Q. Tablighi Jamaat members say that we should always avoid show and vanity and should render our services only to please Allah. I am quoting a few Ahadith from Fazae’l Aamaal below:
One hadith says: Allah has proclaimed “I am the most self respecting and self sufficient of all partners, therefore whoever brings forth a partner to me in any action, I entrust him to the same partner. Then I have no value for his actions, which are all given to the partner.”
Another hadith says: “Whoever performs prayer for show, he becomes guilty of false worship. And whoever fasts for show he also becomes guilty of false worship and whoever gives alms for show also becomes guilty of false worship.”
And another hadith says: “It will be proclaimed on the day of judgement: whoever has brought forward a partner to Allah in any action, he should demand his reward from the same partner, for Allah is far above needing any partner.”
Few weeks back I have gone through one Hadith of Bukhari Shareef: “Umar ibnil khattab (radiyallhu anhu) narrated: “I heard rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam saying; verily the reward of deeds depend upon intentions and indeed every man shall receive what he intended for. Thus, he whose migration was for ALLAH AND HIS MESSENGER, so his migration will be considered for ALLAH AND HIS MESSENGER. He who’s Migration was towards the world or to be married to some woman, his migration will be considered to be for what he migrated for.
After reading the Bukhari hadith, I am getting lot of doubts and confusion in my mind. I am not denying of any Hadith. The waswasa that are coming in mind are as follows:
1. As per the above Bukhari hadith, what I understand that actions/deeds can be done for both Allah and his messenger? If yes this is not contradicting with Hadith which says that “Allah is the most self respecting and self sufficient of all partners”. Making Rasulullah sallallahu alaikhi wasallam partner will not be considered as Shirk?
2. Rasulullah sallallahu alaikhi wasallam will be consider a partner to Allah or not?
3. I want to know is this above Bukhari Hadith is for only Sahabah, now as Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam passed away we have to perform all our actions only to Allah?
4. If the actions are performed for others (excluding Allah and rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam), the actions will be considered as false worship/Shirk?
5. Can we make intention to please Allah and His Messenger as well?
I seek the refuge of Allah and grant me sincerity.
A. Actions must always be done for Allah Alone. It is not permissible to do actions to please any other being except Allah. This is what is meant by Ikhlas and sincerity.
The hadith of Bukhari is for everyone, and it does not mean that one should do migration for the Prophet (SAS). What it means is that one must do migration for Allah Alone, however, seeing that the Sahabahs had to do it upon the order of the Prophet (SAS) to help his mission, and to propagate Islam with the Prophet (SAS) by migrating with him, it has been said ‘for Allah and His Messenger’. The commentators of Hadith have mentioned that the above words have been mentioned to show that one’s migration should not be done for worldly matters, instead it should be done for deeni matters. It has also been used to show the greatness of doing migration with the Prophet (SAS).
The answers to your questions are:-
1) Actions cannot be done for Allah and His Messenger, it must be done for Allah Alone.
2) Rasulullah (SAS) cannot be considered a partner to Allah.
3) The hadith of Bukhari is not only for the Sahabahs, it is for everyone. But the message of the hadith is not that they were ordered to do migration for the Prophet (SAS). They had to do it only for the sake of Allah.
4) If actions are performed for others besides Allah, then it is a type of shirk and false worship. This also means that one cannot do an action for the sake of Rasulullah (SAS). One must do it only for Allah.
5) We cannot make an intention to please Allah and His Messenger. We must make it only to please Allah.
Allah Has commanded all believers in the Holy Quran to do actions only for His sake and pleasure, and He Has condemned all those who did their deeds for the sake of others.
The Prophet (SAS) also taught us to please Allah Alone, and that we should not do actions for any other person besides Allah.
And Allah knows best.
Mufti Waseem Khan