What Are Your Real Intentions?

Purifying Our Intentions

Once the Prophet ﷺ gave them that extra attention, once the Prophet ﷺ did what had to be done to bring them into the faith, then the Prophet ﷺ immediately started the process of divorcing them from every other incentive in faith. And so you'll find the conversations between the Messenger ﷺ and Hakim al-Nuhizam رضي الله تعالى عنه and others who were considered from the group of مُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبِهِمْ — they needed that extra push. And the Prophet ﷺ is saying, you know this money doesn't mean anything.

You know that your only real security is from Allah. You know that tawheed is your saving grace, your belief in Allah alone, that monotheism is your saving grace in every way. And he encouraged them to learn to fly on their own when it came to their faith.

In many ways, the same way that when a person raises a child and you're teaching them Islam anew — you don't tell your kids, if you want to memorize Quran, mashallah, you don't tell them, I'm never going to give you a gift when you memorize Quran or memorize anything, because that would compromise your sincerity for the sake of Allah. That would work out really well if that kid still does it, but good luck with that, right? Absolutely no worldly incentive, no pat on the back, no gift here or there, nothing to encourage them to their good deeds.

It's probably not gonna work very well. But you also don't want it to be a pay-by-memorization system, right? Memorize this many ayahs, you get this, do this, you get this, do this, you get that — to where they don't understand at all the concept of reading Quran for the sake of their own good, or their charity has an immediate worldly response to it. No, sometimes, hey, we do charity for the sake of Allah.

So you want to give them that means by which they start to fly on their own, and that settles in their heart. But there is an understanding that it takes time to cultivate that.

Halal Peer Pressure and the Gatherings of Knowledge

In regards to our community — halal peer pressure, good peer pressure. The Prophet ﷺ mentions a person who comes to a gathering and who sits amongst the circles of ilm and dhikr, the circles of remembrance, the circles of knowledge. Maybe a time or two they just went because their friends brought them, or they wanted to see other friends. And Allah says to the angels — when the angels even bring up the protest, if you will, that that person sitting there did not come because it was the speaker, or because it was the gathering, or anything else. They came because there was an ulterior motive.

And what does Allah respond? That these people:

The one who sits with them will not be deprived.

There is a difference that the ulama make between that person who gets that nudge, gets pulled into the right direction a few times, and a person who only shows up to the masjid very intentionally to utilize the masjid for some sort of worldly gain — who only shows up to the gatherings to craft a profile for themselves so that they can abuse that profile. That's a hypocrite. The other person had good peer pressure.

You want that good peer pressure to pull you along to where the incentive is only Allah. It's not just hypocrite and muhsin, munafiq and muhsin, a person who excels. There are a lot of layers in between there. And a person who is dedicated to their ihsan, to their spiritual upliftment, is going to keep on trying to move along the way to where everything becomes irrelevant in terms of motivation except Allah. Everything becomes irrelevant except Allah in regards to their spiritual progress.

Actions Are by Intentions

Sometimes it's not gonna happen. Sometimes it doesn't necessarily make you sinful — you're just missing out on a great reward. You know, you read the very famous hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1; Sahih Muslim, Book 33, Hadith 4692)

Actions are but by intention, and everyone will gain what they intended. And then you go down that hadith, and we usually don't read past the first two sentences. And so whoever makes hijrah for Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, his hijrah is for Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. And whoever made hijrah for some worldly benefit — made the migration so that they could benefit in some worldly sense, or so that they could get married —

His migration is what he migrated for.

And you'll always find the story of this man, Muhajir Umm Qays. Who, by the way, they're both Muslims. The man lives in Mecca. The woman either lives in Medina — Umm Qays — or made hijrah to Medina; the scholars differ. But she says to him, listen, if you want to marry me, you've got to make hijrah to Medina. He makes hijrah because he wants to get married.

So you cannot say that he has the same reward as the one who made hijrah to flee from بِلَادِ الْكُفْرِ إِلَى بِلَادِ الْإِسْلَامِ — from a place where they were being persecuted for their belief to a place of belief. You can't make that person equal in reward to Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. You can't do that. But at the same time, he's a Muslim. Fine, you know what, that's what's going to motivate you. But don't show up on the Day of Judgment and say, I made hijrah for your sake, ya Allah. You get what you intended. And so if that's what was pushing you at the end of the day, to take that step:

The Prophet ﷺ said, leave the man alone. Don't condemn him, don't lash him. He's got to think about this himself and think about why he's really doing what he is doing.

The Man Who Visited His Brother for Allah's Sake

And that's what makes this hadith so beautiful. The hadith of Abu Hurayrah رضي الله تعالى عنه, where he said that the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Hadith 6549)

That a man went out to visit a brother of his in a faraway town. And Allah sent an angel to him. And the angel said to him, "Where are you going?" He said, "I want to go visit a brother of mine who lives in this place." And the angel says to him, "Is there some sort of favor, anything you're — what are you really going for? Is there something you're expecting from this person? Is there a payment that you're hoping for? Is there something else that you're hoping to get out of this?" Is that person a powerful person? What are you really going for?

Now this person is talking to an angel that's been sent by Allah. And he does not simply say, I'm just going to visit him because he's my friend. He said:

"The only reason I'm visiting that person is because I love that person for the sake of Allah." What a beautiful answer. He didn't ask him, do you love him for the sake of Allah? Or are you doing it for Allah or something else? He simply said, is there something that you're seeking other than just a visit, just a check-in? Is this really a check-in or is this something else? He's saying, not only am I not seeking anything, I love this person for the sake of Allah. And the angel says, Allah has sent me to you. SubhanAllah, what a special person. Allah sent me to you to tell you:

Allah loves you the way that you love that person for His sake. How beautiful.

So when you call someone, or when you visit someone, or you check up on someone, and it's just, "oh nothing, I was just checking in" — but you already have programmed in your mind that I'm probably going to need something from this person in a week or so, or a month or so. And it's going to look really bad if the first time I check in on this person is at that point. So let me put in a preliminary check-in. Call them up now so that when I need them, it doesn't look so awkward because I haven't spoken to that person for a long time.

Not necessarily haram, but don't include yourself in this hadith. Don't put yourself in the reward of this hadith. And it could be haram obviously if there is deception involved in that. And that's why the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Hadith 6552)

He said ﷺ that when a brother goes out to visit his brother, just a visit for the sake of Allah — you are in a wide garden of Jannah until you get back. You're walking and you're picking the fruits of Jannah. As Ibn Hajar rahimahullah said:

Allah has rewarded this noble characteristic that you find in so few people. So few people will do that — will call you because they're calling you for Allah, will visit you because they're visiting you for Allah. Allah has promised that person not just His love, but an expansive reward. Because most people have an ulterior motive. Because they view relationships as transactional. They don't view them as for the sake of Allah. Very few are like that.

The Sin of Reminding Others of Your Favors

And how does that come to reality later on? That's why the Prophet ﷺ said that al-Mannan — not Allah who is الْمَنَّانُ and He has the right to do so — but the one who does مَنًّا بِمَا أَعْطَى, who reminds you of favors they did for you later on — that's a sign of nifaq. Why? Because Allah says it in the Quran:

Don't void your charity, don't void your goodness by reminding the person, boasting to the person — "Remember when I did this for you? Remember when I did that for you?" Or adha — hurting the person. And Allah says that it's like a rock, and a rain comes on that rock:

And it just leaves that rock bare. You see the stone — it was soil on top, but the stone has been laid bare. So when you do something for someone, don't remind them that you've done it. Forget the favor you did for them. And when you interact with someone, don't show them something so that you can get a favor from them. If it's really for Allah, then you'll visit them and call them for Allah. And if you really wanted something from Allah instead of from them later on:

You'll never say it to them again. That's it. Imagine if the Prophet ﷺ used to do that to people. But the hypocrites would do what? They'd mention favors they didn't even do for the Muhajireen. They sat out the entire process of receiving the people of Mecca, but they still boasted as if they took them in and they spent their resources on them. They took the credit of the Ansar without taking on the labor of the Ansar. And that's a sign of hypocrisy. Don't mention your favors to people. Don't only initiate with people because you want another favor, if you want the reward from Allah.

The Sneaky Sins: Instigating Backbiting

And the last thing I'll say here, dear brothers and sisters, is the opposite of this is also true — which are the sneaky sins. What are the sneaky sins? The sneaky sins are when you don't actually backbite, but you're doing something even worse than backbiting. And Imam al-Ghazali rahimahullah talks about this and I'll paraphrase because of the shortness of time.

He says: what's even worse than directly coming out and backbiting someone is when you bring up their name in a gathering where you know that other people are going to tear them up. Or you suggest something, you insinuate. So you know that that person hates that other person. And you say in the gathering, "Well, what about so-and-so?" Or "Have you heard from that person lately?" And you have that smirk on your face. You think Allah doesn't see that? You think you're fooling Allah? Or "You know how that person is." "No, how is that person?" And your intention is that people will go after that person.

It's like serving — you know:

— eating the dead flesh of your brother. What about cooking your brother and putting him on a platter and then serving him to a gathering? And so as al-Ghazali rahimahullah says, you have your sin — because Allah knows what you meant — and you have the sin of the other people too, because they wouldn't have sinned had you not invited them to that. You instigated it, you provoked it.

That's why most slander is by ishara — it's by insinuating something. That's how our mother Aisha رضي الله تعالى عنها was slandered — insinuations, instigation. And so you don't suggest and then think that Allah does not know. Your Lord knows what your heart intends. Your Lord knows what your tongue conceals. Your Lord knows where your thoughts are. And wallahi, this is one of the greatest diseases that we have in our community, right? Someone hasn't been around for a long time and you bring up their name and you just suggest something — "Well, you know how that person is." Or, "Oh, you know there's going to be a gathering, oh there are going to be cameras there, oh you know that person is going to show up." You might as well have accused the person of kibr. You might as well have accused them of every spiritual disease.

The Noble Example of Ka'b ibn Malik and Mu'adh ibn Jabal

And so I end with the beautiful example of the opposite side of this — Ka'b ibn Malik رضي الله تعالى عنه. When he was back home, as he missed Tabuk, he missed the expedition of Tabuk. And the Prophet ﷺ asked, "Where is Ka'b ibn Malik?" And Ka'b is the narrator of this hadith, meaning he is the victim of what he's about to share.

Ka'b ibn Malik says:

So Ka'b is going to conceal the identity of the man who hurt him when he wasn't there. That's the ihsan of the companions, the righteousness of the companions. He said that this man said, "O Messenger of Allah, he probably got held back because, you know, mashallah, Ka'b has made some money recently. So Ka'b was probably looking at his shirt, looking at his cloak, looking at his garden and got a little bit lazy." He didn't say Ka'b is one of the munafiqeen. Ka'b got held back. He made that suggestion.

And Ka'b says, Mu'adh ibn Jabal stood up and said:

"What a nasty thing you just said. I swear, O Messenger of Allah, we only know good things from him." Ka'b said, I never forgot that from Mu'adh. Ka'b got the news afterwards, right — it got transferred. Mu'adh didn't come back and say, "Hey man, that other guy was talking about you in Tabuk and then I stepped in and I had your back." No. Mu'adh did that because Mu'adh was the scholar of this ummah. He understood what you were suggesting was evil.

Du'a and Closing

And so we ask Allah to protect us from motivations that corrupt our good deeds and motivations that delude us into thinking that Allah will not see our sins. May Allah protect us from what we conceal and what we make public. May Allah protect us from what we have done and what we will do. And may Allah allow us to be raised with the Prophet ﷺ and his family and his companions in the highest level of paradise. Allahumma ameen.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ الْكَرِيمِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا

Dear brothers and sisters, I want to ask you as we make du'a to please remember the family in Allen who had that tragedy that befell them a few weeks ago, the Sherwani family. Keep them in your du'a. They're still struggling and they've been through a lot. So I just want you to remember them in your du'a as you do with the brothers and sisters in Libya and Morocco. And also a very special sister that passed away — Sister Sarah Bijella in Michigan, who was the Amirah of the Al-Maghrib chapter in Michigan. An amazing sister, subhanAllah, that passed away after a long bout and leaves behind a husband and a 13-year-old daughter. May Allah have mercy on her and accept her as a martyr. May Allah protect her family and may Allah make it easy for the Sherwani family, have mercy on their deceased ones and uplift them. And all of our brothers and sisters around the world.

فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوهُ عَلَى النِّعَمِ يَزِدْكُمْ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ. وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ.