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Doing Ibadah To Follow Footsteps Of Prophet Muhammad
Hello there my question is,
That sometimes a person decides to do some act of ibadah with sole intention of following the footsteps of prophet. Like someone usually was not performing some involuntary worship act, but then finds out thatb prophet used to this, or like prophet used to pray 2 rakats after zuhr or maghrib. So if someone prays or does an act of worship of Allah, to please Allah, not by directly pleasing Allah by his ibadah, but by pleasing him through following the footsteps of his messenger. So there’s no problem in that right?. Like a person prays 2 rakats after zuhr, attaining pleasure of Allah from 2 ways or routes. One is directly, which is praying voluntarily because Allah likes it and is pleased with it. And the second is indirectly, that by doing this voluntary prayer, he would follow footsteps of prophet , which is again liked by Allah and Allah is pleased with it. So there’s no problem in that, right?
If someone does an act of worship for someone else then it’s Haram, but if it’s only for Allah, but instead of gaining his pleasure directly by that ibadah, someone intends to please Allah indirectly. Like by doing that ibadah, he intends another action that is beloved to Allah , which would be automatically done by that ibadah. So there’s no problem in it right?
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17 Replies
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Doing Ibadah To Follow Footsteps Of Prophet Muhammad
updated 1 year, 11 months ago
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17
Replies
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Yes, it is right. The prophet is worthy to follow because of Allah. So we came to know to follow him. Then we develop an emotional affiliation with him and this all leads to pleasing Allah.
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@Irfan76 okay sir, i understand, can you please explain these two examples?
A) someone’s mother tells him to pray some Nafl, which he was not intending to do before. So after his mother said to him, he prayed some Nafl, to please his mother and that too with intention of pleasing Allah, so it’s okay? Like if someone does worship to please someone else, it’s wrong and shirk. But if someone does the worship intending to please Allah, by fulfilling the command or pleasure of mother, then it’s no problem? his intention of Nafl namaz, is not in itself to please his mother, but to please Allah by fulfilling what his mother commanded, or to please Allah actually, by pleasing mother. So it’s totally good?
B) sir as someone who does worship for getting money from someone, is bad and Shirk. Like if someone prays because his friend told that he will give him $50 for praying, so he does that for this money and it would be Shirk. But if someone intended to get this money only and only to spend it in charity, to please Allah. In other words he worshipped Allah to actually please him indirectly. Like because of worship of namaz, his friend would give him $50 and after receiving $50 he planned it to spend fully in the way of Allah, in charity. So his intention was not to get money in itself, but to earn Allah’s pleasure by giving charity after receiving money. Is this okay and alright?
I mean both are cases of doing an act of worship for pleasing Allah, but instead of directly, it is to please Allah indirectly through another medium (pleasing mother in example A, and getting money and spending it all in charity in example B). BUT IF THE MEDIUM ITSELF WAS THE INTENTION OR GOAL then it would have been shirk, but it’s not in itself the intention, so it’s totally okay? Right sir? Can you explain this concept along with explaining those examples A and B
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@Irfan76 sir can you tell that are the examples i told above and the passage i wrote down, is it okay?
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As told earlier, the intention to please anyone or anything which is rival to God, is shirk or riyakari. In the first example, to please mother is condusive to please God. The companion of the prophet, Ubi bin kaab was once praised by the prophet for his recitation of Quran when the prphet said the prayer in his Imamat. He said, if I knew, you were behind me, i would recite even more beautifully. I gave an example earlier, that to show off my saying of prayer to my kids to make them namazi is too not an intention to please someone who can be a rival to God. So keep the principle in mind to apply all such examples.
In the second case, in the both the scenairos the act will be of riyakari. we are not obliged to do violate the necessary codes for voluntary acts.
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@Irfan76 sir i understand the first point, but sir you said that second point would be RiyaKari. But isn’t the intention of second act also to please Allah. Both A and B are acts of worship to please Allah indirectly, so what is the distinguishing factor that makes the first case acceptable while the second case RiyaKari? I mean what is the principle that we can apply that would distinguish a correct indirect pleasure of Allah from a wrong indirect pleasure of Allah
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The intention to please the mother in the first case is conducive to pleasing God, our conscience tells it is good. Here the act and the intention are found in the same act.
In the second case, the intention to get money removes the pleasure of God within the act altogether, hence makes benefit the primary goal, not the pleasure of God, so it is riyakari, and then find the pleasure of God in another act. Man is not obliged to ruin the spirit of an act for something voluntary.
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@Irfan76 okay sir, but if the prime intention for earning money was all and all to please Allah through spending it then still it won’t be good?
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@Irfan76 sir as you said here that the distinguishing factor between a man praying namaz to please mom with intention that pleasing mom earns Allah’s pleasure, here as you said that since the intention of pleasing God is conducive through pleasure of mom, so this is permissible. But if someone decides to follow that way of example of to get money and then spending that money for pleasure of Allah, according to my understanding of what you said , since you said that because getting money is something that is outside of realm of worship and pleasure of Allah then later again taking it back into realm of worship by spending in charity, this is not permissible because an act of worship was done to do something outside the realm of pleasure of Allah (eg earning money).
So sir just for information and understanding,
if we suppose for example that getting money or earning money was also a separate worship and pleasure of Allah(in religion), then this whole example would have been fine and not shirk because through whole that example only the worship of Allah is done for his pleasure like praying namaz to earn money (which is done purely for Allah’s pleasure [keeping in mind that here I’m supposing that earning money itself is pleasure of Allah just like making mother happy or obeying her command]). In that case it would have been fine, right sir?
Exactly in the same way as like someone who prays to please mom only because wanting to please Allah through pleasing mom. And pleasing mom itself is something pleasing to Allah. So his all intention was to please Allah by a direct action (Allah loves worship in itself) and another indirect action (pleasure of mother or fulfilling of her command to pray, is achieved and Allah loves it) so nothing of worship is done outside the realm of conducive pleasure of Allah. Am i right?
Where as the action of earning money is being problem as this is not what Allah was pleased with. It was only how this money was later spent on Allah’s way that he wanted to please Allah later with. And this would have not been a problem if for example earning money in itself would have been a worship as well etc? Am i understanding right?
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This intention to please God with money is external to the act of worship and this charity is not obligatory. We cannot choose to ruin an act of worship and compensate it with another.
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@Irfan76 okay sir i understand. Sir what would you suggest someone who is constantly filled with OCD thoughts and doubts, This seems like…. That seems like…. Then automatically mind goes into mathematical dimensions. Like for example thinking mathematically like if doing a worship for other than pleasure of Allah is shirk (equation A) then a person who does worship in order to follow way of prophet, like all Muslims do, is also for following prophet and not Allah (equation B) and apparently it seems both (A and B) and equal, so the result automatically becomes that any act of worship should not be done with intention of following footsteps of prophet, later do we realize that that following of prophet is itself a conducive pleasure of Allah. I mean such mathematical equationing mind. I mean i can’t help thinking this deep and deducing out results like this. Another example was of that scholar that said anything of worship if left for someone else is also Riya. Now my mind of OCD cannot stay calm by saying, no no just ignore it. It automatically goes deep. And then since but doing an act of worship of Allah, for someone else is also Riya , which makes that person rival to God. Then any other reason that makes a person leave an act of ibadah automatically becomes the thing that is rivaled against Allah. Hence it was deducted that if at anytime, something good is intended then it MUST AND CANNOT be left undone for any reason, or else that reason would become the very thing of rivaling
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Try other things instead of keep thinking on a single point.
Consider that human nature is not mathematical. See how human conscience works.
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@Irfan76 i understand sir but i don’t know how to do. I mean i can’t feel like trusting my conscience as a human conscience. Because many a times people stay in wrong beliefs thinking it to be right, and since they think it to be right, their conscience also gives them the same indication. At that time how does a person trust his conscience?
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Try to follow the common good people. They have natural ways to think and act.
Man is responsible for his consciencentious judgment and is not accountable for them even if they are wrong.
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@Irfan76 sir as you said here that the distinguishing factor between a man praying namaz to please mom with intention that pleasing mom earns Allah’s pleasure, here as you said that since the intention of pleasing God is conducive through pleasure of mom, so this is permissible. But if someone decides to follow that way of example of to get money and then spending that money for pleasure of Allah, according to my understanding of what you said , since you said that because getting money is something that is outside of realm of worship and pleasure of Allah then later again taking it back into realm of worship by spending in charity, this is not permissible because an act of worship was done to do something outside the realm of pleasure of Allah (eg earning money).
So sir just for information and understanding,
if we suppose for example that getting money or earning money was also a separate worship and pleasure of Allah(in religion), then this whole example would have been fine and not shirk because through whole that example only the worship of Allah is done for his pleasure like praying namaz to earn money (which is done purely for Allah’s pleasure [keeping in mind that here I’m supposing that earning money itself is pleasure of Allah just like making mother happy or obeying her command]). In that case it would have been fine, right sir?
Exactly in the same way as like someone who prays to please mom only because wanting to please Allah through pleasing mom. And pleasing mom itself is something pleasing to Allah. So his all intention was to please Allah by a direct action (Allah loves worship in itself) and another indirect action (pleasure of mother or fulfilling of her command to pray, is achieved and Allah loves it) so nothing of worship is done outside the realm of conducive pleasure of Allah. Am i right?
Where as the action of earning money is being problem as this is not what Allah was pleased with. It was only how this money was later spent on Allah’s way that he wanted to please Allah later with. And this would have not been a problem if for example earning money in itself would have been a worship as well etc? Am i understanding right? -
Do not confuse things. To earn money is not a pleasure of Allah or a worship ritual. Man earns money for different purposes. To do charity with it, is one thing. but since it is a volunary act, a rituals cannot be compromosed. Rituals are to be performed in their pure sense.
To please mother comes secondary, as we know the primary purpose is to please God and mother is please too. This comes as side effect of performing worship. To earn money by performing a ritual is abhorrent to the idea of worship. It should come nowhere near it, even in the guise of charity.
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@Irfan76 okay sir, even when someone does to please mother, his intention real is actually to please God. But sir one question arises, isn’t mother’s pleasure also sought with different intentions? Like sometimes someone does it for just merely out of love for mother or sometimes wanting to get a reward from mother of pocket money, and sometimes to please God etc. Can you please clarify this
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As told earlier, in the matters of worship and the matters related to God the primary goal should be the pleasure of God. To please others can be a secondary desire but the should be conducive and should not be a rival to God. Our conscience can tell us.
In the matters which belong to humans, in such matters the sole purpose is to please them is fine.
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