Intention when Helping Others
Question:
In islam if the intention is good an act will be rewarded. My question is if my intention is to please allah even though I do not have the intention to help the person is it still rewarded? For example a man asks for help but I do not like him yet I still help him only having the intention that Allah wants me to help him does it still count?
Adding on to that, if i feel with my heart not to help someone but i still do because I listen to my brain,does that till count as good intention? I feel that the heart will lead you to good intention but also lead you to bad intention so if I listen to my brain and ignore my does it count as good intention?
Answer:
Yes it does and in fact you will be rewarded a lot if you do something good in the best possible manner for the sake of God and while otherwise you do not like to do it. However the more pious you become, the more you find that you really want to help others and fewer people you will dislike.
Forget about brain and heart, it will confuse you. If you are helping some one not for him to return your favour and not so that you become recognised as a good man, then in principle there can only be two reasons that you are helping him: (A) you are doing it because you feel sympathy for him and by helping him you will satisfy this feeling of sympathy, or (B) you are doing it to please the Almighty. In the latter case (B) obviously it is a good intention that insha'Allah bring you reward. In the former case (A) too if the person also believes in God then his reward is guaranteed insha'Allah. However referring back to what I wrote in answering the previous part of your question, the more pious person becomes, the more he will find that the later two reasons (A and B) are merging together and becoming one.
In islam if the intention is good an act will be rewarded. My question is if my intention is to please allah even though I do not have the intention to help the person is it still rewarded? For example a man asks for help but I do not like him yet I still help him only having the intention that Allah wants me to help him does it still count?
Adding on to that, if i feel with my heart not to help someone but i still do because I listen to my brain,does that till count as good intention? I feel that the heart will lead you to good intention but also lead you to bad intention so if I listen to my brain and ignore my does it count as good intention?
Answer:
Yes it does and in fact you will be rewarded a lot if you do something good in the best possible manner for the sake of God and while otherwise you do not like to do it. However the more pious you become, the more you find that you really want to help others and fewer people you will dislike.
Forget about brain and heart, it will confuse you. If you are helping some one not for him to return your favour and not so that you become recognised as a good man, then in principle there can only be two reasons that you are helping him: (A) you are doing it because you feel sympathy for him and by helping him you will satisfy this feeling of sympathy, or (B) you are doing it to please the Almighty. In the latter case (B) obviously it is a good intention that insha'Allah bring you reward. In the former case (A) too if the person also believes in God then his reward is guaranteed insha'Allah. However referring back to what I wrote in answering the previous part of your question, the more pious person becomes, the more he will find that the later two reasons (A and B) are merging together and becoming one.