Five tips to achieve sincerity
- Improve your private life
Imam Al-Ghazali said, “The first stage of sincerity is that your private and public state should be the same.”
- Ask Allah for sincerity
The Prophet ﷺ would often say “Oh Allah I seek refuge in associating partners with you knowingly, and I seek your forgiveness if I did so unknowingly”
- Hide your good deeds
“If you disclose your Sadaqat (almsgiving), it is well: but if you conceal them and give them to the poor, that is better for you. (Allah) will expiate you some of your sins.” (Quran 2:271) The Prophetﷺ said: “Allah will shade seven types of people on the Day of Judgment-the day where there is no shade but Allah’s shade…” Two of those people he mentioned were: “The person who gives charity and kept it so secretly to the extent that his left hand does not know the right hand gave.” “And the person that remembers Allah privately until his eyes filled with tears.” Salamah Bin Dinar said, “Hide your good deeds (from the people) just like you hide your evil deeds”.
Allah has said “So do not claim yourselves to be pure; He is most knowing of who fears Him.” (Quran 53:32 )Ask Allah to preserve your good deeds and never be proud of your righteous actions.
- Stay away from Praise
The Prophetﷺ heard a man praise a man and extol him in praise, so he said: ‘You have destroyed or cut the back of the man.”We should always strive to be loved by people, but we should never be boastful. Always remind yourself that this is all from Allah. Our rank in this dunya doesn’t elevate our ranks in the eyes of Allah.
“And they were not commanded except with this: that they should worship Allah, being completely sincere in the Din.” [Al-Qur’an 98:5]We ask Allah to make our actions sincere for His sake.