Who Is Our Goodness For? Accountability for Intention and Behavior

31 October 2023

What Do We Expect When Doing Good?

Question: If a good deed we did were never heard about, would we still do it with the same willingness?

We see a need.

We offer support as much as we can.

Then another expectation may emerge within us.

We want appreciation.

We want to be remembered.

We want what we have done to be seen.

Recognizing the desire to be liked does not require a person to immediately condemn themselves entirely.

But we need to think honestly about how this desire enters our behavior.

Because two actions that look the same may arise from different orientations.

In one, meeting the need comes first.

In the other, the visibility of the person doing good may take precedence over everything.

We cannot know this by reading someone else’s heart.

We should first consider our own intention.

Verse 136 of Surah Al-An’am describes the attitude of those who assign shares of crops and livestock to Allah and to those they associate with Him.

The contradiction within the division they claim is revealed.

They establish an arrangement themselves, then present it with a religious justification.

This reminder also opens a door to questioning the relationship between intention and self-interest in our own lives.

What other expectations lie within an action we say is for Allah?

What are we really trying to protect?

The result of the good deed, or our own position?

Calling an action a good deed does not remove the need to consider our intention.

People should be able to ask this question calmly within themselves.

Without immediately absolving themselves.

Without immediately blaming others.

Who Is at the Center of the Help?

Where help reaches matters as much as how it looks.

What does the person in need truly require?

Will what is sent reach them?

Will it be usable?

Or will it only give the sender the feeling of having done something?

Starting with good intentions is valuable.

But good intentions do not replace care and responsibility.

Sometimes, while thinking of giving what they have, people do not listen sufficiently to the other party’s need.

They send what they consider suitable.

Then they never think about whether the help was useful.

Yet if effort is being made, it matters that its result meets the need.

Assessing the size of help only by quantity may be inadequate.

A little support may be meaningful when it reaches the right need.

A large shipment may fail its purpose if it is not delivered properly.

Question: When helping, do we truly see the person we are helping?

Do we take their need, circumstances, and dignity into account?

Or do we turn them into a detail within the image we have constructed?

These questions are not meant to cast suspicion on every aid effort.

They are meant to make our own behavior more responsible.

It is easy to make sweeping judgments about people’s intentions.

Considering our own intention and contribution may be more useful.

If we undertake a task, we should state clearly what we can do.

We should not present ourselves as able to do what we cannot.

If a resource has been entrusted to us, we should not forget our responsibility for it.

Goodness is also connected with trust.

Standing behind a promise may be as valuable as the help itself.

Because people need not only support, but also a reliable relationship.

We should not damage that trust while increasing our own visibility.

Are Our Words Reflected in Our Behavior?

Verse 132 of Surah Al-An’am reminds us that everyone has degrees according to what they have done.

This reminder calls us to look not only at what we say, but also at what we do.

People may form beautiful sentences about themselves.

They may say they mean well.

They may promise to correct their mistake.

But if the same behavior continues after all these words, we need to stop and think.

We may take on a responsibility at home.

Then constantly leave it to someone else.

When reminded, we may say we are sorry.

But the next day, we continue the same attitude.

In such a situation, merely enlarging the words of our remorse is not enough.

We should consider how our behavior will change.

Repentance begins with admitting a wrong.

But how that admission is reflected in our lives also matters.

Normalizing doing the same thing again and merely apologizing each time may not be enough to repair the relationship.

The other person may want to believe our words.

Even so, rebuilding trust requires consistency.

Sincerity becomes visible when we remember the promises we make.

We may not become flawless in an instant.

But it is possible to address our mistake without minimizing it.

We can take responsibility without tying it to someone else’s behavior.

Saying, “If that had not happened, I would not have done this,” sometimes makes our own part invisible.

Circumstances may have an influence.

Even so, we need to reflect on our own choice.

When people want to change, they must first see the behavior they can change.

Instead of continually postponing our promise into the future, we can look at today’s attitude.

Do We Return to Our Old Ways When We Feel Relieved?

Sometimes, when we experience hardship, we say we will be more careful.

We pray sincerely.

We remember our mistakes.

Then circumstances improve.

After a while, we may return to the same habits.

The demands of Pharaoh’s people in the face of hardship and their attitudes afterward in the Qur’an prompt us to consider this inconsistency.

The issue is not merely seeing the contradiction of people in the past.

It is also considering the continuity of our own word.

Question: Do we promise because we want to change, or only to escape the hardship we are in?

This is not an easy question.

Because wanting relief from hardship is a very human wish.

But forgetting all responsibilities when relief arrives is another matter.

If we regard an action as wrong only as long as its consequences disturb us, we should reflect on our standard.

We need to see the harm that behavior causes another person too.

When our hardship lessens, that harm may not have disappeared.

If we make our own comfort the only measure, we may overlook another person’s rights.

Verse 133 of Surah Al-An’am reminds us that Allah needs nothing and possesses mercy.

This reminder prevents us from presenting our goodness as though we were meeting a need of Allah’s.

Responsibility for what we do belongs to us.

Hoping for Allah’s mercy does not mean disregarding our mistakes.

Hope and responsibility can walk together.

People can admit their mistakes and continue their path.

Without condemning themselves to complete hopelessness, they can recognize the seriousness of what they have done.

We do not have to separate these two.

What Interest Do We Hide Behind Religion?

Verses 138 and 139 of Surah Al-An’am describe prohibitions and divisions that people establish themselves.

Some people restrict certain things.

They determine who can access what.

Then they try to protect this arrangement through a religious claim.

These examples call for care against mixing faith with self-interest.

Sometimes, rather than expressing their own wish openly, people look for a stronger justification for it.

They want to make a rule they established seem unquestionable.

Thus, a preference may be presented as though it were an indisputable ruling.

Here, both the person making the statement and the person accepting it bear responsibility.

We should know what we are saying.

We should also consider on what basis we accept it.

Formulating a claim with religious words does not automatically make it true.

Serving our own interests is not proof of its truth either.

We need to be more careful with words that affect people’s lives.

Especially if we have power.

Especially if people trust us.

Especially if what we say touches another person’s rights.

The reminder of work and outcome in verse 135 of Surah Al-An’am calls us to examine our own direction.

Discussing what others do does not complete all our responsibility.

What are we doing?

What behavior are we producing with the resources we have?

How consistent are we in helping, in our word, in our duty at home, and in the work we undertake?

Before making great claims, we can look at these close questions.

Because our lives do not consist only of what we say about ourselves.

They also consist of the moments when others encounter our behavior.

When doing good, let us consider our intention.

When making a promise, let us consider whether we can carry it.

When recognizing a mistake, let us take the first step toward change.

A good deed being visible does not mean it necessarily arises from a wrong intention.

Being invisible does not, by itself, show that every problem of intention has been resolved either.

So we should not make easy judgments about people’s inner worlds.

Let us first carry responsibility for our own work.

Did we listen enough to understand the need?

Did we express clearly the contribution we could make?

Did we stand behind our promise?

Did we use the resource entrusted to us for its intended purpose?

These questions make discussion of intention concrete.

People may feel certain of their own sincerity.

Yet they may do their work carelessly.

So sincerity and care should not replace one another.

If we say we are doing a task for Allah, we should also value the responsibility that task requires.

The help needs to arrive.

The promise needs to be followed through.

People’s trust needs to be protected.

If we treat all these merely as details, we may hide negligence behind our good intentions.

The same applies to our words of repentance.

Admitting the wrong matters.

But we should not leave unclear the behavior that needs to change.

Always saying we will be better in the future may postpone our responsibility today.

Taking the small task before us seriously may be a clearer beginning than grand words.

Completing the duty we undertook at home is included in this.

Fulfilling the commitment we gave someone is included too.

Let us not reserve goodness only for extraordinary moments.

Let us also live it in the regular responsibilities within our lives.

In this way, our intention does not remain merely a story we tell ourselves.

Question: Today, did we magnify the name of goodness, or did we truly bring goodness into someone’s life?