On Sincerity or Purity of Intention

 

The Twentieth Gleam [from the Gleams]

 

In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate.

 

We have sent down to you the Book with the truth (embodying it, and with nothing false in it); so worship God, sincere in your faith in Him, and practicing the Religion purely for His sake. Be aware that it is to God alone that all sincere faith, worship, and obedience are due. (39: 2–3)

 

All may perish except the knowledgeable, and the knowledgeable may perish except those who practice, and those who practice may perish except the sincere, and the sincere are in grave danger.1

The Qur’anic verses and the hadith quoted above show how essential sincerity is in Islam.

 

A very significant question

 

Why is it that while worldly people who are heedless of Divine guidance, and even misguided and hypocritical ones, can cooperate without rivalry, religious people and scholars, and followers of Sufi ways differ in rivalry. Agreement should naturally be on the side of the followers of truth, and discord and conflict are the natural consequences of hypocrisy and following divergent ways; how is it that they have changed places?

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

1 al-Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa’, 2:415; al-Ghazzali, Ihya’u ‘Ulum adDin, 3:414. (Tr.)