Sincerity, When You Feel Not Better Than Others
Doing sincerity, it's not as easy as saying it. As once acknowledged by a great scholar Sufyan ats-Tsauri, he said, "There is no hardest thing for me to treat rather than straighten out my intentions, because that intention can change with me."
However, that does not mean that sincerity cannot be done, and that does not mean that sincerity cannot be attempted. Because sincerity is a 'science'. Science where we can learn it, and keep learning it, until finally we really understand the meaning of sincerity. Ikhlas itself is a very sacred thing, it is an order and it is a condition of receiving a service.
It's true, sincerity is a secret, a secret in the heart of each person. And sincerity is the secret of a very soft secret, so it is vague from the guesswork of all that lives. So vague and hidden, that it is difficult for someone or someone else to measure their purity. In the hadith, the Messenger of Allāh dikatakan was said:
"Sincerity is a secret taken from my secrets. I have placed it as a mandate in the hearts of my servants who I love. "(Narrated by al-Qazwaini)
Hasan al-Banna once said about the meaning of sincerity, "Ikhlas is a Muslim brother who intends with his words, his deeds, and his jihad, all of them only to Allah, to seek the pleasure of Allah and a good reward from Allah without looking at benefits, form , position, title, progress, or setback. Thus he becomes a soldier of faith and faith and not a soldier of desire or benefit. "
One of the reasons for our distance from sincerity is the nature of 'ujub, the nature of being proud of ourselves, and considering that others are no better than ourselves. This trait that often appears without us knowing, is capable of tearing sincerity within us. He is capable of tarnishing sincere purity in the heart and he is able to pollute the heart with evil slime.
Of course we do not want, sincerity that is in this heart, sincerity that we always take care of, tainted and even contaminated. And the thing we can do to maintain sincerity is to remove the nature of 'ujub from the heart, throw it away without remaining. Starting with the small and simple thing, which is assuming that other people are better than ourselves, suppose that he is more noble with Allah.
If we see someone who is younger than us, then let us say, "This child is young, has not sinned much and has acted on God, whereas I, who is older than him, has certainly sinned and acted on God. Then there is no doubt that he is better than me by Allah's side. "
If we see someone older than us, then let us say, "This old man has worshiped God before me, so there is no doubt that he is more rewarded, more noble than I am with Allah."
When we see a pious person, then let us say, "This pious person was given to him various kinds of knowledge which was not given to me. He has come to the dignity that I did not reach him, and he knows various problems that I do not know, so how can I be like that while I am still wallowing with sin and sin? "
If we see someone who is stupid, then let us say, "This person is stupid and then he does evil to Allah with his ignorance, but I do evil with my knowledge, with my consciousness, then how can I account for it before Allah?"
When we witness the wicked or immoral, then let us say, "It is true that this person is wallowing in disobedience and sin, but who knows if his heart is always hateful of the disobedience he does, and at the same time he still glorifies his Lord. Open the possibility that someday he will repent and regret his actions, then he does good deeds which are of higher value in the eyes of God than me. Whereas I myself until now and later, never knew whether my obedience was accepted by God or not. And I also never know what will happen to me tomorrow. "