Islam encourages kindness, generosity, charity, service to others, purely for the good and benefit they serve. Islam eschews, very strongly, the doing of good for appearance’s sake – in short, to show off.
One of the conditions for the acceptance of the Muslim’s deeds in the estimation of Allah SWT that Islam greatly emphasizes is Sincerity; that a person must do what he/she does, of good, for good, with the noblest of intentions, and purely for the sake of Allah.
It really is remarkable, when you think about it, this idea of basing the validity and acceptability of good actions on the nobility and purity of intentions. It eliminates the desire to be and do good for and with ulterior motives. and encourages, instead, the doing of them primarily for the sake of Allah, which, in short, means doing them for the sake of the good they serve – for Allah is the Good and the source of all good.
Now…
It is understandable, of course, especially under the current atmosphere, why folks feel the need to showcase Muslim accomplishments, ancient and modern, in an effort to counter the constant barrage of vicious and hateful narratives we see on the media.
It only makes sense, that, since every alleged wrong supposedly perpetrated by a Muslim is cast and sensationalized as a consequence of his/her Islamic identity – which it is not, Muslims find themselves being forced to publicize almost every act of good deed they or their fellow Muslims are engaged in, and cast it as a consequence of their Islamic identity – which it is.
Alas, however, we find that some folks are indeed taking this to extremes, and generally often missing the whole point of servant-hood to Allah through service to his creation, regardless and in spite of the opposition’s efforts to thwart or ignore the good you are doing.
We find folks who now take it upon themselves to video tape every personal or social good they are involved in and publish them online, with “click-baiting” titles. I do not know about you, but I find myself often put off by some of these videos online depicting a “Muslim” supposedly being charitable to homeless people on the street, for example. We find folks who appear to engage in the commission of righteousness just so they could tape it and publish it online.
Like, bro/sis, who are you trying to impress, really?
Pay attention…if you aren’t already. Good deeds done with the right intentions speak for themselves. They need no click-baiting titles or this over the top effort to prove that this is being done by a Muslim or some such.
Just do it, says Nike. Thus Islam’s stance as well. Just do it, if it is good, because it is good; for whatever is good is pleasing to Allah, and to the one who benefits, and these really are all the motivation you need.
It is no wonder that the first subject and/or “Hadith” in many an Islamic book is that of the purity of intentions.
The Muslim must endeavor to be kind, charitable, generous, be active in the doing of good, and refrain from involvement in the bad, for the sake of Allah, and for the sake of the good consequence of these and other good deeds.
He/she must engage in righteousness, in personal and social good, not because it makes him/her look good, or with the aim of acquiring acceptability and/or respectability in society, but because such deeds contribute toward our and other’s personal and social good; such as, the alleviation of someone’s adversity, the elevation of another’s dignity, the protection of someone’s property, etc., — in short, the Muslim is encouraged to be good and do good because of such actions’ contribution toward the good and equilibrium of society as a whole.
Inspired by The Need For Civic Engagement – Nou’man Ali Khan
