The meaning of Ikhlas

Ikhlas (sincerity) is the servants establishing his worship sincerely towards Allah in his words, acts and in his intentions. This is the deen of the Ummah of Ibrahim (May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him); the Hanif deen. Allah Almighty has ordered His servants not to worship other than Him in any circumstances. This is Islam. Allah Almighty commands: “If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (All spiritual good).” (Imran 3:85) “And who turns away from the religion of Ibrahim except him who fooled himself?” (Baqarah 2:130) The book, the Sunnah and the ijma of the Ummah necessitate being sincere (Ikhlas) in the acts and words. Allah Almighty accepts only the ibadah, which is performed with sincere niyyah (intention), in a devout manner and to aim attaining His consent. For this reason the Salafus Saliheen put extreme effort in to devoting their intentions. They accepted ikhlas as something which is more valuable than anything else and something which is the heaviest thing against the nafs. This was sourced from them knowing Allah Almighty, and them knowing the conditions, which are necessary, so that Allah Almighty accepts an act and them knowing the reasons which could cause an act to be destroyed. They gave so much importance on ikhlas, due to their willing to clean their acts from doubts which may completely destroy or reduce the reward of their acts. Imam Ahmad b Hanbal said: The duty of niyyah is something which is very heavy. Sufyan al-Thawri said: 'I have never had hard time, as I had with the improvement of my niyyah. It is because the niyyah changed always against me.' Yusuf b. Asbat said: 'The effort for saving the niyyah from corruption is much difficult/heavier than the efforts of those, who work long time and industriously.' Sahl b. Abdullah said: 'There is nothing heavier to the nafs than akhlaq (moral, behaviour). It is because the nafs does not have a portion of Akhlaq.' Yusuf b. Husayn said: 'The most valuable thing in the world is ikhlas. I put so much effort to destroy riya (hypocrisy) from my heart. But it comes each time to me in another color and form. One who wants to give advice to his nafs must put great effort to have true intention. He must pay extra attention to clean it from any sort of doubt or dirt. It is because the acts are evaluated according to the intention and everyone will find whatever he had intended to do.