Ikhlās (Sincerity)

Any act performed for the sake of Allah should not be regarded as small or great, valuable or worthless. If even an atom's weight of a deed is performed with ikhlāsSincerity in worship, seeking only the pleasure of Allah and avoiding the pursuit of fame or status. for the sake of Allah, its value rises to that of a star. What deserves attention is not the size of the deed, but its result. As long as an act is performed with ikhlāsSincerity in worship, seeking only the pleasure of Allah and avoiding the pursuit of fame or status. and its result is the pleasure of Allah, it is not small, but great.

The Seventh Reason

The disagreement and rivalry among those who follow the right path do not arise from jealousy or greed for the world. Nor has the unity among worldly-minded people, who remain heedless of Allah, come about through their nobility or magnanimity.

Rather, those who follow the right path have fallen into disagreement because they have been unable fully to preserve the qualities that arise from truth, such as nobility, devoted effort, and a praiseworthy form of competition on the path of Allah. Through the involvement of unqualified people, they have to some extent misused this praiseworthy competition and have become entangled in rivalry and disagreement. In doing so, they have caused considerable harm both to themselves and to the Islamic community.

By contrast, those who have gone astray and remain heedless of Allah sincerely attach themselves to their companions, even if those companions possess a low, deceitful, and harmful nature. Because of their humiliation and baseness, they form close unity with their associates at any cost, unwilling to lose the gain to which they are attached or to alienate their leaders and friends, whom they follow out of self-interest. As a result of these close bonds, they obtain some benefit.

O you who walk the right path and seek the truth, yet have fallen prey to disagreement! Since in this wretched age you have lost ikhlāsSincerity in worship, seeking only the pleasure of Allah and avoiding the pursuit of fame or status. in your actions and deeds, and have not made the pleasure of Allah your sole aim, you have caused the present humiliation and defeat of those who follow the right path.

In matters relating to religion and the Hereafter, there should be no rivalry, envy, or jealousy; indeed, in reality there can be no room for them.

For jealousy and hatred arise when many people strive for the same goal, look toward the same position, and desire the same loaf of bread. This leads to obstruction, dispute, and rivalry, which first produces envy and then jealousy. Since many people on earth seek one and the same position or aim, and since the world is limited and transient, the endless desires of the human being cannot be satisfied here, and so people fall into rivalry.