by Shaykh Alee bin Abdur Rahman Al Hudhayfee

All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of all the worlds. Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon the Messenger, his household and companions.

Fellow Muslims! The best admonition for the hearts is verses from the Book of Allaah and sayings of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. Allaah says,

"He it is Who sent among the unlettered ones a Messenger (Muhammad (peace be upon him)) from among themselves, reciting to them His Verses, purifying them (from the filth of disbelief and polytheism), and teaching them the Book (this Qur'aan, Islaamic laws and Islaamic jurisprudence) and Al-Hikmah (As-Sunnah: legal ways, orders, acts of worship of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)) And verily, they had been before in manifest error." (Al-Jumu'ah 62:2)

Brethren in faith! Listen to some words from the Messenger of Allaah, open your hearts to them and reflect over them. These words summarises the religion of Islaam and encompasses the blessings of this world and the Hereafter. They also warn against all evil things. The Messenger of Allaah was gifted in making short comprehensive statements that entail many great and useful meanings. A single statement from him can sum up all the teachings of Islaam, like his saying: "Al-Ihsaan means to worship Allaah as if you are seeing him." And his saying: "Virtue is what the mind and the heart are comfortable with. And the vice is something that rankles in the soul, causes hesitations in the heart and you disapprove that people should come to know of it." (Ahmad and Muslim)

Among the comprehensive statements of the Messenger of Allaah is his saying: "Religion is sincerity, religion is sincerity." The companions said, "To whom, O Messenger of Allaah?" He said, "To Allaah, His Book, His Messenger, the generality of the Muslims and their leaders." (Reported by Muslim)

This above statement restricts the meaning of Islaam to sincerity, which means whoever is sincere has performed all aspects of the religion and that whoever is deprived of sincerity will miss in his religion an amount that equals what he misses in sincerity.

Sincerity is one of the qualities of the Messengers, the Prophets and the believers. Betrayal and evil intentions are qualities of the disbelievers and the hypocrites. Allaah says about Prophet Nooh that he told his people, "I convey unto you the Messages of my Lord and give sincere advice to you. And I know from Allaah what you know not." (Al-A'raaf 7:62)

Allaah tells us that Prophet Hood told his people, "I convey unto you the Messages of my Lord, and I am a trustworthy adviser (or well-wisher) for you." (Al-A'raaf 7:68)

And He informs us that Prophet Saalih told his people, "O my people! I have indeed conveyed to you the Message of my Lord, and have given you good advice but you like not good advisers." (Al-A'raaf 7:79)

And about Prophet Shu'aib He tells us, "Then he (Shu'aib) turned from them and said: "O my people! I have indeed conveyed my Lord's Messages unto you and I have given you good advice. Then how can I sorrow for the disbelieving people's (destruction)?" (Al-A'raaf 7:93)

Allaah also says, "There is no blame on those who are weak or ill or who find no resources to spend (in holy fighting (Jihaad)) if they are sincere and true (in duty) to Allaah and His Messenger. No ground (of complaint) can there be against the good-doers. And Allaah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (At-Tawbah 9:91)

Jareer bin Abdullaah narrated that he took an allegiance with the Messenger of Allaah that “I would observe the prayers, give the Zakaah and give sincere advice to all Muslims." (Muslim)

Aboo Hurayrah narrated that the Messenger of Allaah said, "The rights of a Muslim upon his fellow Muslim are six: When you meet him greet him, when he calls you respond to his call, when he seeks for your advice give him sincere advice, when he sneezes and he praises Allaah, invoke Allaah's mercy on him (by saying: Yarhamukallaah), when he gets sick visit him and when he dies follow his funeral procession to the burial place." (Muslim)

The Prophet also said, "There are three things about which the heart of no Muslim should harbour any rancour or hatred: worshipping Allaah with all sincerity, being sincere with the Muslim rulers and staying with the general community of the Muslims." (Ahmad and Ibn Hibbaan)

This means that the above-mentioned three qualities reform the hearts and clean them from betrayal, cheating and filthy things. The righteous persons among the Muslims are the ones who are sincere to Allaah, His Messenger, His Books and to the generality of the Muslims and their rulers.

Aboo Bakr Al-Muzanee said, "Aboo Bakr (may Allaah be pleased with him) did not excel other companions of the Messenger of Allaah with any fasting or prayers. He only excelled them with something that was in his heart: his love for Allaah and his sincerity to His creatures."

Al-Fudayl bin Iyaad said, "Those among us who attained excellence did not attain it through much prayers and fasting but through magnanimous hearts, clean minds and sincerity to the Muslims."

Ma'mar said, "The most sincere person to you is the one who fears Allaah in his dealings with you."

The meaning of being sincere to Allaah is to worship Him alone without associating any partner to Him, to worship Him in accordance with the guidance of His Prophet, to worship Him in total humility and love and not to ascribe any partners to Him in all acts of worship like slaughtering, vowing and seeking for help, protection and aid. Allaah alone should be relied on. He alone should be sought and feared.

Allaah says, "Worship Allaah and join none with Him in worship." (An-Nisaa 4:36)

Allaah also says, "And the mosques are for Allaah (Alone); so invoke not anyone along with Allaah." (Al-Jinn 72:18)

Sincerity to Allaah means belief in His Attributes with which He described Himself or with which His Messenger described Him, and to affirm all these Attributes for Him without likening them to attributes of any of His creatures. He should also be deemed far above all attributes that are not befitting to Him while refraining from denying the meanings of His Attributes. Allaah says,

"Surely, His is the Creation and Commandment." (Al-A'raaf 7:54)

Any Muslims who seeks nearness to Allaah by performing obligatory and supererogatory acts of worship and keeping away from forbidden things is sincere to his Creator.

The Messenger of Allaah said, "Allaah says: "Sincerity is the dearest to Me of all acts of worship." (Ahmad)

Among acts of sincerity to Allaah is to love all the sayings and deeds that Allaah loves and to hate all that Allaah hates.

Some scholars said, "The summary of the meaning of sincerity is to be sincere to Allaah by doing only the things that Allaah loves like carrying out His commandments and refraining from things that He has forbidden. That is the obligatory aspect of sincerity. As for the voluntary aspect of sincerity to Him, it is to give preference to what Allaah loves over what one loves."

Being sincere with the Book of Allaah means to strongly love and honour it, to exert all efforts in understanding its meaning, to reflect over it, to endeavour to memorise it as much as one can, to constantly recite it, to implement its teachings, to consult it for legal decision and to call people to its study and teaching."

Being sincere to the Messenger of Allaah means to obey him in all that he commanded, to abstain from the things that he forbidden, to believe in all the information he has brought, to worship Allaah only through the ways he ordained, to support, learn and study his Sunnah, to hate those who hate his Sunnah, to emulate him in all matters and to love him more than one's self, property and family. Sincerity to the Messenger of Allaah also entails that the scholars refute false allegations that are made against the Qur'aan and the Sunnah and to defend them.

Sincerity to the Muslim rulers means supplicating for their uprightness, loving their being righteous and just, loving the Muslims' unity behind them, loving to spread their good deeds, hating to talk about their misdeeds, obeying them if that does not lead to disobeying Allaah, refusing the revolt against them and hating those who support revolt against them. It also entails abstaining from cursing them, giving them sincere advice that can benefit the Muslims in their worldly and religious affairs and doing so in gentle and wise manner.

As for sincerity to the generality of the Muslims, it means to love them as one would love oneself, to treat the young among them with compassion and the old with respect, to help them on the truth, to teach them, to promote virtues among them, to discourage them from vices and to protect them against harm and dangers.

Among the dangers that threaten the Ummah are the acts of terrorism and destruction that took place recently in which the lives and properties of innocent people were violated. These attacks that threatened the security and stability of this nation are a product of the perverted ideology that the Prophet strongly rebuked.

Therefore, it is a manifestation of being sincere to the Muslims to work towards uprooting this vicious ideology, to warn the Muslims from adopting it and to report whoever attempts to carry out destructive activities to the concerned authorities in order to protect people's lives and properties. Under no condition should such wicked individuals be provided sanctuary. Allaah says,

"O you who believe! Answer Allaah (by obeying Him) and (His) Messenger when he (peace be upon him) calls you to that which will give you life, and know that Allaah comes in between a person and his heart (i.e. He prevents an evil person to decide anything). And verily to Him you shall (all) be gathered." (Al-Anfaal 8:24)

Fellow Muslims! Hold fast unto the admonition of the Messenger of Allaah that says, "Fear Allaah wherever you are. Follow up the bad deed with a good one it will erase it. Treat people with kindness. This is because every good deed has a reward and every bad deed has a consequence. Your Lord sees what each of His creatures does and He will reward all for what they did. Allaah says in a qudsee hadeeth, "It is your deeds that I accurately count for you and I will then give you recompense for them. Let him who finds good recompense thank Allaah and let him who finds otherwise blame only himself."

Every one is going to receive the record of his deed with either his right hand or left hand. Allaah says,

"And We have fastened every man's deeds to his neck, and on the Day of Resurrection, We shall bring out for him a book which he will find wide open." (Al-Israa 17:13)