Provisions for the Journey (Mishkat), Volume 2

Lesson 39: The Criteria of Value In the Words of Allah, the Exalted

As has been observed, the central point of the previous discussions was piety. In those discussions the importance of piety as well as its effects in the life of man and also its benefits in the hereafter were mentioned and because it is possible for some to develop wrong conceptions about piety and not distinguish real piety from outward or pretensive piety, in this discussion the criteria for evaluating deeds and behavior will be discussed.

A lot of people are used to judging people on the basis of their outward appearance. If a person prays and recites invocations and the Glorious Qur’an often especially if he performs his obligatory prayers on time and observes issues of ritual purification, he is considered to be pious. This conception is superficial and incorrect and in order for the criteria of the value and superiority of man to be known, scholars of ethics have put forward a theoretical and fundamental discussion in regard to the criteria of the goodness and badness of deeds and the value of man that will be dealt with in this section.

Faith and Good Deeds, The Criteria of Man’s Superiority

The value of man from the viewpoint of the Qur’an lies in faith and righteous deeds and perhaps there are very few pages in the Qur’an where these two issues have not been mentioned:

“But as for him who has faith and acts righteously, he shall have the best reward, and we will speak to him gently of our command.”[^1]

Elsewhere, it states:

“…except those who repent, believe, and act righteously. Such will enter paradise, and they will not be wronged in the least.”[^2]

Human beings have two reciprocal stations: one station is related to the pious and possessors of virtue; that is to say the prophets, the righteous [salihan], the saints [awliya’], the sincere [siddiqin] and the martyrs, and it is because of this station that the Prophet Adam (‘a) became the object of prostration for the angels and that man attains a position where he is described thus:

“Surely the pious shall be in gardens and rivers, in the abode of truthfulness with an Omnipotent King.”[^3]

The reciprocal station is the position of downfall, degradation and remoteness from Allah. When an individual refrains from servitude and worshiping Allah and discharging personal and social duties and, in short, once he abstains from fulfilling his human role and traverses the course of decadence, he reaches a position lower than animals:

“They have hearts with which they do not understand, and they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear; They are like cattle; rather, they are more astray.”[^4]

Therefore, the value of man lies in paying heed to the divine and spiritual aspects of his self which spring from the heart and incline to the other members of the body. The tongue has a share in remembrance of Allah, the eyes have a share in reciting the verses of the Glorious Qur’an, the ears have a share in listening to the truth and the hands as well as legs have a share in moving along the path of Allah.

Accordingly, if we notice that in the Glorious Qur’an many recommendations have been made about remembrance of Allah, it is because human life does not have value without remembrance of Allah and it is only by this means that a person can attain the status of nearness to Allah.

Islam and all the divine religions believe in these two infinite opposing positive and negative values. This is something that is not conceivable by means of ordinary human standards and can only be understood and justified according to divine criteria. In addition, Islam believes not only in these criteria for man’s lifetime but also for every moment of one’s life; that is to say, Islam says that within one hour man can make the value of his life reach its peak. Within one hour man can make himself prosperous forever and attain eternal and infinite bliss or can make himself villainous and wretched within that same hour.

Therefore, the criterion of value in Islam, is the competence and worthiness of an individual and his righteous intention and from the viewpoint of Islam even the benefits that a person grants to society are not a standard of measure even if the value that the society has placed on that person is equal to the benefits that the person has imparted to the society. All too often, it is possible that the value which a society grants to an individual is not only refuted by Islam, but Islam may also grant that person negative value due to the fact that the individual is corrupt inside and has a reprehensible and contaminated interior covered by a deceptive outward appearance.

For this reason, it is possible for an individual to confer many benefits upon the society, but to be ill-fated himself, like a scholar that teaches religious sciences and from whom others derive benefit and attain prosperity but he himself suffers misfortune because he does not practice what he preaches and ends up in the hellfire. Or a rich man who spends his wealth for the society and alleviates the needs of the deprived with the intention of attaining fame, power and position.

Without the least doubt, from the viewpoint of Islam his deeds have no value whatsoever. That which grants value to man’s existence and deeds is his relationship with eternity and the infinite world. This relationship is a relationship that comes from the heart and is attained under the auspices of a righteous intention and attentiveness of the heart to Allah.

Therefore, if deeds are performed for the sake of Allah, they have infinite value whether they are visibly small or large. In addition, it is natural that the more man’s knowledge about Allah increases and the purer his intention becomes, the greater his own value becomes.

Reciprocally, the more the purity of his intention decreases and the more his intention is to draw the attention of people and popularity as well as gain social position, the more the value of his deeds decreases even if his deeds are innumerable. We draw the conclusion that that which grants value to man is in reality attentiveness to Allah. If a person remembers Allah, his deeds have been performed for Him but in other than this case, it is not possible for him to do anything for Allah and as a result his acts are not valuable.

Worthwhile Deeds from the Viewpoint of Islam

A lot of people imagine that the more value a deed has for the society, the more its spiritual value and the more effective it is for spiritual ascendance and perfection of man. They imagine that a deed that has benefit for human beings has also been done for Allah or has been performed in Allah’s way and for this reason they pay more attention to the ‘bigness’ of a deed.

They say that such and such a person has spent so much from his wealth to build a hospital or mosque. This conception is very superficial. It is true that one of the criteria of a good deed is for it to be beneficial for people, but it is not true that every good deed that is beneficial for the people leads to a person’s perfection. A deed leads to perfection when, in addition to being beneficial, the motive and intention of the performer of that deed are sound, constructive and totally for the sake of Allah.

From the viewpoint of Islam, the standard for a Godly deed that is effective in the spiritual ascendance and perfection of man is not simply being beneficial. The criterion for such a deed is that it ought to be done for the pleasure of Allah, and divine motivation has to compel one to do the deed.

Even so, one of the criteria for the goodness and soundness of a deed is its being beneficial for others and every person’s deeds are more valuable when they serve the society.

What is meant by the assertion that a deed ought to be done in the way of Allah is that a deed has to be set on a path and direction whose destination is Allah and as long as the goal is not Allah, the means or process is also not Divine. If the aim is to draw the attention of people, the course also is for the sake of attracting the attention of people. A deed is done for Allah and in His way when the performer pays attention to Allah at the time of performing it and this is feasible for one who knows Allah and understands the value of nearness to Him.

By accurately studying the verses of the Gracious Qur’an, we realize that often deeds which are good in our point of view have not only been reproached by the Qur’an, but have been considered as lowly and mean. One of those deeds is spending on other people, which we consider to be a good deed and we praise a man when we see him providing philanthropic services to the poor.

However, philanthropists that do not have a pure intention have been reproached in the Gracious Qur’an. They will be remorseful on the Day of Resurrection and will regret that they spent their wealth to draw the attention of others. It is possible that people praise someone in the world and stick his picture on doors and walls or even build a statue in his memory in order for all the people to remember him as a philanthropist, but the Holy Qur’an states in his regard:

“O you who have faith! Do not render your charities void by reproaches and affronts, like those who spend their wealth to be seen by people and have no faith in Allah and the Last Day. Their parable is that of a rock covered with soil: a downpour strikes it, leaving it bare. They have no power over anything of what they have earned, and Allah does not guide the faithless lot.”[^5]

If spending on other human beings is done for ostentation and sanctimony and not on the basis of faith in Allah and the Last Day, it has no value whatsoever and the example of such a sanctimonious person is like that of a person who instead of planting his seeds on fertile land, sows it on a hard rock and covers it with a handful of soil and waits for it to grow, become green and reap produce from it!

He is heedless of the fact that once a violent wind or heavy rain falls, his seeds will be wiped off the rock and taken away. As such, these philanthropists do not reap anything from the money and efforts they have spent for the reason that it was not spent on the basis of faith and in the way of Allah and the hereafter.

This group spends and serves the society to show off and compete with others in order to be remembered and praised in the minds of other human beings. If they have a position or appointment such as being a people’s lawyer or representative, they serve in order to be elected for another term and if they work in an office, they exert themselves to be promoted to a higher position. In this case, the services of such people do not have the least value and they are not effective in their prosperity in the hereafter.

However, the criterion and standard of good and sound deeds which are a cause of man’s prosperity in the hereafter is that the deed must be related to faith and spring from faith and it is for this reason that in the Holy Qur’an, Allah, the Exalted, has conjoined faith and good deeds:

“And give good news to those who have faith and do righteous deeds that for them shall be gardens with streams running in them…”[^6]

“And those who have faith and do righteous deeds, they shall be the inhabitants of paradise; they shall remain in it [forever].”[^7]

And elsewhere, it states:

“Whoever acts righteously, [whether] male or female, and is a believer, We shall revive him with a good life and pay them their reward by the best of what they used to do.”[^8]

Therefore, the relationship between faith and deeds has to be safeguarded because only deeds that spring from faith and belief in Allah can be directed towards Allah.

“He who gives wealth to purify himself and does not expect any reward from anyone, but seeks the pleasure of His Lord, the Most Exalted.”[^9]

Some people spend and give charity, but do not have the intention of sanctimony and attracting the attention of other human beings or seeking their gratitude. Even if the people speak ill of this person, he does not quit his work and spends as Allah has commanded him:

“They give food, for the love of Him, to the needy, the orphan and the prisoner [saying,] ‘We feed you only for the sake of Allah. We do not want any reward from you nor any thanks’.”[^10]

Therefore, our deeds are sound if they spring from faith and if they are done for Allah, but if they are done without the intention of gaining nearness to Him and they are accompanied by non-divine intentions, they are like a body without a soul whose shape is nicely made but it lacks a soul to give it movement and growth. In addition to not growing, deeds that have no soul breed corruption.

Consequently, it is not correct to believe that every deed that is beneficial to people and is considered as service to the society ought to be perceived as good and commendable without considering its motivation and intention.

That which has been stated is not only characteristic perception of the general population. Some of the educated also consider the criterion of the value and merit of deeds to be outward justice and the deed having been done for the sake of benefiting and serving people although the standard of merit and value of deeds and their effects on human prosperity is something quite different.

A shallow and superficial person conceives the bulk and social effects of a deed as the criterion of judgment but this standard is not divine and Allah does not look at the bulk of deeds. He does not look at how much money has been spent or how much movement and energy has been used. Allah sees how much a deed was performed for Him and it in turn brings about prosperity to that same measure that it is intended for Him.

However, in acts of worship contingent on the intention to gain proximity to Allah, deeds become corrupt even if there is an iota of non-divine intention in them and if someone else is set as a partner with Allah. Obligatory and recommended devotional deeds have to be completely purified for Allah and if an individual is sanctimonious in these deeds and observes such rites of worship to please people, not only are his deeds corrupt but prohibited and a cause of reproach. Even that part of the deed that is done for Allah will not be accepted. As Allah states:

“I am the best of partners; I do not accept the deeds of a person who sets up another one to be my partner in his deeds.”[^11]

Consequently, if a person sets up a partner to Allah in deeds of servitude, Allah gives up his share to that partner and because the deed was not purely for Him the deed goes to waste. It is possible, therefore, for a person to become wretched and ill-fated after years of effort and endeavor. He spends a lifetime acquiring knowledge with the imagination that he is doing it for Allah but when he carefully examines his intentions, he perceives that he was studying for position or social status—striving for fame and popularity among people.

If such an individual says that he served the people, saved a lot of poor people from destitution, provided medical services to many needy people, built schools and hospitals, Allah will tell him that none of his deeds will grant him benefit because the reward and profit of his deeds is the same praise which the people heaped upon him. The reward of such a person is the hanging of his picture on walls and printing it in magazines and newspapers and the praise which he was paid as a philanthropist and doer of good.

Ultimately, the criterion of value and merit for deeds is connected with the heart—we have to observe the source of the motivation of the deed. Was it on account of love of this world or love of Allah? If it was done for Allah and with purity of intention, it will bring about spiritual ascendance and human perfection, but in other than this case it is likely to cause decadence and downfall and hindrance of spiritual ascendancy and human perfection.

If that deed is an act of worship, it becomes nullified by hypocrisy and if it is a type of cajolery and not for the intention of gaining proximity to Allah, it loses its value and reward. Hence, the value of every deed is not based on its benefit for people or the society, whether an Islamic or non-Islamic society.

What is more, the merit of deeds is not only that they ought to be beneficial for the religion and the believers, because all too often man does a deed which is beneficial for the religion but harmful for himself because it was done without purity of intention. In the entire history of Islam, a lot of people did deeds which were good for the religion and sometimes brought about the spread and expansion of religion but these deeds were not beneficial for them because they were not done with pure intentions.

Their intention was perhaps to acquire more land or become more popular and beloved among the people, neither of which brings about spiritual ascendancy or human perfection. It has been narrated in a hadith that:

“Allah sometimes confirms his religion through corrupt people.”[^12]

It is possible for corrupt and libertine rulers, for the sake of personal motives and seeking fame as well as expansion of the realm of their rule, to have embarked upon conquests in the course of history which resulted in the spread of religion; however, even if their actions were beneficial for the religion and Islam, they would still not bring any reward to them in the hereafter. For this reason, we have to observe the role of motives and inner intentions and know that value and superiority of deeds derive from divine intentions and that it is possible for a deed to be apparently small but be divine and valuable on account of being done with worthwhile and pure intentions.

The Importance of Integrity in Cultural and Religious Programs

In accordance with this issue, the propagators and exponents of religion have to be attentive to the fact that in the propagation as well as execution of religious programs and the establishment of religious centers and encouragement of others in these issues, their motives and intentions have to be pure. It is possible for them to guide other human beings to the correct way by means of their propagation and advice and to attract people to religious and cultural issues as well as to provide suitable grounds for the promotion of cultural activities and bring about quantitative and qualitative growth in cultural affairs of the society as a result of their efforts at building mosques and establishing religious centers, but they must not imagine that their efforts are always beneficial and that they certainly reap heavenly reward from them.

Such activities are only beneficial and result in spiritual ascendance and human perfection when the aim is Allah. Movement and effort have to be only for the sake of promoting religion and one ought not to have personal intentions in these endeavors. It is in this case that great prosperity will be granted.

However, if a person is impelled to move and make effort by personal and worldly motives, he must not expect any reward from Allah. This point must not be forgotten or a false image developed that a deed is beneficial because it has very good results, causing a person to become proud. On the contrary, intentions must be scrutinized so that one not only does not become proud but becomes modest. Explaining this point, the Noble Prophet (S) states:

“O Abu Dharr! Allah the Glorified and Honored states, “I do not accept the speech of a wise person, but that which is in his heart; his intention and aim. If he devotes his will and intention to that which I like and please, I accept his silence as My invocation and praise, even if he has not uttered a word.”’

People who have learned wisdom and explain it to others are praised and lauded by human beings and people look upon them with respect. Of course, it is true that people ought to have favorable opinions in regard to others, but the preacher has to observe to what extent he is sure about his own deeds. Are his words accepted by Allah and do they result in his gaining proximity to Him or not? Allah Himself has given the response to this question: He does not have anything to do with wise sayings but with the motive and intention which is concealed behind words.

Allah looks at the inclinations and tendencies of human beings. He looks at whether man’s heart is preoccupied by people and winning their praise and pleasure or whether a person only thinks about performing his duty and doing what is expected of him by Allah. People ought not to be concerned with whether others are pleased or not. They must not be remiss in discharging obligations even if the people dislike what they say.

Therefore, if one’s inclination and tendency is to please Allah, even his silence receives the reward of invocation and praise because his heart is directed at Allah and he wants to do only that which pleases Him. He keeps silence because he conceives the pleasure of Allah is in silence and for this reason, his silence is considered to be worship and all too often silence has more reward than other people’s acts of worship and has greater effects in man’s spiritual perfection.

A person whose words and deeds are for people and whose heart is directed at them does not attain virtue and rewards whatsoever and his reward is that same praise and laudation which the people heap on him because he has not done anything for which Allah should grant him reward.

With regard to what has been said and knowledge of the pivotal effects of inner motives and inclinations in the essence of deeds, if we observe that a person says what he distinguishes as his duty, even if the people are averse to it, we ought to know that he has divine motivation and for this reason his deeds and words have merit.

However, if he pays heed to people when talking and avoids saying what is pleasing to Allah because he does not perceive social conditions as favorable and he fears that the people will be displeased with what he says, his motivation is not divine and hence his acts are devoid of value and merit because his attention is on the people.

The Importance of Intention and Inner Inclinations

“O Abu Dharr! Allah, the Exalted and Honored, does not look at your outer appearance and possessions [and what you say], but he looks at your hearts and deeds.”

Allah does not look at the appearances of people nor does He look at what they say and the claims they make. He does not look at the calluses which develop on people’s foreheads due to prostration nor the clothes which they wear, but he looks at the extent to which their hearts and deeds confirm their claims. He looks at whether that which is in their hearts is better than their outward appearances or, God forbid, their hearts are polluted and contaminated. If their inside is polluted, they are considered to be hypocrites and do not receive any reward from Allah.

This section of the hadith is both shocking and admonishing and serves as a warning that must be taken seriously to cause us to change our opinions about ourselves. [Again, we have to hold favorable opinions in regard to others.] If a person scrutinizes his intentions, he sees that a great deal of his intentions are not divine and pure, or at least that a portion of his intentions are not divine and he has set another as a partner with Allah and Allah has Himself stated that if another is set as His partner, He relinquishes His share to that partner.

We ought to observe the intentions and motivations of the words which we utter, the work that we do, the prayers that we perform as well as the advice that we give to other human beings. Do we attend congregational prayers because Allah loves it or do we have other motivations? If our acts of servitude are not pure and non-divine motivations interfere in them, our intentions will not be pure in the rest of our deeds either. In addition to this, if our deeds and devotional responsibilities are not pure, they will basically be null and void.

Such cankers as hypocrisy, pretense and including motivations of the carnal soul in acts of worship are often found to a greater extent in people that have the duty to guide and lead others than in the general population: a laborer and butcher who performs shortened prayers after his daily duties at the end of the day because of being tired does not usually do so out of hypocrisy.

However, for a person that is charged with leading the prayers as an imam and counsels, teaches religious sciences and guides people, the issue of sanctimony and being contaminated by non-divine motivations is a serious danger; in the case that such people become contaminated by hypocrisy, they become doomed both in this world and the hereafter.

Thereafter, in order to express that the apparent conduct, deeds and claims do not denote that a person has piety and that piety is an attribute that is found in the hearts of human beings and that the criterion of the superiority of deeds is pure intentions and motivations, the Noble Prophet (S) points at his chest and states:

“O Abu Dharr! Piety is in here. Piety is in here.”

Not every person who outwardly does good deeds, performs prayers a lot, recites invocations and provides services to people is pious. His intention and motivation must be assessed, if they are for Allah, that person is pious; otherwise, he only simulates piety.

Previously we mentioned that sometimes doing good deeds and performing religious and obligatory duties and refraining from forbidden actions is termed as piety and at other times the permanent habit of the soul which is the fountainhead of worthy and good deeds is called piety. Taking this perception into consideration, our acts of worship and good deeds are considered instances of piety when their source and fountainhead is love of Allah and divine intentions. For this reason, we need to have more accurate attention to the foundations of deeds because no deed is done without an intention.

Man’s volitional deeds spring from motivations and intentions. It is those motivations that give man the desire to perform deeds and, in reality, those deeds and words are the crystallization of our will and intention. Of course, it is possible for a person to have the intention to perform some deed and to prepare himself to discharge it, but the requisites for doing the deed hinder him from doing it. In that case, the spiritual effects of the deed remain in his heart even though in the external world no effect of the deed comes into appearance. That spiritual effect is a result of those inner intentions and inclinations.

The Noble Prophet (S) states that man ought to pay attention to where the motivation of his deeds spring from and where his inner inclination is directed. Is it directed towards Allah and His will or at people and worldly reward?

If a deed is done with non-divine intentions, even if it is a good and recommendable deed, it will be devoid of spiritual and divine reward and it will not grant man prosperity even if it results in the promotion and expansion of the religion because it is not done with divine intentions which bring about proximity to Allah. Allah looks at the essence of actions and inner intentions for doing deeds. If deeds are divine, He accepts them; otherwise, He rejects those deeds and He does not have anything to do with the exterior of deeds:

“It is not their flesh or their blood that reaches Allah. Rather, it is your piety that reaches Him…”[^13]

The Way to Purify Motives and Intentions

Misdeeds have no connection with Allah, but are connected with human beings and the natural world and that which connects a deed to Allah is a person’s intention. With regard to the Noble Prophet’s (S) sayings, it is befitting to observe what motivation impels us to do whatever deed we do and in the case that intentions are not pure, we have to embark upon purifying those intentions; of course, purifying intentions is a difficult task and calls for preparing the grounds and prerequisites.

Along this path, we have to seek the help of Allah first of all and diligently strive to edify our souls and cleanse them of impurities and non-divine inclinations in order for this important issue to be attained by means of ascetic discipline and self-building.

When a person discerns that his intention is not pure and there are non-divine impurities in it, it is likely that he may give up altogether instead of cleansing his intentions. This too is the devil’s trap which hinders man from carrying out his duties. For instance, if he intends to go on a mission of religious propagation, he may perceive that his intentions are not pure and become dissuaded from going as a result. He tells himself that he will not go on the mission of propagation because his intentions are not pure.

This is exactly what the devil wants because man’s duty is to go and propagate the religion and guide people to the truth and if we put aside this obligation as a consequence of the devil’s insinuations, a suitable opportunity is provided for the devil to misguide people even more. For this reason, when we realize that our intentions are not pure, we must not just give up on our duties and responsibilities; on the contrary, we should even more diligently strive to purify our intentions.

[^1]: Surat al-Kahf 18:88.

[^2]: Surat Maryam 19:60.

[^3]: Surat al-Qamar 54:54-55.

[^4]: Surat al-A‘raf 7:179.

[^5]: Surat al-Baqarah 2:264.

[^6]: Surat al-Baqarah 2:25.

[^7]: Surat al-Baqarah 2:82.

[^8]: Surat al-Nahl 16:97.

[^9]: Surat al-Layl 92:18-20.

[^10]: Surat al-Insan 76:8-9.

[^11]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 70, p. 243.

[^12]: Usul al-Kafi, vol. 5, p. 19.

[^13]: Surat al-Hajj 22:37.