because many people fail only because they go astray in that regard. So let's go

Because on intention brothers and sisters and friends, so in the Islamic tradition, there are two main areas or two main meanings concerning intention, Nia, okay. Now, it's very important to understand that the first meaning we're not going to be talking about because it has a kind of legal domain. And it focuses on what you are intending, not the quality of the intention. But what you are intending. And this is in the realm of fic, of Islamic jurisprudence, and it focuses on determining the action itself. And we're not discussing this very nuanced, legalistic aspect of intention. We're going to be talking about the other meaning of Nia The other meaning of intention, which refers to

the sincere intention, which is really the domain of knowledge or the category of knowledge concerning a class sincerity.

And this type of intention, this meaning of intention really defines as quality or purity, it focuses on whom the action is for. And this is why it's very important for us to focus on zoom in on this discussion and this was the concern of the pious predecessors the concern of the early generations. So if loss sincerity from the perspective of intention is sincere intention focuses on determining for whom the action is and why it is ultimately done. Okay? So these are two important points for you to understand. So when we're talking about NEA, we're talking about a class we're talking about their sincere intention, we're focusing on these two areas number one, for whom that

action is for and why it is ultimately done. So, what is a class what is sincerity? Now, obviously, if lost in the English language means sincerity, from an Arabic perspective from the classical Arabic tradition, the word last comes from the trilateral stem ha Lam solid okay. And if you go to the classical dictionaries, you will have the following meanings associated with this route.

Purity, to be unblemished, to purify, to extricate to extract to select above others to befriend, to bring to safety, to reach safety, to arrive to join someone to be alone to be sincere. Now, interestingly of this route nine forms are mentioned or occur in the Quran 31 times. And let's focus now on the Quranic usage of this word in some of the relevant verses and understand and we started to understand what if last actually means from a Quranic perspective. So one of the forms is a colossal, colossal Okay, which means to devote to dedicate oneself or something entirely to and we see this Quranic context. In chapter four, verse 1461, Allah subhanho wa Taala says, not so those

who repent, mend their ways holdfast to Allah hood fast to God and devote the religion and tidy to him, Okay, so here, a class means a sense of devotion, sincere devotion to Allah, that the religion is for Allah, meaning that the acts of worship the acts of a bad Allah, Allah.

Another Quranic context, is when Allah mentions the word, heartless, heartless, and this means pure, complete, total, and true and we see this in chapter 39, verse three, when Allah subhanho wa Taala says, true, complete devotion is due to Allah alone. True, complete devotion is due to God alone.

Another usage of this form of this route that we mentioned is the word mandalas mandalas. And this really means the one who devotes themselves or one who dedicates oneself to something, and it can also mean the one who is sincere. So from the perspective of the one who devotes or dedicates oneself to something, we find this in the Quranic verse,

chapter 39, verse two, when Allah subhanaw taala says, Indeed, We have sent down the book to you with truth, to worship Allah to worship God, devoting to him the religion, okay, a sense of devotion and sense of directing act of worship to Allah Allah.

Also from the context of Mukhlis, meaning one who is sincere. This can be found in Surah Al Baqarah, the second chapter of the Quran, verse 139, when Allah says, Say to the People of the Scripture, how can you argue with us about Allah, when He is our Lord and your Lord, our deeds belong to us and yours to you? We are since

See it to him. So we get s a sense now we get a kind of Quranic picture, that a class really means that you dedicate yourself to Allah, that your religion is for Allah meaning that your acts of worship, that your devotion is to Allah's religion, which includes all the acts of worship, that they are singled out, singled out and directed to Allah alone and for Allah Allah.

And this echoes what the scholars have said, for example, Sal, to study said, those persons possessing intelligence, looked into the explanation of a class and did not find anything better than this. And he says, that a person's activity and non activity in private and public before Allah alone, nothing or no one is mixed within it, no ego, no desire, no worldly matter. The scholar

al Janee, said, last sincerity is not to seek with your actions a witness, other than Allah. Another scholar said, a class means to single single out Allah with intent for obedience.

And this is very interesting because the scholar and Fidel even he had said, abandoning action for the sake of people is to seek the admiration, to do an action for the sake of people is to commit commit shirk Association ism. In other words, to associate partners in the worship of Allah. Indeed, a class is when Allah saves you from both of these states. Allah saves you from both of these states, which essentially means that you're doing this particular act of worship, not for praise, not for pleasure, you're doing it for a lot alone.

So we'll get we're getting a general picture here of what a class is, is to do an act of worship for Allah to direct this act of worship to single out this act of worship for Allah alone. But what does that mean? Let's unpack it further. What does that actually mean? Fine. I know I do it for Allah sake. But what does that mean? Now the scholars have discussed three aspects concerning AirFloss. Number one, that you do the act of worship because Allah is worthy of it, and that you love Allah. Okay? This is very important. Number two, that you're doing the action to seek His divine reward. Number three, that you're doing it to protect yourself from his divine punishment. Now, the scholars

say if you do for any one of these reasons, it means you have a clause, but the scholars also argue that if you can you do for all of these reasons, it may be the case that one reason is more emphasized than the others or one aspect is more emphasized than the others. But generally speaking, if we want to traverse the path of being a mock less being a sincere, devoted worshipper, then what we should do is try to do for all of these three reasons insha Allah

and the Quran and the Sunnah indicate exactly what we're talking about concerning AirFloss and devoting ourselves to Allah subhanho wa taala. So there are many verses, I'll just mention a few. For example, in chapter 19, verse five, Allah says in the Quran, and they will not commanded except to worship Allah, being sincere to him in religion, inclining to truth, and to establish prayer and Zakah and that is the correct religion. Allah says in chapter six verses 1622163 Say, Indeed my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the Worlds, no partner has he and this I have been commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims. Also in chapter 39, verse

11, Allah says, say, indeed I have been commanded to worship Allah being sincere to him in religion.

And chapter 14, verse 14, Allah says so invoke Allah being sincere to him in religion, although the disbelievers dislike and the Sunnah is replete with statements concerning a class and sincerity and the sincere intention. And I'm just going to mention a few. This hadith this prophetic tradition is narrated by Bukhari and Muslim it's an authentic hadith that the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the deeds are considered by the intentions, actions are considered by the intention, the intentions and a person will get the reward according to his intention. So whoever emigrated for Allah and His Messenger, his immigration would be for Allah, His Messenger, and

whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry his emigration would be for that. What he emigrated for

In an authentic hadith narrated by NSA, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was asked by a man, what do you think about a person who joins us in the fighting only to seek fame and wealth? So Allah's Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa salam replied, He receives nothing. The man repeated the question three times. Each time Allah's Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa salam said, he receives nothing. Then he said, Indeed, Allah does not accept an action, except if it is heartless, purely for Allah sake, seeking nothing by his face. Also a hadith narrated by Muslim and authentic hadith

Abu Huraira Rajala, who and said that the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Allah, may he be blessed and Exalted says, 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 the action renounced by me, to him who he has associated with me. So brothers and sisters, we see from the Quran and the Sunnah, from a linguistic perspective, from a scholastic perspective, we see that we have to take this topic of class extremely seriously. And we have to understand that no matter what we do, and how great our actions are, they're not going to be accepted unless we fix what's in

our heart. Because the NEA the intention of class is in our hearts. It's not in our brains, or in our liver, or in our muscles, it's in our hearts. And this is one of the greatest struggles, brothers and sisters, and you see scholars of the past, they actually found this extremely problematic to the point where it affected their physical well being.

So how do we start to develop this understanding of the importance of a class and how do we start to be encouraged to become people of a class? And how do we start to facilitate our internal and external environments so we could be a mock list we could be someone have sincere devotion to Allah, one way of doing it is to understand the consequences of having a floss of having sincerity and the consequences of being insincere of not having a clause. So let's focus on the consequences of having a clause number one, you will go to Jana Subhan. Allah brothers and sisters, that's it. That's the only consequence you really need to understand. You will have eternal bliss and paradise with Allah

subhanho wa taala. This world this dunya brothers and sisters is the limited world we may live, what 4050 6070 years, but the arkit are the hereafter is an eternity. They when you think think about it from a mathematical perspective, think about infinity, right? Take a life of 70 years, how can you compare 70 years to infinity 70 infinity minus 70 is still infinity. That's how great the eternal abode is. So from that perspective, brothers or sisters, we have to take this extremely seriously. And if you have a class, if you have sincerity, you are eligible for eternal bliss with Allah subhanho wa taala. This is a great encouragement.

Another consequence of having a class is that your sincere intention is far reaching. In other words, if you have sincere intention, it outstrips an action. Now, yeah, even Abbey cathedral said, learn about intention for it is more far reaching than actions. What does this mean? For example, if I intend to share Islam academically and intellectually with the whole world, okay, and I intend my whole life is based upon this, and I die tomorrow, Inshallah, I'll get the reward of my intention. So I may have not achieved why intended but because I have a sincere intention doing it for the sake of Allah, I will get rewarded from Allah subhanho wa taala. So your intention, far outstrips

outstrips a particular action. Another consequence of having a class is that it makes small actions great. Even Al Mubarak said, maybe a small action is made great by its intention, and maybe a great action is made small by its intention. Now think about brothers and sisters.

If for example, you drink water, and this is a natural act, it's not an act of worship. It's a natural act, it's a necessity. And people drink water all the time, and we do it kind of almost without even thinking about it. It's a natural act as part of life. We have to maintain ourselves, we have to have water.

You can make the small action into a great one how by just changing your intention. You could just stop pause and reflect and say your Allah I know I need this water. But I am in need of you most

I

I'm ultimately dependent upon you. And these things are just means these things I just means and they're just kind of secondary causes. And I understand that everything is dependent upon your irata and podra. Everything is dependent upon your will and power.

And if you wanted, if I could drink this water and I will never quench my thirst if it was in line with your will, and your, your, what you want, right? So, you understand that you have ultimate dependence on Allah subhanho wa taala. And then you say to Allah, Oh Allah, I'm drinking this water, yes, because I need the water to sustain myself. But now I'm changing my intention. I'm enhancing my intention. I am drinking this water your Allah, because I want to stay fit and healthy, because I want to increase my evader, I want to increase my worship of you. I were to love you more, I want to obey you more, and so on and so forth. And if you change your intention by just having some water

brothers and sisters,

every time you drink water, it will be an act of worship. So before the intention, it's something that you need to do, and you need to survive and your human being it's a natural need. But if you reframe it, like the way I the way I've tried to explain that we that you should understand that we are ultimately dependent on Allah subhanho wa Taala we're not dependent on this water, we're dependent on Allah, these things are just as bad causes Allah uses to manifest his era and Quadra his will and power and His authority. And, and once we understand that, and we change our intention to say that I am drinking this Yes, because it's one of the things that I required to stay alive

that you have made as a means your Allah, however, I'm going to drink this water so I could be strong and healthy, in order to worship you more. Allahu Akbar is such a small mundane action is elevated to an act of worship.

And this links to the next point that habitual or daily mundane actions, actions can be rewarded.

For example, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, and know that whatever you spend seeking Allah's Countenance with it, you will get rewarded for it even for the morsel of food, which you put in your wife's mouth. And this was narrated by Bukhari and Muslim, this is an authentic tradition. So if you feed your wife with your own hand, and you put a morsel of food in your wife's mouth, doing it for Allah's pleasure, then that action itself could be an act of worship. Similarly, there may be sisters, who are homemakers at Hamdulillah, the greatest job a Muslim can do to be a mother and to be a wife. This is the kind of priority of values in our tradition, yes, a woman can work and

we need doctors and engineers for sure. But we need to kind of reclaim the narrative, and actually talk about what Allah prioritizes and what Islam prioritizes in the grand cosmic scheme of things, the greatest role, the definition of what it means to be a queen, if you'd like is that a woman is a mother and a wife, this is the best thing that she can do. Obviously, we do need other functional society and women have a important role in civil society in Islamic governance and the Islamic environment for sure. And they have to be doctors, and so on and so forth, and nurses and teachers, but at the end of the day, from a more priority values party, the hierarchy of values, the best

thing a woman can do is that she's a mother and a wife. We need to reclaim this narrative and there is no shame in this. And we need our influences in our DUA and our Masha and all of these people to start promoting the correct hierarchy of values from the Islamic perspective because they come from Allah, the One who has the picture and we just have the pixel, the one who is Aleem al Hakim, the one who is knowing and the one who is wise. The point is, is a woman who is a homemaker. She's making her husband's favorite dish, which states to fish and she hates fish. She doesn't like the taste. She doesn't like the smell. Now, she can basically just get upset about it and she's making

this fish she loves her husband for sure. But it's just troublesome, right? If she changes her intention, and basically says your Allah, I am cooking this smelly food that I don't like this food, but I don't like the taste of the smell of I'm doing it for your pleasure. I'm doing it for your sake alone. Every time you do it now, every time you cook that food, for example, is going to just change the paradigm, the spiritual paradigm because you will get rewarded, it will be an act of worship. And over time, when you do it and you have the intention is going to be something that you're gonna fall in love with. And this can include feeding your wife, it can include when a wife

is cooking some smelly food that she doesn't like the taste of or the smell of it could be any action. Those actions if you just reframe it, and you just change your intent

Imagine for the sake of Allah, over time, not only will you fall in love with it, but you also get the reward. And that's the power of intention habitual, daily mundane actions or actions you don't like, can be rewarded immensely.

And this is interesting because you have the scholars said, a shammy. He said, Verily, I like to have an intention for everything, even if even if it'd be eating and drinking, just like going to the gym, rather, if you go to the gym, and you want to get strong and fit, and you know, you're doing it because it's the thing that you'd like to do, you could change the intention. And every time you go to the gym, it could be an act of worship, because you can be like, Oh Allah, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that Allah, they you love the strong believer, rather than the weak believer, and yes, this means spiritually, but also means physically. And I want to be

strong physically, to show that Muslims are healthy, and that Islam changes your external, physical and internal appearance and internal reality that we're holistic human beings, and that I can have come across as assertive and confident. And also that could be strong to defend my family, and that it could be strong to continue to do a bad and acts of worship for us, I could pray in the last bit of the night for long periods of time, and when he be fit and healthy, and the gym is going to facilitate that. So every time you go to the gym, it would be an act of worship, Allahu Akbar.

Another consequence of having a class is that you get rewarded, even if you're mistaken. Also, another consequence is that it grants you wisdom. Now, why is it the case? Why is it the case that having a clause having sincerity is that you're granted wisdom? Well, it's very simple. If you have a class, it means you're doing an act, an act of worship for Allah Allah, which means that you're going to be asking a particular question, what does Allah want for me in this particular context, right? Because if you're truly ocular centric, Allah centric, you have this colossal sincerity, to please Allah, to gain his direct divine reward, to shoot yourself away from the punishment. If you

have that, in your mind, you're going to be all asking this question. Every time you do something, what does Allah really want for me in this context, once you ask that question, you would apply there in the knowledge that you have or the knowledge that you acquired from other people. And you apply in your context, you make it relevant, and that's the definition of wisdom is making knowledge relevant is taking your aim and applying it in a context. And we see this in the Quran. I believe in Surah Yusuf when Allah says and we taught him wise judgment and m and this time we reward the use of good, so Allah isn't making a distinction between wise judgment and knowledge. Because

hikma wisdom wise judgment is the application of knowledge. So Allah will grant you wisdom, also, you get Allah support. There is an authentic hadith narrated by an essay where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said Verily, Allah only supports this nation, due to the support of the vulnerable and the poor. And due to their supplications their prayers and their sincerity. Sincerity is a key to unlock the door to Allah support, this is so important.

Also, another consequence of having a class is protection from shayateen.

Another consequence of having a class is Allah will take care of you. Allah will take care of you, Omar ibn Al Khattab Rajala and he wrote to Abu Musa, may Allah be pleased with them both and he said, Whoever purifies his intention, Allah would take care of his affairs between people. Whoever embellishes for people, what Allah knows is not in his heart, Allah Almighty would disgrace him. And this is very important. So one of the greatest companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Ahmed Ahmed ibn Al Khattab Raja Lavon is saying that if you purify, purify your intention, Allah will take care of your affairs.

Also, another consequence of having a class brothers and sisters is the removal of negative spiritual whisperings was was.

So the man

at Dharani. He said, If a person has a loss, if a person has sincerity, much of what so so much of the negative spiritual whisperings and no Ria and ostentation will leave him finally brothers and sisters. The consequences of having a class is that you gain reward even if the action is not performed just like what I mentioned earlier, meaning that sincere intention is far reaching outstrips and action and we see this in a hadith and a prophetic tradition of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam narrated by Muslim where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said whoever asked for shahada truly out of his heart, Allah will will take him to the levels of martyrs, even if he

died on his bed. Allahu Akbar.

This should motivate us brothers and sisters, everything we mentioned thus far should motivate us to take the the topic of class extremely seriously and to try and to internalize it in our hearts, and that we have people around us that facilitate a life of a class that they remind us that they're good companions, that they remind us that you need to have sincere intention. And then we also hold our own selves to account. Because at the end of the day, brothers and sisters, the most important thing is having a class because all of the great actions that we do online and offline are never going to be accepted unless it's for the sake of Allah. So again, let's continue this journey. Now

what are the consequences of not having a clause number one jahannam. Brothers and sisters Wallahi This is the most serious thing. Anyone who is sincere. Anyone who is has any aspect of insignia, humanity in the heart, Rama mercy, they will not wish Jahannam on anybody.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said and this hadith is Narrated by Abu Dawood,

he said, Whoever acquires religious knowledge, which is normally acquired to gain the pleasure of Allah, for the sole reason to secure worldly comforts were not even smell the fragrance of paradise on the Day of Resurrection. In other words, he will not enter paradise. Brothers and sisters, why risk your ACARA? Why risk, the eternal abode in the Hereafter, which is eternity? Why risk that by doing acts of worship for other than Allah subhanho wa taala. Because if you don't do acts of worship for the sake of Allah, these acts of worship will have no meaning there'll be meaningless, they would have no reward, they will have no wait. And this is extremely important brothers and

sisters, for us to take extremely seriously.

So the consequences of not having a class is that we go to Johanna, we are eligible for Johanna.

The other consequence, which is related is that we lose reward of actions, we could do great actions. For example, you can have a million subscribers on YouTube and you can have 1000s of people becoming Muslim every month. And all of that is lost with regards to the spiritual reward the divine reward, because you did it for fame, you did it for people to say that you're, you're this great person.

Brothers and sisters and friends do not lose the reward of the noble action of giving Dawa of sharing Islam

because your heart is in the wrong place.

Another consequence of not having a class is that it is meaningless these actions are meaningless. They're baseless deeds.

Even Ahmed reported Rajala, who under the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said one who fosse my only acquire hunger and thirst from his fasting. One who stands for prayer, my only acquire fatigue from his prayer. In other words, your fasting is baseless and meaningless. And your night prayer is baseless and meaningless because your heart was not in it. You didn't have a class you didn't have the sincere intention of singling out and directing this act of worship for Allah Allah.

Don't make your actions meaningless and baseless, because your heart is in the wrong place.

Another consequence of not having a class is divine alienation.

eylea An earlier reported that the companions of Muhammad the companions of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said to him, do not do a good deed for anyone besides, besides Allah, for Allah will leave you in charge of the one for whom you did it. In other words, Allah will leave you

by virtue of us doing this act of worship for other than Allah, it's we it's as if we close the door to Allah's mercy and protection. We have divine we have alienate ourselves from the Divine.

Just because where our hearts lie, where our hearts are directed. If they're directed towards the people, then we will lose Allah. If we're if our hearts are directed towards Allah. Then we gain Allah special mercy and love. And also we gain the love of the people as well.

So these are the consequences of not having a class.

So now we're ready to talk about

what insincerity is now. So we've understood what a class is what the sincere intention is, when we've understood what the consequences of having a class are, and what the consequences of not having a class are. And now we can start talking about okay, well, what is not having a class what is insincerity, which is also known in the English language as ostentation. And there are two main areas of ostentation are showing off in the Islamic spiritual tradition. And this is mentioned in the Sunnah of the Prophet salallahu ad, who was Salman in the classical scholars, and this is Rhea and Summa. Okay, and we're going to unpack these concepts right now. And it's important we under

Stanwell insincerity is what RIA is and what Samaya is why? Because it would allow us to now be able to make distinctions in our hearts in terms of where i Where is it that we are insincere in or of what of what action we're insincere concerning, what actions are we are insincere about. And making those distinctions are going to be very powerful brothers and sisters because we'll be able to take ourselves to account and actually traverse the path to remove the app to remove ostentation and to remove some, okay, and we're going to discuss what these are. Okay, so what is the real

RIA is to do an action and act of worship so that people see these actions in order to win their praise and admiration, or to gain position and status amongst them or to gain some kind of worldly benefit.

Let me repeat, so this form of ostentation, this form of showing off RIA is to do an act of worship, so that people see them in order to win their praise the admiration to gain some position to gain status amongst them or end to obtain some odd benefit. And we see this concept in the Quran and the Sunnah. For example, in chapter 107, verses four to seven, Allah says in the Quran, so woe to those who pray, but who are heedless of their prayer, those who make show of the deeds and withhold simple assistance. Also, Allah says in the Quran Surah Al Baqarah, verse two, six for the second chapter, all you who have believed do not invalidate your charities with reminders of it, or injury, as does

one who spent his wealth only to be seen by the people and does not believe in Allah and the Last Day. His example is like that of a larger smooth stone, upon which is dust and is hit by downpour that leaves it bare. They are unable to keep anything of what they have earned, and Allah does not guide the disbelieving people. Also, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in a hadith narrated by Ibn manager,

shall I not inform you about something which I fear more for you then the digital?

We said the companion said of course or messenger of Allah, He said for the Allahu it he was salam, the hidden should the hidden associationism the hidden associating Panthers with Allah. A man stands for prayer and beautifies his prayer for those who are watching him Subhan Allah. Also in a hadith narrated by Musa Ahmed, the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Verily, my greatest fear for you is the lesser idolatry. They said, What is the lesser idolatry O Messenger of Allah? The Prophet said, sallallahu alayhi wa salam, it is ostentation Ria. Allah Almighty will say to them on the Day of Resurrection, when people are being recompense for the deeds, go to those for whom you

made a show in the world. And look, do you find any reward with them? Subhanallah and this is why brothers and sisters and friends we must learn the supplication to protect ourselves from rial from ostentation. And this application can be found in muslin Achmed,

where we say, and the process is I'm sad to say, Oh Allah, we seek refuge in You from associating partners with you while we are aware of it, and we seek forgiveness from you for that which we are unaware of.

So this is real, this is a form of insincerity, a form of ostentation. And this is showing off your deeds for people to praise you. So you seek the admiration you have some kind of worldly benefit that you that your state is elevated in their eyes, so you're showing off your good deeds so they can see it. The other form of a sentation is Soma. Now, what is Soma? Now similar to RIA

is some app but this form of Shrek this form of associating partners with Allah is via the senses of hearing hearings by the sense of hearing rather than sight. Okay, so you want people to hear about your good deeds? Yeah.

And interestingly, the Hadith narrated by Behati authentic hadith the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, he commits to Ma, Allah would do that with him and he who commits Ria, Allah will do that with him.

And so what is the manifestation of sama this form of ostentation, basically, number one, a person does an action with the intention that people hear that he or she hears his other people talk about it. So I do an act of worship, say giving Dawa and I'm doing this act of worship giving Tao sharing a song with people

With the intention that I hear others talk about it. So I want people to hear about it. And I want to hear that people are talking about it, okay? Another manifestation of this form of ostentatious showing off is that a person relates his or her actions, with the intention that others get to hear of it. So you mentioned the great work that you're doing, right. And maybe you present the great work that you're doing with the intention that people hear about it. And they will praise you and so on and so forth.

And this is another form of ostentation, that we have to be aware of, and it couldn't be the case that the origin of the action was sincere. So say, for example, you're someone who recites Quran for an hour and a half, at Fajr time after the morning prayer, and that you you're someone who at least does three times a week, you do Pamela, you stay you stand in the night prayer. No one knows about this, except you and Allah. And your original intention is that you did it for the sake of Allah.

However, over time, as you talk to people and get to know more people, you start to mention it. And you're mentioning with the intention that people hear about it. And therefore they will praise you as a result, or they would, you know, think great about you, although the your status will be increased in the eyes. So Summa can also be a form of ostentatious the origination of the action of the act of worship. The origin of it was that you had sincerity, but after a year, or a week or month, or whatever the case may be, you start to talk about it, or you start to present it in a way that other people can hear about it. And that you, you now know that they start to appraise you in

some way, by virtue of these deeds.

And consenting Ria and somehow the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, He who lets the people hear of his good deeds intentionally, to win their praise. Allah will let the people know of his real intention on the Day of Resurrection, and he who does good things in public to show off and when the praise of people Allah would disclose his real intention and humiliate him. May Allah subhanho wa Taala protect us from these forms of ostentation brothers and sisters.

So what did the Eddie generation say about this, about this the pious predecessors, the Salaf, right? And there are so many statements and obviously, we can't make this too long of a video. But let's focus on some of the statements that we have captured.

Al Hasan Basri

Raja Allah, may Allah be pleased with him? Oh, may Allah have mercy on him, said about the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them all. One of them would have memorized the Quran and his neighbor will not be aware of that. One of them would have a master much knowledge but people would not know of that. One of them would perform lengthy prayers in his house, and the guests he would have would not know of that. I met people who if they were able to do any action on the face of the earth in private, they would never do it in public. Allahu Akbar.

Also, the wife of Hassan, had been abused. syneron said, Hassan would come and like tricking to tricking a child to sleep, enter with me into bed into he knows that I had slept, he would sneak out and stand in prayer. I said to him, oh, Abba Abdullah, how much are you going to torture yourself? Have compassion on yourself, he replied, be quiet and well to you. In may be soon that I lay down and I do go do not get up from that for an extent of time. Now this is obvious is quite moving and emotional.

Also the famous scholar elmora, Marathi, he wrote the book, I can also Tawnya and he authored works on on jurisprudence, on tafsir, on exegesis and other fields. And none of this was known during his time.

Now he wrote them he developed these works in a place that no one knew of. So when his death came near, he told someone he trusted, that he has his book that he that he has books authored in a certain place, and that he did not publicize them because he did not feel they had sincere intention. He instructed that the person that once he sees that he's about to die, if he squeezes his hand, then no it has not been accepted of him and to take the works that night and dump them. On the other hand, if he does not squeeze his hand, then no they have been accepted and that he has achieved what he has hoped from Allah. The man said, when his death approached, I put my hand in his

hand and when he opened his hand and did not squeeze mine, so I knew that it was a sign of acceptance. And I published published his works after that.

So this is his sincerity. So he was not only aware of the concept

via but Suma, basically

he didn't want people to hear about it or he didn't want to hear that people heard about it. So his intention would change that he would want people to know that he is the author of these great works. Such were the pious predecessors. Such were our scholars such were our pious masters, the people that we need to emulate.

So now we can move on the indicators of sincerity and insincerity. There are many and we can mention a few just features that can get the idea of what are the signs of insincerity what the signs of sincerity and you could use these as criteria if you like to take yourself to account and maybe you can have a close network of friends and a group of people that could also sorry, hold you to account like that could hold you to account Inshallah, okay.

So what are the indicators of sincerity? Number one, your private actions are more than your public actions, especially with regards to acts of worship, that you dislike being famous or known. That you have intense desire to work for the sake of Allah, that you are being proactive and you're seeking reward. That you have patience, forbearance, you don't complain, that you strive to do deeds in secret, that you perfect your deeds and secret that you have an Allah centric and akhira centric mindset with regards to your vision and your decision making, that you're not petty, that you're not always desiring to defend yourself. These are indicators of sincerity. And for me, the greatest

indicator of sincerity is this is always asking the question, what is closer to the pleasure of Allah? Forget, forget just a halal or haram. What is closer to the pleasure of Allah because it could be Milan, but it's not the best thing to do. There's one thing that could be halal permitted, and it's not the best thing to do. That could be another action that is permitted. But it's the best thing to do. It's even close to the pleasure of Allah Subhana Allah to Allah. So if you ask yourself that question, especially as our context, many of our pettiness, many of our arguments, men have this ego, many of this kind of childish behavior is going to stop because you have Allah in mind.

You have an Allah centric and aka centric mindset.

By asking the right question, what does Allah want for me in this specific context, what is closer to the pleasure of Allah subhana wa Tada.

So what are the indicators of not having a class of insincerity, wanting to be known, seeking pupils praise, striving to show one's deeds, hardly any or no hidden deeds, concentrating on perfecting deeds and public only. And these are indicators of insincerity. Another indicator of insincerity is that you do not seek what is more pleasurable to Allah subhanho wa taala.

You don't ask the question, what does Allah want for me in this particular particular context? What is more pleasing to Allah in this particular context?

So finally, brothers and sisters and friends, how do we develop sincerity? How do we develop a class? Now, just to remind you of the importance of this topic, the famous scholar Sufian authority, may Allah have mercy upon him said, I have never tweeted something within myself, that have found to be the most difficult other than my intention, it keeps changing on me. Subhanallah and here are a list of things to do take this very seriously. Brothers and sisters and friends Wallahi take this seriously and trying to implement this. And I pray to Allah subhanho wa taala, that he doesn't test me with these words that I implement this as well.

First and foremost, seek help from Allah. Make dua to Allah that He makes you sincere. Make dua in such that in frustration, as you know, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that you are closest to your Lord, You are closest to you, Lord, when you're in the state of frustration. So supplicate to Allah subhanho wa Taala ask him or Allah make me sincere, make me sincere, make me have a class. Because at the end of the day, we are all ultimately dependent on Allah subhanho wa taala.

We are ultimately and fundamentally dependent on him. Everything happens because of his irata and Quadra everything happens because of his wind and power brothers and sisters. So we need to make dua supplicate to him, supplicate to Allah because you are solely dependent on him. Allah is off Summit, he is the self sufficient. He is the independent everything depends on him. His Alleghany he is the rich the free of any need. Depend on Allah make dua to him say oh Allah make me sincere.

The other thing we need to do is do an action every day. Apart from the obligatory actions that no one knows about apart from you know Allah subhanaw taala.

Brothers and sisters take this seriously. Do an action every day.

Apart from the obligatory actions, like the five daily prayers, that no one knows about, know even your wife, your partner, your husband, whatever no one knows about apart from you and Allah subhanho wa Taala make sure no one knows do this everyday and this helps you develop a class. The other thing to think about and reflect upon is death.

Every soul is going to taste death, Allah says in the Quran, think about death, is the destroyer of pleasures. This is the teaching of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Allah was it the 11th century theologian and POLYMATH. He actually mentioned something very similar in his area and his revival of the reduced religious sciences when he talked about death. And he said that there is so many benefits and reflecting on death. Even the Stoic philosophers talk about thinking about death. Think about death. Why? Because it's going to remind you of the aka the true life, that eternal life. Because what we do now the seeds that we plant here, they may be fruits in the orchestra, or

they may just be weeds.

So think about the weight of our deeds, and the weight of our deeds is contingent dependent upon our class, brothers and sisters, there's going to come a time when we're not going to be remembered or known, we're going to be forgotten, there's going to be a time where we're going to pass away. And the most important thing that's going to count is not deeds, but sincere deeds. So brothers and sisters is so important to reflect upon death, because it facilitates that realization.

Also, remind yourself about the consequences of having a class as we mentioned, and warn yourself about the consequences of not having a class not having sincerity, as we mentioned. Another thing to do is to strive to increase your private deeds and to perfect your private deeds. Another thing to do, and this is very important, it's the power of questioning is always pause and reflect, don't become mechanical, when you're doing a YouTube channel or video or giving a lecture or giving power to stop for a moment. And just take a conscious snapshot of yourself and pause and reflect and say, Why am I doing this? For whom am I doing this? Think about this. Think about the quality of the

action that you're going to do, and start to reflect and purify your intention.

And always ask and we've mentioned this before, what is more pleasing to Allah in this particular moment and context, the minute you just asked that question, everything is going to revolve around you everything would basically be a service to that question. And even if you're not sincere, by virtue of asking that question, it's going to allow you to become as sincere as possible as possible. It's going to optimize your sincerity. Think about what's more pleasing to Allah, that I react to this person, that I just defend myself because all about me, I just pause and reflect and I forgiven overlook, and I transcend this. And I think about the bigger picture.

The greater Masilela the greater benefit.

This such an important question brothers and sisters were like,

What does Allah want for me, was closer to the pleasure of Allah in this particular context.

Also, remember, a floss is not in the liver of the brain, it's in the heart and the heart, the eyelid pallava, it wavers the loop, it changes that wavers. And therefore, we need to focus on the heart and the heart has fitten Shahabad and Shubho heart destructive doubts and blameworthy desires. And we need to be aware of these things. And the heart also has diseases the four major spiritual diseases

react, which we just mentioned ostentation.

Kibber arrogance, or job SELF amazement and hazard, blameworthy jealousy and all the other spiritual diseases that emanate from these. So it's very important that we focus on our heart because if our heart is diseased, then we're less likely to have a floss. So we need to have a heart that is sound How do you develop a sound heart? Do the vicar of ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada. Everything has a polish in the end the polish of the heart is the vicar is the remembrance of Allah. Do the scar in the morning in the evening the remembrance is in the morning of the evening, make dua to Allah as we mentioned, do tahajjud pray and the last of the night, ask for Allah's mercy in the last sort of a night.

recite the Quran is to Shiva, it's a purification. Even more important in my view is due to a number of the Quran understand the guidance of the Quran. Ponder over the Quran. Allah says in the Quran, do not ponder over the Quran are the rocks on their hearts. So this can mean that the more you ponder, the more your heart becomes unlocked to receive the guidance and mercy of Allah subhanho wa Taala ponder over the Quran is going to help your heart. So these are the things that we need to do in order to soften our heart have a spiritually strong heart and therefore we're more likely to have AirFloss and fundamentally brothers and sisters which is connected to this have good company. You're

going to be the product of the people around you. This is well known

In the Quran and the Sunnah,

and you could do to number over the chapter in the Quran Chapter 18. When Allah mentions the dog and the pious people who were saved, they were saved and appointed the cave, and the dog was also placed in the cave. Now, even cathedral one of the classical committees of the Quran actually talks about this, you know, why is the dog even mentioned? Why is it even mentioned is almost irrelevant to the story from a kind of prima facie point of view. But when you scratch the surface, you see the depth here.

And what is the lesson even can even consider basically says that if Allah saved a kind of relatively lowly animal compared to us, save the dog because it happened to be with the pious people than him and he happened to be a companion to the pious people. Then imagine what Allah will do to us as believers if we happen to have righteous companions, Allahu Akbar, think about your environment. Brothers and sisters, this is not only in line with the Quran and the Sunnah, but also in line with social psychology, the development of the social norms social influence, this is well known in this field. And this is why you have to take very seriously your environment and your

companionship.

Another thing to do is to reflect on stories of a class, read the books of the companions, there's life of the companions, the life of the pious predecessors, the life of the Salaf, the life of the classical pious scholars, and look at look at what they achieved, and how they achieved it.

And trying to understand why they achieve what they achieve take a number with for example, he wrote the he compiled the Arbaeen, the 40, Hadith, the Hadith, but many scholars compiled 40 Hadith, but why is a now we saw well known, the scholar says, because he had a class it was accepted from him. And there are many beautiful stories from the solid from the early generation and the classical scholars. And when we reflect upon them, it just encourages us to continue this path so we could become people of a class we could become worthless, we could become sincere people.

Another thing to take seriously is never be complacent. Always remind yourself, hold yourself to account. Think about what we said earlier about the indicators of sincerity the indicators of insincerity have good people around you to hold you to account as well do that everyday, put it into your diaries, put it into your calendar into your notes. Think about I need to hold myself to account sending my class. Don't be complacent. Another thing to do is to do is stick fog, repent to Allah subhana wa to Anna. Now this is important from the point of view that if you did deeds acts of worship, not for the sake of Allah. If you do Toba, it should return to Allah and you do stick FOB.

You ask Allah's forgiveness. Allah is so merciful as he mentioned in the Quran, that the deeds that you did not for his sake which are evil deeds, technically right, those deeds will become good deeds so there is always hope. If you spent a whole decade a whole decade of doing dollar sharing Islam which is an act of worship, just for praise and just for fame, but then you had this spiritual awakening and then you turn back to Allah you do Toby do is take five then inshallah Allah would turn those 10 years into good deeds, such as the Mercy of Allah subhana wa tahun.

Another thing to do is this brothers and sisters or friends don't fall for the trick of shaitan Shaytan was whispering say, Ah, you don't have 100% pure intention. What's the point don't fall for this trap. The Scholars say this is a trick of shaitan still do the action even if there is no class to do the action because the only way to develop sincerity brothers and sisters is through the action itself. So do not give up the action.

So brothers and sisters Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah all perfect praise and gratitude belong to Allah subhanho wa taala. We have completed the first video, I think it's one of the most important topics we have to emphasize and unpack. I apologize for the length, but I think it was worth it. It's something that we have to unpack further even more. It's something that we have to emphasize again and again and again because it is a grave matter, brothers and sisters. This is about our relationship with Allah subhanho wa taala. And the greatest thing that we have is our relationship. The greatest thing that we have is our iman think about what Allah says, I think is in

chapter 14 Verse seven or 14, Chapter 14, verse 17, when Allah subhanho wa Taala talks about those people who think that emaan faith was a favor to the Prophet salallahu ad who was salam, and Allah says, See to them in mind, faith is a favor to you. It's a favor in mind, brothers and sisters faith, having conviction Allah and His Messenger having conviction in this in this Dean

in the way of Abraham in this pure monotheism. This conviction brothers and sisters and friends is the greatest priceless gift we can ever have.

The greatest gift, think about it. Now, I don't like postponing these thought experiments, but I'm doing it just to bring this point home.

If you had to choose a life of suffering,

but you had faith Imaan and a life of well being and you had no image, what would you choose? It'd be very difficult, but what would you choose?

You choose the life with iman, because you understand the priceless nature of this gift. Do not take this gift for granted. And the fact and the call and the understanding of a class, whether we have a class or not,

is actually an indicator whether we take this gift seriously or not. Brothers and sisters take this very seriously. Our relationship with Allah, our Imam is a greatest gift from Allah subhanho wa taala. And we can only utilize his gift properly if we have a class and our acts of worship, and our aka eternal abode, is actually based on what's in our heart. Are we doing this deed? Because we love Allah, he's worthy of this act of worship? Is it because we want His divine reward? Are we doing it because we remove ourselves from the punishment? I would think for all of these reasons, if that's the case, then we're on the right path. If we're doing it for fame for people to hear about it, or

to show off those deeds, we're doing for likes for comments, and so on and so forth, then we're in a very, very dangerous position. And that's why my advice is, is to take seriously

the points that I've just mentioned how to develop sincerity, to remind ourselves of the consequences of not having a class to remind ourselves of the consequences of having a class and to reflect on the PI stories of sincerity and to reflect on the Quran and the Sunnah with regards to this topic, so brothers and sisters, anything that I've said that was wrong or inaccurate, has come from my ego and shaytaan. Anything that is good has come from Allah Subhana Allah to Allah, may Allah bless you xocolatl for the opportunity, and I really pray to Allah that this has been a form of inspiration that has touched, touched you it's moved you and inspired you. So you could traverse

the path you could walk the path of a class so you could become a moralist, and I pray to Allah that Allah makes me a miraculous he makes all of you people have a class, and that ALLAH SubhanA wa to Allah

takes us to paradise together. Eternal Bliss. May Allah bless every single one of you as Salaam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh