By
Zakariyya Adaramola
Apr 15 2016
The Islamic
scholars have said that for an act of Ibadah (worship) to be deemed correct, it must meet two
conditions: sincerity (ikhlas) and in accordance with how Prophet Muhammad did it (Muwafaqah Sunnah).
The action
has to be sincere, purely seeking the Face of Allâh - the Most High - because
Allâh says: “Say (O Muhammad Sal-Allâhu ‘Alayhe Wa Sallam): Verily I am
only a man like yourselves, but revelation has been revealed to me that the One
whom you should worship is only One Deity. And whoever hopes to meet his Lord,
let him do righteous actions; and in the worship of your Lord, do not associate
anyone along with Him.” [Sûrah Kahf 18:110].
Shaykh Nasirudeen Al-albane said: “This means
that the person seeks, by his righteous action, only the Face of Allâh - the
Exalted and Sublime. However, if he seeks other than Allâh, then he has setup
partners with Allâh (made shirk with Allâh), therefore his action is rejected.
“This is further confirmed by Allâh in an authentic Hadeeth Qudsi:
“I am so
self-sufficient that I am in no need of having any partners. Thus, whosoever
does an action for the sake of someone else as well as Me, will have that
action rejected by Me, to him whom he associated with Me.” [Related by Muslim
(no.2985) and Ibn Mâjah (no.4202) - from Abû Hurayrah (Radiallahu ‘Anhu)]
“Consequently,
if the action is righteous but not sincere for the sake of Allah’s Face, it is
rejected. Moreover, if the action is purely for the sake of Allah’s Face, but
not in accordance with the Sunnah, it is likewise not accepted”, said the
foremost Hadeeth scholar.
Also, if the action is done as an act of
worship, but is not in accordance with the Sunnah (the way the Prophet ordered
us to do it) , it is not a righteous action. The reason is that compliance with
the Sunnah is one of the conditions for the action’s righteousness. The proofs
of this are many, but it is enough to state one: The Hadith of the Prophet
(Sal-Allâhu ‘Alayhe wa Sallam) in which he said:
“Whoever
innovates in this matter of ours what is not upon it, it shall be rejected.”
[Related by al-Bukhârî (5/301) and Muslim (no.1718) - from ‘A’ishah (Radi-Allâhu
‘Anhâ)]
Therefore,
any action that was not part of Islâm when Allâh revealed it to the Prophet
Muhammad (Sal-Allâhu ‘Alayhe Wa Sallam) is not a righteous action. About
this, Allâh - the Most High - says:
“This day I have perfected your Deen for you and completed My favour
upon you and I have chosen Islâm as your Deen.” [Sûratul-Mâ’idah 5:3]
So these are the two conditions for every
action to be a righteous action. If one of these conditions is not present, the
action does not become a righteous action, it becomes an evil one. Had the
person not done this action, it would have been better for him.
If a man prays
two Rak’at of prayer at night, while others sleep, then even if he prays them
according to the Sunnah - without addition or deletion - but he does this so
that people may talk about him and say: “This Person is a righteous man. He
prays at night when the people are asleep,” then his action becomes null and
void, since he did not sincerely seek the Face of Allâh alone, but rather he
sought the praises of people, thus becoming sinful by associating partners with
Allâh in his action.
However, if
his action only became null and void, then the following Hadeeth would apply to
him; and he would not be punished for this action:
“How many fasting people obtain nothing from
their fasting except hunger and thirst. And how many people who stay up at
night (praying), obtain nothing from their being awake except sleeplessness and
tiredness.” [Sahîh: Related by Ibn Mâjah (1/539) and Ahmad (2/441) from Ibn
‘Umar (Radiallahu ‘Anhu).]
But this is
not the case, for this person’s action has changed into a sin. The two Rak’at
that this person performed without intending to seek only the Face of Allâh -
the Exalted and Sublime - are the same as if he had disobeyed Him, that is to
say: He will be punished for these two Rak’at because he associated others
along with Allâh - the Exalted and Sublime - in his action.
If a man
prays eleven Rak’at at night with the intention, in this worship, that his
brothers would say about him: “This man is correctly following the Prophet; he
does not add to the Sunnah,” his action becomes null and void; and his action
changes to a sin against him. Rather, he must pray according to the Sunnah but
sincerely seeking only the Face of Allâh - the Most High. He must be absolutely
free of seeking the pleasure of others along with Him in this worship.
Source:
dailytrust.com.ng/news/islamic-forum/conditions-for-acceptable-ibadah-act-of-worship/142576.html#oxdqDVQS8dq2VHFq.99
URL: http://www.newageislam.com/islam-and-spiritualism/zakariyya-adaramola/conditions-for-acceptable-ibadah-(act-of-worship)/d/107222