Sincerity (ikhlas)

For al-Ghazali, sincerity (ikhlas) means freeing an act of every admixture, small or large, until the intention to draw near to God stands alone in it and no other motive remains. ¹ He devotes to it the second chapter of the Book of Intention, Sincerity and Truthfulness in the quarter of saving things of Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din, setting out its merit, its reality, the sayings of the masters, the degrees of the flaws that cloud it, and the ruling on a mixed act. ³

Al-Ghazali opens the chapter with verses on devoting religion purely to God, then with reports, among them the hadith "three things over which the heart of a Muslim does not harbour rancour", the first being sincerity of action for God; al-Iraqi notes in the footnote that al-Tirmidhi transmitted it and declared it sound, from al-Nu'man ibn Bashir. ^{4 5} He cites a report from al-Hasan, without a Companion in the chain, that sincerity is "a secret of My secrets"; al-Iraqi says it was transmitted as a chained narration through Ahmad ibn 'Ata' al-Hujaymi and 'Abd al-Wahid ibn Zayd, "both abandoned", and that al-Qushayri gave it in his Risala with a weak chain. ^{4 6} He also cites the hadith of the three who are questioned first on the Day of Resurrection: a scholar, a generous man and a fighter, each of whom acted so that it would be said of him. ⁷

Al-Ghazali compares sincerity to the purity of milk that carries no trace of blood or dung, and says its opposite is associating partners; associating partners has degrees, some hidden and some open; and the seat of sincerity is the heart, because it concerns aims and intentions. ⁸ He observes that in the language the word could even apply to someone whose motive is purely showing off, but usage reserved it for purifying the aim towards God, as usage reserved the word ilhad ("deviation") for deviation from the truth. ⁹

He gives many examples of acts into which a selfish share enters beside the aim of devotion: fasting to benefit from the diet, going on pilgrimage to gain health from travel, studying so as to earn a living more easily or to be honoured among one's kin, copying a Qur'an to improve one's handwriting, performing ablution to cool off, or staying in the mosque to save on rent. ^{10 11} He holds that hardly any human act is free of immediate interests, and so quotes a saying: whoever has one moment of his life purely for God's sake is saved. ¹²

He states that such purity is conceivable only in one who loves God and whose care is absorbed in the hereafter, so that his eating, drinking and sleep become worship because he intends them as strength for obedience; whereas the acts of worship of one dominated by the world and leadership take on that character, and are rarely sound. ^{13 14} He relates that one man made up thirty years of prayers he had prayed in the first row, because one day he was late, prayed in the second row, and felt shame before people, and so realised that their seeing him had been the source of his ease. ^{14 15}

Al-Ghazali holds that scholars are the people most exposed to this trial, because for most of them the motive for spreading knowledge is the pleasure of dominance and joy in followers and praise. ¹⁵ His test is that if a better preacher appears among a preacher's peers and people turn to him, the first is grieved; if his motive were religion he would thank God for sparing him the task through another. ¹⁶ He gives the example that had Umar been grieved at Abu Bakr taking the leadership, his grief would have been blameworthy, and that Umar rejoiced that someone more fitting had taken on the matter. ¹⁷

Al-Ghazali gathers the Sufis' definitions of sincerity and says which flaw each one points to: ¹⁸

• Al-Susi: sincerity is to stop seeing one's sincerity, since whoever beholds his own sincerity needs sincerity for his sincerity; al-Ghazali reads this as purifying the act of self-admiration. ^{18 19}
• Sahl al-Tustari: that the servant's stillness and movement be for God alone, which al-Ghazali calls "a comprehensive word"; close to it is Ibrahim ibn Adham's saying that it is truthfulness of intention with God. ¹⁹
• Ruwaym: that the doer wants no compensation for it in either world; al-Ghazali sees in it the sincerity of the truthful. ^{19 20}
• Abu Uthman: forgetting the sight of creatures through constant regard for the Creator, which points to the flaw of showing off. ²¹
• Al-Muhasibi: removing creatures from one's dealings with the Lord. ²¹
• Al-Fudayl: giving up an act because of people is showing off, acting because of people is associating partners, and sincerity is that God spares you both. ²²
• Al-Junayd: purifying the act of its turbidities. ²²

He ends by saying that the "sufficient explanation" for him is the Prophet ﷺ's answer to one who asked about sincerity: to say "my Lord is God" and then to go straight as commanded. Al-Iraqi says he did not find it in this wording, that al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah transmit from Sufyan ibn 'Abd Allah al-Thaqafi "say: my Lord is God, then go straight", and that Muslim has it as "say: I believe in God, then go straight". ^{2 23 24}

Al-Ghazali reports that, for some masters, one who worships for the delights of paradise is "defective"; he then reports that al-Qadi Abu Bakr al-Baqillani judged as an unbeliever anyone who claims to be free of all selfish shares, since that is an attribute of divinity. Al-Ghazali says this is true, but the Sufis meant freedom from what people call shares, the appetites of paradise, while delight in knowing God, intimate prayer and seeing God's face is their own share. ^{20 21}

Al-Ghazali ranks the flaws of showing off in one who prays in four degrees of increasing subtlety: ²

1. He improves his prayer because someone is watching; this is open showing off, plain even to beginners. ²⁵
2. Satan comes "in the guise of good" and tells him he is a model, so he should pray well to be imitated; al-Ghazali calls this showing off itself, for if he truly thought humility good he would not accept giving it up when alone. ^{25 23}
3. He makes his prayer alone equal to his prayer in public so as not to look like those who show off; for al-Ghazali this is "hidden showing off", because he is still turned towards creatures. ^{24 26}
4. When people look at him, Satan reminds him of God's majesty, so he becomes humble and thinks it sincerity; the sign of safety is that this thought comes to him alone as it does in company. ^{26 27}

He compares the range of these flaws to the debasing of gold: some is seen by anyone, some only by the expert assayer, and the debasement of the heart is finer still. ²⁸

• The text is from the Shamela file; page numbers are pages of the file, not of the printed book.
• Judgements on hadith are attributed to al-Iraqi in the edition's footnotes, not made by the museum.