The Blind Man Have A Watch?

     The title is the whole story. The end. Okay okay, my bad. Here's the short back story, this happens many many years ago, during my teenage hood. Me and my friend is at a restaurant having our dinner and a blind man walk towards us, asking for donation. Holding strong to my dad's teaching, I share some spare change. My dad reminded me many times that it becomes a mantra, "Today is their day, you don't know when it will be your day where you will appreciate a helping hand". Once the blind man said his thanks, he left and my friend immediately stare at me and said :

Him : You do realized that he wore a wrist watch right?
Me : (puzzled) whats the issue with that?. 
Him : No blind man can "see" the watch.
Me : Ahhh.. now I understand, but even if he's not blind, I have decided to donate therefore I don't mind even if he scammed me. It's between him and Allah.
Him : You're just encouraging more beggar and more scammer to run the street. It's clear you're wrong and gullible.

I chuckled nervously and we stopped discussing about it and continue with our dinner.

    Many years passed and I joke about this incident a lot, a funny interesting story to share with others for a chuckle but it never sit right with me. I followed what my late dad teaches me but I still felt like I should be vigilante and alert of future encounter to ensure I'm not scammed again.

    Up till this part, do you see the problem?. I lost my sincerity and purity of intention in doing good deeds, Ikhlas got lost as I aged. It matters because Ikhlas is the soul of worship. A deed without sincerity may look good outwardly but has no weight with Allah. Even small acts, if done with ikhlas, are greatly rewarded. Acts done to show off (riya'), even good ones, are considered spiritually empty or even sinful.

And they were not commanded except to worship Allah, [being] sincere to Him in religion
Surah Al-Bayyinah (98:5)

    I self reflected a lot and realize that despite doing most of my deeds Ikhlas, I haven't truly embrace the full essence of Ikhlas. The more I reflect the more I realized I can do better and suprisingly the more I did anything for Allah, the more Allah rewards me. I felt humbled as I don't expect anything in return directly or indirectly but rather just seek to please Allah. I always thought I have lived my life the best I could and do everything with Ikhlas but upon reflection I realized that I inadvertently felt entitled towards certain things and have certain level of expectation towards others, especially because I did them favors. Its shouldn’t be like this and should only be done for Allah.

Ikhlas turns ordinary actions into acts of worship. A smile, a kind word, a hidden donation, when done for Allah alone, become priceless in His sight.


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