Made by a Taleem al Hadith Student of Al Huda Online :) www.alhudaonlinecourses.com

1. Ikhlas lillah-
Sincerity-
Introduction:
During the time of Musa (a.s), there was a pious man, who used to pray day and
night. One day some people came and told him that there was a garden where a
tree was being worshipped by a group of people. On hearing this, the pious man
picked up an axe and went with the intention to cut that tree. Shaitan came to
him in a form of old man and asked him what he was doing when he told him
his intention shaitan said:"What have you to do with it? If Allah wished the tree
to be cut, he would have sent his Prophet to do it."
The two went on arguing and quarrelling till they came to blows. The man
managed to knock the Shaitan and was about to kill him. The Shaitan begged
him for pardon and release saying, "Let me suggest you one thing which would
help you in this world as well as in the next world. I shall pay you two dinars
every day. You can pay partly to the poor and partly spend for your own self.
Leave this tree uncut till Allah commanded whether it was right or wrong to cut
it."The pious man was misled by the Shaitan and he agreed. On the second day,
he saw two dinars under his pillow. He was delighted with the money and spent
some on the poor. But on the following day, he did not see the money again as
expected, so he again took over his axe and came at that tree. Shaitan asked
him the same question as why he wanted to cut that tree. When he answered
Shaitan told him that he had no power to do it so it was better he went back
home. He did not agree and again they fought. This time the Satan succeeded in
overpowering the pious man and knocked him down on the floor.
The pious man was surprised at this and asked Satan why it so happened that
he could not overpower him this time. The Satan replied: "Whoever does a good
deed purely for the pleasure of Allah, no one can face him but if he does it with
an aim of worldly gain, then he loses strength and stands to fail."
It was the change in his intention which made the pious man overcome by
shaitan.

2. . The ingredient that we all need to work on throughout our lives as Muslims is
ikhlaas (sincerity); in sha Allah, that shall be our topic for today
Sincerity has been interpreted as being upright, sincere, truthful, pure, distant
from show and ostentation in one's intention and conduct, and being away of
the things that cloud or foul one's heart.
“Ikhlas means purging actions of all impurities.” And the ‘impurities’ mean
desire to please oneself and other creatures.
Sincerity can rightly be called the life and soul of the entire moral edifice of
Islam. If the action lacks sincerity however dignified or pious it may be it will not
fetch any reward from Allah.
In defining ikhlaas, Al-Jurjaani rahimahullah said that it is to not seek any
audience for your deeds other than Allah.
Sincerity in all we do is a commandment of Allah.
ُ ۡ ‫قُ ۡ إِ ۡ صَلتِى ونسكِى ومحۡاىَۡ ومماتِى ِ ۡ ر ۡ ٱلع ٰـلَمِينَۡ (١٦٢) َ ۡ شري ۡ لَ ۡ ۥ ۡ وبذٲلِ ۡ أُمِرتُۡ وأَنۡ أَو‬
‫َ َا ل‬ ‫ل َ ِ ك ه ۖ َ َِ ك‬
َ ُ َ َ ‫َ ُ ُ َ َ ي َ َ َ لِلِ َ ب‬
َ ََ ‫ل ن‬
)٢٦١( َۡ‫ٱلمسلِمِين‬ ُ
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 [among you] of the Muslims” )An‘aam 6/162-163).
)٢١( َۡ‫قُ ۡ إِن ۡ أُمِرتُۡ أَ ۡ أَعبدَۡ ۡ مخلِصا ل ۡ ٱلدينَۡ (٢٢) وأُمِرتُۡ ِِلَ ۡ أَكونَۡ أَو ۡ َ ٱلمسلِمِين‬
ُ ‫ل‬ ُ ‫ن‬ َ ُ
‫ه‬ ُ ‫ن ُ ٱلِل‬
َ ‫ل ى‬
“Say: ‘Verily, I am commanded to serve Allaah with sincere devotion; and I am
commanded to be the first of those who bow to Allaah in Islaam.” (Az-Zumar:
11-12)
Prophet (s.a.w) said :
ِّ ‫َ َ ْ َال‬
‫" إ َِّنما األعم ُ بِالنيَّاتِ، وإ َِّنما لِك ُِّ امرِ ُ ما نوى‬
ََ َ ‫َ َ ل ْ ئ‬

3. “Surely, all actions are but driven by intentions and verily, every man shall have
but that which he intended.”
. Actions are acceptable when they are done to please Allah and according to
the sunnah of the Prophet(s.a.w)The beauty here is that this hadith can refer
to any action, no matter how simple. So for example, even washing the dishes,
with the intention of pleasing Allah by looking after our families, can earn us
reward.
Sincerity in every aspect of life--
When we look over the text of the Qur’an and Sunnah, we will come to the
realization that Allah (s.w.t) and His Messenger sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam
speak about sincerity in different aspects:
 Allah (s.w.t) says in the Quran:
‫ِ ۡ َة‬
ِ َ َ ۚ‫َ ُ وا َ ٰ ة َ ۡ ُوا َ َ ٰ ة‬ ُ ‫َ َ ا ِ ُ ا ّل ۡ ُوا ٱّلل ُ ۡ ِ ه‬
ٓ ‫ومٓ أُمروٓ إِ َ ٓ لِيَعبُد ٓ ََٓ مخلِصينَٓ لَ ُٓ ٱلدِّينَٓ حنَفَاءَٓ ويُقِيم ٓ ٱلصلَو َٓ ويُؤت ٓ ٱلزكو َٓ ٓ وذٲلِكَٓ دينُٓ ٱلقَيِّم‬
98:5 And they have been commanded no more than this: To worship Allah,
offering Him sincere devotion, being true (in faith); to establish regular prayer;
and to practise regular charity; and that is the Religion Right and Straight.-
(surah al – bayyinah)
 From ahadith we learn that sincerity is required in every aspect of life-
• Sincerity in Tawheed of Allah
•in our Intentions ,
• in our Worship (salah, sujood, fasting, standing in Ramadan, standing in the
night of Qadr) ,
•in love for the masjid, zakah, sadaqah, Hajj, jihaad, repentance, supplications,
recitation of the Qur’an, and so much more

4. The Qur'an and Sunnah speak about:
• Sincerity in all our verbal statements ,akhlaaq,tawakul (having trust in Allah)
)in short in all actions of heart as well as the limbs.
Allah says, "Their flesh and blood dies not reach Allah but your fear of Him
(tawqa) does reach Him." (22:37)
Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "It means that your intentions
reach Him."
Benefits of sincerity-
With ikhlaas we can be saved from misguidance as Yusuf alayhis salaam was
saved. Hear Allah’s words:
‫لَو َ ۡ أَن رءا بره ٰـنَۡ ربهِۦ ۡ ڪذٲلِ ۡ لِنصرفَۡ عن ۡ ٱلسوءَۡ وٱلفحشاءَۡ ۡ إِن ۡ ۥ م ۡ عبادنا‬
َ ِ َ ِ ‫َ ه ُّ َ َ َ ۖ ه ِن‬
ُ ُ ِ َ ‫َ ُ َ َ ۖ ََ ك‬
َ ‫ل‬
١٢( َۡ‫)ٱل ۡخلَصِ ين‬
‫م‬
ُ
And thus [it was] that We should avert from him evil and immorality. Indeed, he
was of Our mukhlaseen servants (Yusuf 12/24)
the Prophet said, describing the luckiest person who will have his
intercession on the Day of Resurrection: "The one who said, ‘Laa ilaaha illa
Allaah (there is no deity worthy of worship except Allaah)’ sincerely from his
heart." [Al-Bukhaari
With ikhlaas, the books can be turned in our favor in the last minutes of our
lives just as what happened to the man that murdered 99 men. Allah saved him
in the end because of his sincerity in repentance.

5. With ikhlaas one will be saved from Hellfire and granted a lofty position in
Jannah
Moreover, a small amount of sincere work can be a cause for attaining the
satisfaction of Allah The Almighty as in the Hadeeth of the Prophet in which
he said:“Fear the Fire, even if by giving half a date (in charity).” [Al-Bukhaari]
Omar Ibn Al-Khattab says: (Whoever is sincere in his intention, Allah eliminates
all the troubles/issues between himself and people). Ref: Az-Zuhd, Hannad Ibn
Who is the sincere one-
Ya’qoob Al-Makfoof rahimahullah used to say, “The sincere one is he who hides
his good deeds in the same way that he would hide his bad.”
From the Seerah, Sa’ad ibn Waqqaas narrates:
“… as for Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl (after the conquest of Makkah) while escaping by
sea, a terrible storm befell them. The owners of the boat shouted, ‘At this
moment pray to only God and pray sincerely, for your gods cannot avail us in
any way through salvation from this storm.’ Ikrimah said, ‘By Allah, if ikhlaas
can only save me on the sea, then on land nothing but it can save me.’ )He then
raised his hands and pronounced(, ‘O Allah if you save me, you have upon me
an oath that I shall not rest until I arrive at Muhammad sal Allaahu alayhi wa
sallam and place my hand in his.”
He then came to RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam, became Muslim, and
was later martyred in jihaad.
Lack of sincerity-

6. On one hand where sincerity is so important then on the other hand insincerity
in our actions is something very dangerous and can lead a person to ruin. Ibn
Mas’ood radi Allahu anhu would advise his students, “If your intention is to: To
shame the ignorant, to argue with the Fuqahaa’, or to cause people to turn their
faces in your direction then do not seek knowledge. Intend with your actions
and words that which is with Allah, for indeed that which is with Allah shall
remain and everything else shall perish.”
Ibnul Qayyim rahimahullah said, “Deeds without sincerity are like a traveler
who carries dirt in his water-jug. The carrying of it burdens him and it brings no
benefit.”
Conclusion:
Today we talked about sincerity as the soul of our all actions. It is the
movements of our body coinciding with our heart’s actions but if our body does
something contrary to what is in our heart than that is not ikhlas, it is hypocrisy
which is the opposite of ikhlas. It is so important because it is the command of
Allah (s.wt) and prerequisite of all our ibadaat. A sincere person gets great
reward even for his intentions and a person who is insincere will be deprived
despite all his action that he did with insincerity. Everything that is loved - if it is
not loved for His sake then this love is nothing but distress and punishment.
Every action that is not performed for the sake of Allah is wasted and severed.
We should expect all rewards from Allah (s.w.t) because- Allah (s.w.t) says in
Quran
‫ّل َ َر َّ ۡ ُوم‬
)١٢( ٍ۬ ‫وإِن من شى ٍ۬ إِ ٍَّ۬ عندنَا خزآٮنهٍُ۬ۥ وما ننزلُهٍُ۬ۥۤ إِ ٍَّ۬ بِقد ٍ۬ معل‬
ِ َُ َ َ ُِ َ َ َ ِ ‫َ ۡ ء ّل‬ ِ َ
"There is not a single thing except that its depositories and treasures are
with Us." [Al-Hijr (15): 21)
How to attain sincerity:

7.  We should make dua to Allah (s.w.t) to give us the treasure of sincerity.
 Al-Imam Ahmad said: "Before you do anything, check your intention
(niyyah) - ask yourself before performing an action: "Is it for the sake of
Allah?"
 We should look at our actions are they same in private and public or not.
 After completing a job and assignment we should see do we boast about
our role in it or we expect reward from Allah (s.w.t)
- if we have good intentions before starting a task.
- our Habits are changed by acts of worship
we perfect our duty in private and in public.
- we dislike being praised by others, and we make dua Du`aa: “O Allaah, forgive
me for what they do not know about me, and make me better than what they
think of me.”
- we welcome advice from friends.
- we do not not seek leadership and not nominate ourselves for positions of
authority.
- we are constantly mindful of one’s shortcomings, and to advise or wish others
well.
- we feel that our contribution is minimal compared to others.
-we love performing the Fajr, Ishaa’, and night prayers.
and prefer giving charity in secret. We conceal our good deeds from others.
Then we are good to go inshaAllah 
These were some of the criterias that indicate to us whether we are on the right
track to sincerity and the pleasure of Allaah Almighty or not-
We should always focus on our actions of the limbs as well as the heart—The
moment we thought we are sincere that is the point we will lose it. We should

8. always fear for our intentions and renew them as we check our facebook
account every now and then 
I implore Allaah Almighty to make us among the sincere, who are mindful of
Allaah without others knowing about it.
ۡ
ۡ‫جزاكمۡهللاۡخيرن‬