“For The Sake of Allah” – What Does It Mean?

• Two types of intentions for our actions.
  • 1. Worldly Gains (Promotion in a a workplace, better projects, etc.)
  • 2. Emotional gratification (To be liked, loved, accepted & seek popularity)
• We are to do something for a bigger/greater purpose; Allah/Hereafter. (Do not do something that will be short lived.
• Doing something for Allah:
  • Based on faith
  • With integrity, never mess with limits and boundaries
  • With compassion, what is best for us and others
  • Rewards for our good deeds
  • More sympathetic with people
  • Will grant you worldly gains

• Opposite of Ikhlas: Riya' Sum'ah
• Riya: Actions to be seen by people
• Sum'ah: Wanting your deeds to be known/heard by others (Pray to be seen by people)
• Need our deeds to be seen by people

• Causes of riya’ and how to dispel them:
• Desiring to be praised
  • Remind yourself of the pleasures you get in Jannah, and compare if you want to swap them for the minute pleasure of being praised in the dunya
• Hating to be criticised
  • Remind yourself of your imminent stand before Allah and compare which criticism is more important, the criticism of the people or the criticism of Allah
  • Know that if Allah is pleased with you, then He will make the people pleased with you too
• Desiring what is in the hands of the people
  • Remind yourself that what is with Allah is far greater
  • Remind yourself that what is in the hands of the people ultimately belongs to Allah, and only He decides if you get something or not

• Among 7 types of people who'll be shaded in Al-Mahsyar:
  • "A man who gives in charity and hides it, such that his left does not know what his right hand gives in charity"
  • "A man who remembers Allah in private and so his eyes shed tears"

• There are times to show off for the sake of Allah:
• Rasulullah knowing about the poor condition of a group of people, he made announcement for his companions' support, which none came forward, then came a man from Medina with valuables, which later made other companions step forward.
• "Whoever institutes a good practice will have its reward and the reward of whoever acts upon it without detracting from their rewards in the slightest, and whoever institutes an evil practice will have its sin and the sin of those who act upon it without detracting from their sins in the slightest." (Sahih Muslim 1017)

• Not every postings on social media/online is bad as it all depends on intentions
• Sincerity: Not easy to keep up with our intentions but we have to bring it back to the right path whenever the act is straying away from the good intentions.

Actions are but by intentions and every man shall have only that which he intended. Thus he whose migration (Hijrah to Medina from Makkah) was for Allah and His Messenger, his migration was for Allah and His Messenger, and he whose migration was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman in marriage, his migration was for that for which he migrated.