sincerity

성실감.
saya bukan mahu ceramah dan saya tidak tahu banyak :P

So as a Muslim I have been taught since I was young that we need to be sincere with everything we do. Sincere here being we do it because we ourselves want to do it. Monetary gains, fame and other form of rewards will be secondary. In fact, if we did a good job, people will automatically give you credit for it.

Why is it important to be sincere in anything we do? That, in my personal opinions, is to make sure you give your best when doing something. Sincerity is one of the biggest intrinsic motivation you can get. As a person who rely very heavily on intrinsic motivation, I am never good at doing something I do not want to work for; be it relationship with people, or studies, even something as mundane and simple as doing laundry. I think majority of the human species share my sentiment. When we like doing something, we will do it for personal satisfaction and you want the best out of it although you are not paid or praised.

So when it comes to doing the deed, I believe sincerity comes when you want to please god. Because you are confident that doing good will reward you, you do good regardless what the people around you say or do. That is why it is important to set objectives, or as we call it niat as to whom are we doing something.

That is why praises, according to this one book I read, is not something you should be craving for. It makes you feel good, but sometimes it tests your objective. Praises could be the biggest test for one. The book also gave an example where there was this one man who started reading The Holy Quran because he sincerely wanted the blessings from Allah, but when the society praised him endlessly he kind of got lost and strayed from his original objective. He started reading it louder, reading it with more tunes and stuff because he craved for people's praising. In the end, he got what he wanted, which is mortal's recognition but he lost Allah's. He has got nobody to blame though.

So sebab tu lah agaknya it is not our job to judge who goes to heaven and who rot in hell. We have to be careful with niat,  because nobody knows it but you and Allah. Always reflect on your actions and think whether you are on the right track or not. Istighfar is the best way to direct you back on track :)

In your daily life pun sama. I am a firm believer of conditional love, where you NEED to do things to get love. However do it right. Don;t do things macam touch and go, and try hard to get everyone's credit for putting up an act. Don't get people to say you are the best. If you are, they would probably say so without you having to ask. Don't put down others just to be on top. That is not right. Do your work the best as you can because you can.

So yeah. The point is jadilah ikhlas. Jangan dahaga pujian orang sangat. Sikit2 xpe :P Wallahualam.

p/s: Whoah mahu bubble teaaaaaaaaaaa