In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful.
1. Sincerity of Intention.
Abu Hurairah said, the Messenger of Allah narrated to me that,
“On the Day of Judgement, Allah, Most High, will descend to His slaves to judge between them.
The first of those who will be called before him will be a man who memorized the Qur’an, and a man who was killed in Allah’s cause, and a wealthy man.
Allah will say to the reciter: ‘Did I not teach you what I revealed to My Messenger?’
He will answer: ‘Of course 0 Lord!’
Allah will ask: ‘Then what did you do with what you learned?’
He will claim: ‘I would stand (in prayer reciting) with it during all hours of the night and all hours of the day.’
Then Allah would say to him: ‘You have lied.’ And the angels will say: ‘You have lied.’
Allah will say to him: ‘Rather, you wanted it to be said that so-and-so is a reciter. And that was said.’ …
“Then the Messenger of Allah hit me on my knees and said: ‘0 Abu Hurairah! These first three are the creatures of Allah with whom the fire will be en-flamed on the Day of Judgement.”
(Tirmithi 2382 and he said: Hasan Gharib.)
An amazing story of a sincere saint:
Maslamah ibn Abdul Malik surrounded a fortress of the kuffar with his army. There was a hole in one of the walls of the fortress. The people appointed one another to enter it but no one was able to. So an unknown man from the army came, entered the hole and Allah granted them victory.
Maslamah called out: where is the man of the hole? No one stepped forward. Maslamah said: I have commanded my secretary to let him in as soon as he comes forward. I reiterate that he should come forward.
A man came to the secretary and said, permit me to enter. He asked: are you the man of the hole? He replied: I will inform you all about him. He was permitted to enter.
The man said to Maslamah, the man of the hole wants three promises from you.
- Do not write his name in the register of the Caliph.
- Do not order gifts for him.
- Do not ask him his origin.
Maslamah agreed to the promises.
The man then said: I am him.
After this Maslamah never performed a salah but supplicated: O Allah, resurrect me with the man of the hole.
(Ibn Qutaibah in Uyoonul Akhbaar See: Ma’aalim Irshaadiyah 65)
It was narrated from Jaabir bin Abdullah رضي الله عنه that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said:
“Do not seek knowledge in order to show off in front of the scholars, or to argue with the foolish, and do not choose the best seat in a gathering, due to it (i.e. the knowledge which you have learned) for whoever does that, the Fire, the Fire (awaits him).”
(Ibn Majah 254)
The great Muhaddith of Madinah Shaikh Muhammad Awwamah حفظه الله says:
The importance of Ikhlaas for an action’s success is like the importance of the soul in a body. As there is no benefit from a body without a soul, there is no triumph in an action without sincerity.
