Am I Really Sincere

"Am I Really Sincere?"

Khutbah by Dr. Omar Suleiman

Introduction: The Challenge of Self-Assessment

Dear brothers and sisters, one of the hardest questions that a person can ask themselves is whether or not their intentions are sincere. Whether they have ikhlas or not. Because the chances are that if you are sincere, you're not so settled in the idea that you are sincere.

Meaning you're constantly questioning yourself and going back and re-evaluating your intentions over and over and over again. And sometimes you have a feeling, in an era where everything is out there, things are so public, you might even be midway through a good deed and you tell yourself, you know, this doesn't feel like it's just for Allah anymore. There's something else around, there's another element to this that's taking away from the sincerity of my intention.

I'm not so sure if this good deed is only for Allah or not. It might have started out that way, but I'm not so sure. And then sometimes it can become a habit, right? You taste the sweetness of riyah instead of ikhlas, and just like any sin, it has a temporary sweetness to it with permanent consequences.

The Struggle Between Good and Self-Doubt

So the sweetness of praise, the temporary sweetness of praise, you taste that and then you start to crave it and you start to do more and more and more for that. But there are these dueling tensions inside of you, these factors, these feelings. On one hand, well I need to keep on doing the good, I need to keep on going forward, I can't stop doing good.

On the other hand, a person has to ask themselves, well do I just live with this self-doubt or do I actually do something about it? And of course there is the discussion of whether or not you question someone else's intentions, which is an entirely different disease which we'll talk about insha'Allah next week, where you see other people doing good and inside yourself you say they're not doing that for Allah. But self-doubt, when it comes to your own sincerity. And at the end of the day, you should be interrogating your own intentions more than anyone else interrogates your intentions.

The Divine Perspective on Mixed Intentions

So if someone else telling you or someone else questioning your intentions is more severe than your own questioning of yourself, then that means you're giving more weight to that person's sight than the sight of Allah, because at the end of the day you want to be perceived in the best way possible by him. And the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

That Allah said: "I am the most self-sufficient of partners from having any partner. So whoever does an action and associates a partner with Me in it, I abandon him and his shirk."

Because once you spoil that sincere deed for Allah by bringing someone else into the picture, then it's putting a partner with Allah in that pursuit.

Signs of Mixed Intentions

1. The Forgetful Prayer

Now, what are the traces of this mixed intention? Obviously, there is a person that does things and they know they're doing it for other than Allah, but they do it for social pressure or mobility or to fit in or whatever it may be, or to gain the blessings or to gain the goodness that comes from being known as a virtuous and a righteous person. And these are the people that Allah mentions, for example:

That these people that are forgetful, may Allah forgive us and protect us. Everyone has moments of forgetfulness in their prayer, but people that really don't care about their prayer, they do it because they kind of have to do it. They're intentionally engaging all other thoughts but the prayer, but at the end of the day, the external appearance is one of prayer. So they're forgetful in their prayer.

2. Lack of Motivation

No one has access to your thoughts, but they're praying. So it looks okay on the outside. So that's one thing. It's all external, superficial. There's nothing internal. The other thing is the lack of motivation.

If they get up for prayer, or if they go to the prayer, they're lazy. They drag their feet. They have no motivation whatsoever.

The same thing. Because they'll go there, they'll do their prayer just to get by, but it's not really there. So there's no motivation towards it. There is no internal sincerity within it. It is all superficial. And that's a very dangerous place to be in.

The Difference: Struggling vs. Not Caring

That's different from a person that struggles with khushoo. We all struggle to have focus in our prayer. With varying degrees. Allah allow our prayers to be entirely focused upon Him. Sincere and entirely focused upon Him. Allahumma ameen.

But we all struggle. But a person who has no motivation, and a person who just does it to get by. And then there is again, the person who struggles. Who wonders, is this deed going to be accepted? Does my prayer mean anything? Does my charity mean anything? What do I do?

Hidden Shirk: More Dangerous Than Dajjal

And Abu Sa'id al-Khudri رضي الله عنه he narrates that the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم said authentically:

"Shall I not tell you what I fear for you more than the Antichrist, the Dajjal?" And he said, "What is it?" He said, "That hidden shirk, that hidden idolatry. That a person stands up to pray, and then they only beautify their prayer when someone else is looking at them."

Why? Because Dajjal deceives. Dajjal deceives you from the outside. When a person engages that, they deceive themselves. You're literally decorating your prayer to yourself. What benefit would it have for you on the day of judgment? So this is again a person that does not seek to write their prayer with Allah, and it's of course the main thing that we will be asked about on the day of judgment.

The Pursuit of Knowledge: A Double-Edged Path

Another thing the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم talked about was the pursuit of knowledge. Right? And the pursuit of knowledge is the path to paradise. That's what the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said. That whoever seeks out a path of knowledge, then Allah will make his path to paradise easy.

But on the other hand, he صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

The Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم said whoever seeks knowledge, to argue with those that are more learned with them. Just to get into arguments with those that are more learned than them. Subhanallah, imagine the social media age and the way that people try to get a leg up in whatever groups they're in, whatever technology they're in.

To argue with those that are more learned than them. And really what you're trying to do is you're weaponizing knowledge to bring them down so you can bring yourself up. Or, to put down those that are less learned than them.

So you're either trying to bring down someone more learned than you or you're trying to shame someone who's less learned than you. Shame the ignorant, put them down, beat them up. Right? To get the celebration, to get the likes, to get the you know, look, I really, I won that argument, I won that debate and of course at the core of it to direct people's attention to you.

Right? Then the opposite result. It's not Jannah, it's Jahannam. Right? Because you're either weaponizing knowledge to hurt someone else or to draw attention to yourself. Two things that are completely contrary to what is core to what Allah has given to us with this blessing.

Pure vs. Polluted Intentions

So the difference is of course between an initial certain pursuit with bad intentions and a good pursuit that can be polluted somewhere along the way. Someone starts to seek knowledge and they do it sincerely but then somehow they get stolen along the way. Someone sets out and starts a charity effort or starts to volunteer but somehow their sincerity gets pulled along the way. Someone starts to do things for the sake of Allah in the space of, you know, fighting for those that are oppressed. But somewhere along the way, they get stolen, their intentions get stolen.

The Ever-Changing Nature of Intentions

And the reality is, as Sufyan al-Thawri رحمه الله said:

"I've never had to treat anything in my life more difficult than my intention because it changes on you."

It changes on you. So what do you do with a changing intention? You constantly renew your intention and do your best. And of course, never give up the good deed itself. And as many times as you hear this, it's just natural that at some point you can get paralyzed with such self-doubt that you say, you know what, I'm just not going to do the good deed anymore. What's the point of doing the good deed?

The Wisdom of al-Fudayl ibn Ayyad

And al-Fudayl ibn Ayyad رحمه الله said:

"To leave off a good deed because of people is showing off. And to do the good deed for the sake of someone else's sight because you see them, is setting them up as a partner with Allah. And what you really want to do is you hope that Allah spares you from them both and that is sincerity."

Shaitan's Ultimate Goal

And the shaitan at the end of the day wants to disconnect you from doing good. He wants to disconnect you from your salah. He wants to disconnect you from your sadaqah. He wants to disconnect you from everything that brings you closer to Allah and makes you a better person.

And that's why Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz رحمه الله said, if you're praying and you're making sujud, you're prostrating and someone walks in and sees you prostrating and the shaitan tells you, get up because you know you're only doing that for other people stay in your sujud and fight off those thoughts. Don't leave off the good deed and work on the intention.

Never leave off the good deed because of the fear of the intention but never stop working on your intention even if you are a wali from the awliya of Allah. You've reached sainthood. Of course not in the sense that it's traditionally spoken of, right? But you've reached a point where you're a close servant of Allah. You don't stop working on your intention and you never give up your good deeds.

The Solution: Practical Steps

So what is the solution? I'll give you a few things inshallah and then we'll conclude because there is something practical about this.

Allah does not burden a soul beyond its scope. If I'm going to start having waswas you know the whispers of shaitan the whispers of you know that things are just all off, right? And none of this is pure. Just like with physical filth, like if a person prays and they have constant waswas you just have to overcome them and you have to do your best to get your purity.

The same thing is with spiritual filth. You've got to put that stuff aside and keep going forward that doesn't mean belittling how important it is, but that means Allah is not unfair. Allah is not unreasonable. When a person sets off and they want to do the right thing, but along the way the test is getting stronger.

The Hidden Nature of Shirk

And so subhanallah, listen to this hadith Abu Musa al-Ash'ari رضي الله عنه says:

The Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم was once speaking to us, giving us a khutbah. The Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم said, "Oh people, be mindful of Allah of this polytheism, of this idolatry it is more hidden than the crawling of an ant."

How much can you detect the crawling of an ant? The Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم said this type of shirk this type of idolatry the idol of the self is more hidden less detectable than the crawling of an ant. So someone responded and they said:

So how are we supposed to avoid it if we can't detect it, if it's less than the crawling of an ant. The Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

"Say: O Allah I seek refuge in you that we associate partners with you knowingly and we seek forgiveness for you for what we do unknowingly." How powerful is this supplication.

Abu Bakr's Response

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq رضي الله عنه when he heard the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم refer to that type of insincerity and the pulling away of sincerity as being less detectable than the crawling of an ant. He said "Ya Rasulallah what do we do? How are we supposed to get rid of this?" The Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم he responded to Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه and he said:

Listen to the words of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, he said "shall I not guide you to something if you say these words it will remove that shirk from you remove that idolatry the large of it and the small of it the very obvious insincerity that you can actually feel and the parts that you're having a hard time detecting" and he said:

"Say: Allahumma inni a'udhu bika an ushrika bika wa ana a'lamu wa astaghfiruka lima la a'lamu" - O Allah I seek refuge in you from that which I do knowingly and I seek forgiveness from you for that which I do and I don't even recognize it, I don't even know it.

Five Practical Lessons

Five things that we learn from this dear brothers and sisters.

1. The Power of Dua

Number one the power of dua, the power of supplication keep asking Allah to keep you sincere keep asking Allah to keep you sincere and keep seeking forgiveness from him for that which takes away from your sincerity.

2. Initial Sincerity

Number two make sure that when you perform an action you have that initial sincerity for that action. Before you do what you're about to do, remind yourself that it's only for Allah that you want nothing out of your prayer out of your charity, nothing out of the goodness that you do from the people of this world you're doing it only for Allah.

3. Constant Renewal

Number three constantly renew your intentions it's not just the initial intention it's revisiting and making sure your intention was not stolen along the way.

4. Private Good Deeds

Number four your private good deeds Sufiyan al-Thawri رحمه الله who said that I've never struggled with anything like I've struggled with intention you know what he said? He said anything I've done that has been seen by other than Allah, I don't count it for my good deeds I don't count it for my good deeds.

What does he mean by that? He says I instead store up my private good deeds and on the day of judgment if those deeds that were seen by others are credited then alhamdulillah I mean that's bonus but I'm going to count on building my stash of good secrets some people have demons in the closet, others have deeds in the closet of goodness your sincerity, I'm going to store away the prayer, the charity the goodness that no one else knows about except for maybe the recipient of that goodness and that's what will be between me and Allah.

5. Consistent Performance

Number five, consistent performance, what I do in private, I do in public, what I do in public, I do in private and there is no drop off of the motivation no drop off of the performance of the prayer, no drop off of that goodness just because someone else's eyes are there the goal is not to remove other people's eyes, the goal is to remove the weight of those eyes to where they affect the performance or the sincerity of those deeds so it doesn't matter if someone else is watching because the only sight you're concerned with is the sight of Allah.

Closing Dua

May Allah grant us ikhlas in all that we do full sincerity in all that we do and accept all that we do may Allah protect us from attributing partners to Him knowingly and may He forgive us when we do so unknowingly.