The Good Person - On Sincerity (Ikhlas)

Reflections from The Risale-Nur  a Qur'an commentary by Bediüzzaman Said Nursi

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Episode Transcript

UNKNOWN (00:00):
music.

SPEAKER_00 (00:23):
I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a

(00:47):
good person.
So I...
would like to spend some time inthese next sessions to ponder
and reflect and think about whatthe Quran or Islam has in mind
when it thinks about the goodperson.
And we all have an understandinghow a good person is supposed to

(01:12):
be.
So I would like to launch thiswith the title, the good person.
So in our imagination, we have,even for us, we always aspire to
be better or to be a good humanbeing or the good human being or
the good person.

(01:33):
And we all have an understandinghow a good person is supposed to
act or be.
What is the conduct of a goodperson?
And I would like to reflect onthis question in the framework
of the Risale-e-Nur.
And in my own engagement andreading and reflecting on the

(01:56):
Quran, there are so manycharacter virtues, Quranic
virtues that are highlighted.
So when I think about the goodperson, about a good person, a
good human being, there arecertain features, character
aspects that come to mind.

(02:17):
And I'm sure it will resonatewith a lot of you.
And there is some certainagreement, I think.
I feel that a lot of people willnod and say, yes, a good person
should be this and that.
So when I read the Quran, I hearoften one character trait or one

(02:41):
aspect of a good person is thatthe person is sincere.
sincere.
And the Quran always talks aboutthe ones who perform righteous
acts, the ones who believe.
So performing righteous actsalso means sincere acts, right?

(03:10):
So the Quran talks about thisimportant feature of sincerity.
that a good person should be asincere person.
A good human being is sincere,has

UNKNOWN (00:00):
,

SPEAKER_00 (03:23):
sincerity as we say in English.
And there are other charactervirtues.
And I think the whole Quranicproject is really to make you
that good person.
But the good person that reallyacknowledges their creator and

(03:43):
is God-conscious.
So someone who has taqwa, isaware of Allah, aware of their
creator, acts alwaysGod-conscious, always aware of
Allah's presence.
Allah is seeing me.
Allah knows me.
Allah is witnessing me.
Allah is recording andpreserving all my feelings,

(04:04):
thoughts, actions.
And it's not to fear thatpresence.
but to always feel a sense ofawe and honor and dignity.
And that also calls you to actwith grace and dignity because
you know you are being looked atby the Lord of the universe, by

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Allah, the most merciful.
He is constantly watching overyou.
He is your companion, yourintimate companion.
He follows you everywhere.
And we can relate to that,right?
Oftentimes when we discover acamera that records us, all of a

(04:51):
sudden our whole conduct ismore, we are more
hyper-conscious.
We are more aware of what we doand how we act and how we
display ourselves.
So sometimes when you waitsomewhere at a building or in an
elevator and you realize that,you're being recorded or you're

(05:11):
being watched, your wholedemeanor starts to change.
You're acting more graceful,more dignified.
You're more aware of what you'redoing.
So that is the sense of beingGod-conscious.
So a good person is a muttaqi,someone who has taqwa, which is
often translated as fearingAllah.

(05:32):
But it's a healthy fear.
It's a fear that calls one to...
A fear that somehow brings tomind that you don't want to lose
the love of Allah or hispleasure or his acceptance.
So that type of healthy fear.
When you love someone so much,you fear to lose their love and

(05:57):
that actually encourages you tohave a better relationship and
perform better and do better.
and deepen your relationship inbetter ways.
So a good person is someone whois absolutely God-aware, has
taqwa, is self-aware,self-conscious, knows that Allah

(06:20):
is present 24-7, and that isactually what makes them also
sincere and brings them toikhlas.
So ikhlas flows out of thatGod-consciousness.
I want to seek Allah's pleasurebecause he is the one who sent
me into this world, who honoredme, who graced me, who dignified

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me, and to whom I willultimately return.
And that type of attitude orthat thinking puts us into a
place of complete ikhlas andmakes us mukhlisoon.
So the good person is the onewho is has taqwa, who is
muttaqi, but who is also amuhlis, someone who has or

(07:08):
cultivates sincerity.
Cultivates sincerity.
There are a couple of otherQuranic virtues that come to
mind, just as an introductorypoint.
So I said sincerity, ikhlas,there is compassion, mercy,
which we know The Prophet is anembodiment, he is a mercy to all

(07:30):
the worlds.
So compassion, a good person isone who is so compassionate, who
embodies compassion, tenderness.
The good person has sincerity,compassion, kindness,
gentleness.

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Allah says in the Quran, that heloves those who are gentle, that
he loves those who are walkinghumbly on the earth.
Humility comes to mind.
So sincerity, compassion,kindness, gentleness.
The good person is the one whohas humility, embodies humility.

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Allah loves the one who ishumble.
He dislikes arrogance.
This is something that the Quranalways tells us as a wise.
This is a disease of the heart,arrogance or qibr that you all
know of.
And the good person is one whoembodies humility.

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This is not a false humility ormodesty.
A good person is the one whoknows that whatever they have as
beauty or perfection or goodnessis from Allah.
And that puts them in a trueplace of humility, knowing that
I don't own those skills.
They are God-given skills.

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These are God-given talents.
These are God-given virtues.
And I'm honored that Allahallows me that I can display
them, that I can be vessel ofthese beautiful qualities, that
Allah has shared these beautifulattributes with me.
I feel honored and valued anddignified, and Allah has
beautified me with these skillsand talents.

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and these faculties andabilities.
Alhamdulillah, I feel sothankful.
So the good person then issomebody who embodies true
humility, knowing their trueplace in the creation and taking
pride in servanthood and feelinghonored to work for Allah's

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service and company, so tospeak.
Sometimes people take pride inworking for someone.
We take pride being a servantfor Allah.
And what other Quranic virtuescome to mind that Allah wants us
to embody?
Sincerity, compassion, kindness,humility, gratitude.

(10:07):
The good person is the one whoembodies gratitude, constant
gratitude.
And if we can, even in...
times of losses, in times ofabsence, not just in times of
abundance.
The good person always seesabundance, always sees fullness,

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richness.
Even if they, compared toothers, have less, they always
have an approach of seeing theglass half full.
And actually, there is so muchto be grateful for.
So Allah loves the one whoexpresses, embodies shukr,
always in an attitude of hamdand praise of Allah and

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expressing gratitude to him.
So these are such beautifulvirtues that the Quran invites
us to embody.
And of course, the best practiceand human model and inspiration
for us is the Prophet SallallahuAlaihi Wasallam.
In all its details, he embodiedthe Quranic akhlaq, like Aisha
radiAllahu anha said, his wife,his beloved wife, that his

(11:15):
character was the Qur'an.
So for us then, our aspirationis to be a good person.
And we always know we can aspirebetter and higher.
You always want to improve.
You always want to grow.
And how to do that from anIslamic perspective?
The Qur'an is our guide, oursacred map.

(11:35):
And the Prophet is ourwonderful, amazing, shining
model.
that inspires minds and hearts.
So you see how many Quranicvirtues there are that we can
aspire and always grow, alwaysgrow.
So we are a perfect masterpiecebecause we are a creation of

(11:58):
Allah and Allah tells us that weare the greatest miracle.
in the universe, because withinus as a universe, we have
emotions, feelings, we have anintellect, we have memory, we
have intelligence, we haveskills, we have endless universe
of beauty in us.
But we always aspire higher.
We are a perfect masterpiece,but at the same time, we are

(12:20):
always a work in progress.
And that's all right.
And humility, that virtue callsus to always see ourselves
always deficient, always neverbeing enough, and that's all
right.
There is beauty in that, knowingthat, oh Allah, oh my Lord,
whatever I do, it will neverever honor your greatness.

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Nothing what I can do or say orfeel or do will ever be on the
same level of your greatness andglory.
And that's such a beautiful wayof knowing your place and
knowing And taking pride in thatbeing insufficient and being
deficient and never beingenough.

(13:10):
And that's all right.
You know, the work will never befinished with me.
I will never be done withthings.
I will never finish that to-dolist.
And to be content with that.
Another virtue of the goodperson is contentment.
And now that's also important.
Being ambitious.

(13:31):
in these kind of spiritualdevelopments, but at the same
time saying, alhamdulillah, I'mcontent.
It's tied to gratitude.
So these are very importantvirtues that the Quran invites
us to constantly express andgrow in and embody, constantly.
Sincerity and God-awareness,taqwa, sincerity, humility,

(13:54):
gratitude, contentment, Andthen, of course, another very
important, there are so many,but I'm listing some of the most
important that come to my mindnow.
Patience.
We've talked about patience somany times.
Patience, sabr, Allah loves theone who is patient, who does not

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rush into negative judgment, whodoes not label a certain thing,
who does not give intodestructive thoughts, but hold
back a little.
Hold back.
Withdraw, you know, like theseare very important.
Sabr, patience.
If the Quran wouldn't havementioned it, I mean, it's not

(14:38):
an easy thing to cultivate,right?
Patience, if it would be easy,the Quran wouldn't mention it.
But patience is a veryproactive, it's a very important
skill to develop and cultivateand to grow into our patience
and ever more.
And patience also implies thatyou withhold on judgment or

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negative thought, or you'rerestraining yourself, which
takes energy, which takesstrength, because you believe in
something that is yet to come,because you have a conviction
that there is more than what yousee.

(15:23):
So these are, elements of theQuranic akhlaq, of the good
person, of somebody who hastruly moral integrity, moral
standing, whom people willremember and look up to, who
make a difference in their livesand in their communities.
And so shukr, patience, theseare the things that the Quran

(15:47):
over and over presents to us.
And then I was thinking about...
Justice, right?
Allah calls us to be just andfair and orderly because this is
what the creation embodies also.
Allah loves adalah.

(16:10):
And justice also has a sense ofequity, meaning that adalah
means to put everything in itsright place.
It's not always acting the sameway or giving everybody the same
thing.
It's having the wisdom, right?
the wisdom, which is anothervirtue, to go in wisdom, into
hikmah, to know what thatspecific context demands from

(16:36):
you.
And that's where you then showjustice.
When you respond appropriately,right?
To give an example, you have twoplants, but their nature is
completely different.
The label says this plant needsa lot of sun.
and less water, and that otherplant needs less sun, but more

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water.
If you give them the equalamount, you did not act in
justice.
That's not adalah.
Because their futra, theirnature, and their particular
context and circumstance haddemanded a unique response that
fits their circumstance andtheir nature.

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It's the same with raisingchildren.
To show justice and fairness andto keep everything in order, to
have that wisdom to know andread the situation in a way that
calls one appropriate response.
And that is what justice is.
Allah in His mercy responds tous individually, uniquely,

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differently.
That's justice because mycircumstances might differ from
your circumstances.
So in the next few weeks, I'dlike us to spend a little bit
time on the broad theme of thegood person or the good human
being.
We all want to be better.
We all want to always improveourselves.

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Day one, when we enter thisworld, we come in to learn.
We are here for growth.
We are here to improve.
We are here to develop.
We are here to thrive andflourish, but not just in
worldly performance.
This dunya, this place is aplace of moral growth, a place

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of spiritual growth, a place ofintellectual growth.
a place of emotional growth,development, and transformation.
We need to really, reallyinternalize that.
This is not a place to beabsolutely happy.
This is not a place to focussimply on entertainment and fun.

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This is not what the Quranpresents us.
Allah promises that this dunyais a place of examination, of
trials, of tests, of hardship,Yet we act as if trials are an
anomaly in our life.
It should not happen.

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Trauma should not happen.
Pain should not happen.
Death should not happen.
Loss should not happen.
Separation should not happen.
Allah says, I will test you.
I will come at you.
This is a promise from our Lord.
Yet our nafs wants to be indenial.
Our egos want to...
be immersed in pleasure and joyand instant gratification and

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forgets.
So that's another thing that theQuran tells us.
We forget, we become heedless.
We are in denial.
We think this is all what thereis.
Yet the truth is, it is in painthat we experience our greatest
growth.
It is often in suffering that weexperience our greatest
development and change.

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Read all these stories of peoplewho experienced death.
illness, sickness, loss, many ofthem will say, I did not desire
it, but this experience changedme profoundly.
So you decide, I decide if onetraumatic experience is a scary

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experience or is it a secretexperience.
You decide if what Allah sendsyour way, the path is written,
The pain and the joy, thepleasures and the sorrows, all
are part of the human story ofdevelopment and growth.

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But even in those lows, even inthose hard moments, can you see
that experience as a sacredexperience, something that Allah
designed for you, perfected foryou, sent your way, my way, our
way, and then wants to see howwe respond.
How do we respond?

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And we have, again, thatbeautiful model, our Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, toshow us how to be emotionally
intelligent, intellectually,morally intelligent, be
inspired, and respondappropriately.
So this is the greatest gift,the greatest responsibility for

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human beings is choice, freewill, responsibility.
We make our choices, which one,which path we want to go, the
path of kufr and darkness anddespair and unbelief and denial,
or the path of light and seeingeverything what happens to us

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and what is sent our way as asacred experience, as an
experience that we say,alhamdulillah, Ya Rabbi, You
have, transformed me throughthis experience.
You have changed me.
You have elevated me.
You have taught me so much.
I've grown.
I've changed.
So these are the things thatultimately matter.

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And so this dunya, the realityof this world, is that it is a
plowing field for the hereafter.
It is a place of examination andgrowth.
And it is also a place ofdiscovering and exploring
Allah's qualities, attributes,and to know Allah more fully.

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So this is how we are presented,how the Qur'an presents to us
this world.
So we will be all confrontedwith that, each one of us.
So let me read a little bit.
One character virtue that theQuran presents us is, like I

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said earlier, sincerity, ikhlas,that we are completely devoted
to Him alone.
That is ultimate tawhid.
All our actions, all ourthoughts, all our feelings, all
our conduct are completelydevoted to Him alone, that we

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are not distracted by worldlyinterests, that we are not, how
do you say, that we are notgiving into peer pressure or
societal expectations, butsincerity, as it's presented in
the Quran, the good human beingis the one who is sincere in

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their actions and completelyfocused on Allah and seeking his
divine pleasure.
So this little portion, thefirst rule I'd like to share
with you, it's from the 21stflesh.
It's something that UstadBediüzzaman highly recommends to
read every two weeks becauseit's a backbone of all our

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actions and ambitions in life.
Why are we doing certain things?
Why are we after a certain goal?
What's our focus?
What's our purpose?
Why am I doing this?
What's my intention?
So it's basically the spirit andthe soul, the intention, as we

(24:33):
know, the tradition says, allactions are according to
intentions.
What is my intention?
What am I seeking with thataction or this effort?
Or why am I ambitious aboutthis?
And this needs to be thefoundation.
A good person in this world actssolely for divine pleasure.

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His whole purpose is to pleaseAllah, no matter if it's popular
or unpopular, no matter if itmeets societal standards or
family expectations.
If this is what Allah wants, Iwill do it.
And I'm not going to compromiseon that because this is a
non-negotiable.
This is solely a person ofsincerity is the one who is also

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completely honest in thatregard, honesty, and completely
committed.
So when you think of ikhlas, youthink of commitment and
steadfastness.
Steadfastness, the Quran tellsus, is the one who has thabat,
and who is righteous also, whohas siddq, who is honest.

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Like Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu,the beloved companion of the
Prophet ﷺ, his friend, who evenin times of pressure and so much
denial, was so steadfast, sohonest, so committed to him and
his message and to Allah.

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So when we think of sincerity,it also calls to mind
commitment, fully committed tothe holy cause, to Allah in
times of joy and in times ofpain.
The Quran tells us in times ofjoy, They are in a relationship
with Allah, but when things gettough, they turn away from him.

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But a real beautifulrelationship demands that you
stay in that relationship, thatyou are completely committed and
steadfast, even when things gettough.
That you say, Ya Allah, Istubbornly believe in your
goodness, in your mercy, in yourpromise.

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I will even be more committedthan ever.
Even if I don't understand whythis is happening to me or us in
this moment, I believe in yourgoodness.
I believe in your promise.
I believe in your existence.
And that's basically bearingwitness, being an embodied

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testament to the truth of Allah.
When everybody doubts and isuncertain and questions, you are
staying strong because that's afeature of ikhlas, sincerity.
You are 100% sincere.
Everything else, when you aresincere to Allah, everything

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else will fall into place.
At the end, He is the one whosent you here, and He is the one
you will return to and answer.
Every time I go to the grave ofmy daughter, I see that at the
end, I will be here in thisgrave.
And all the people who loved me,maybe they will stay for an hour

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max, but they'll go home.
In that darkness of my grave,only Allah will be with me.
Everybody else will be leaving.
I'll be remembered occasionally,maybe if I'm lucky.
Why am I saying this?
Because later on in the fourthworld tells us, what brings you
to sincerity?

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Remembrance of death.
If you need advice, Death issufficient.
When we are in our dark, narrowgrave, all our loved ones leave
us and we leave them.
Who's our most intimatecompanion?
Who will not leave us?

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Who will not abandon us?
Who will widen that grave forus?
Allah.
Allah who is the light of theheavens and the earth.
He will send his angels who willwelcome me.
who will send his friends, whowill welcome me, who will make
that grave spacious, who willask me about my life.

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It's him.
So I should not then live a lifethat is dedicated to worldly
causes or certain low interests,worldly interests.
So I should seek his pleasurebecause at the end, he will be
the one I'll be meeting.
Everybody else will leave.

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All the attention, all thepraise, all the interest, all
the applause, all the validationthat we are seeking from finite
beings or chasing this dunya,it's not going to come with us.
They are not going to be with usin that grave.
So Rabi Ta'ul Maut, theremembrance of death, which is

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also a consistent feature of agood person's character gives
you perspective and puts youback into ikhlas, sincerity.
Like I need to be devoted toAllah alone because everyone
else, everything else, I cannottake with me and they will not

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help me.
They will not assist me.
They will not support me.
They cannot save me on thatother side.
So in this first rule, it sayshere, you should seek divine
pleasure in your actions.
If Almighty God is pleased, itis of no importance if the whole

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world even is displeased.
It's such an important reminderfor us.
If we have ikhlas, if we arecompletely and fully devoted to
Him alone, then it has noimportance if the whole world
even is displeased.
It doesn't matter.
If he accepts an action andeveryone else rejects it, their

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rejection has no effect.
Once his pleasure has beengained and he has accepted an
action, even if you do not askit of him, should he wish it and
his wisdom requires it, he willmake others accept it.
He will make them consent to ittoo.
For this reason, to seek divinepleasure should be the sole aim

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in this service.
So we are servants.
This is a place of service.
This dunya, this world is aplace of service.
We are called to be in aposition of service.
We are all shepherds and guidesin our families.

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We are all people in authorityand responsibility.
When we have those roles, whenwe occupy these roles, our Focus
should be Allah.
I only Allah, I also, I justwant to seek your divine
pleasure, your love.
As long as you love me, as longas if you are pleased with me,

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nothing else matters.
My child might not listen to me.
My husband might not like whatI'm saying.
My in-laws, my coworkers, mysupervisor, my society.
What I'm saying might beunpopular.
What I'm doing might beunpopular or not welcomed.
But as long as you are pleasedwith me, I am freed.

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I'm liberated.
I'm happy.
I'm content.
Why would I?
I live a carefree life if Allahis pleased with me.
I do not chain myself to otherpeople's expectations or
approvals.
I'm not a slave of others.
I'm an honored servant of Himalone.

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That is enough to give medignity and honor.
Alhamdulillah, what a beautiful,freeing, liberating aspect
ikhlas brings.
When you are sincere andcompletely devoted to Him alone,
He cuts your back.
He is the Lord of the universe.
Why would you seek otherpeople's attention or praise?
Or why would you obsess aboutpeople's judgments?

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One person's judgment ispositive, the other person's is
negative.
What are you going to do?
You can't please everyone.
Recently, I learned people haveanxiety of public speaking.
And then you ask them why?
They say it's because ofjudgment from others.
Judgment.

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People are so worried if theyare being judged.
And we judge all the time eachother.
That's not to say that's a goodthing, judging others, because
what do they know about me?
How can they even judge me infair terms?
So why do I give them power overme?

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Why do I give them power todecide how I should feel?
No, I'm not going to be anxiousor worried.
I say, alhamdulillah, I do mypart.
It's insufficient, it'sdeficient.
But Allah knows my intention,knows my struggle, knows that I
was trying.

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And He's pleased.
As long as He's pleased, I livea carefree life.
I don't feel pressured.
I don't feel oppressed.
I'm truly, absolutely free in myheart because I found my anchor.
And that anchor, that source ofstrength is Allah.

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And he knows my secret thoughts,my struggles, how much energy I
put into a project.
Who else is accompanying me fromzero to end?
Nobody.
You know, somebody writes abook.
It's a creative process.
It's a lot of work.
You put so much energy in theplanning and the design and the

(35:01):
imagination, imagining.
maybe even illustrating, thewriting process.
All of this takes time.
It's a lot of work.
But who is with you in thatprocess the whole time?
Who can truly ever witness whatyou're going through?
Whether it's writing a book fromA to Z, planning until the

(35:23):
project is finished, yoursleepless nights, your dreams,
your imagination, raising achild.
Who knows truly how much effortit is raising a child, shaping
them, forming them, discipliningthem, the sleepless nights, the
worries, the concerns, thestruggles.

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Only Allah is aware of that.
Allah is al-khabir, the mostaware, the witness, al-shaheed.
But the people who judge me, myperformance or my parenting or
my conduct as a citizen,whatever it is, or as a worker,

(36:05):
what do they know truly aboutme?
How much intense emotion I putinto a certain ambitious task.
So Allah calls us to ikhlas,complete devotion to him and
sincerity because he wants us tobe free.

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That's true freedom.
But if we put all these chainson us, we do zulm, we oppress
ourselves unnecessarily.
We do self-harm.
So that's a very important pointto seek in everything what we
are doing, in being human, inour relationships, in marriages,

(36:50):
in friendships, in ourparenting, in our work, to
always pray to Allah that we areabsolutely sincere to Him, that
we only make divine pleasure ouronly goal.
And that is radical monotheism.
That means Allah is the one.
He is my one Qibla, mydirection.

(37:11):
Wherever I am, wherever I pray,He is my direction in every
effort.
And that kind of, thatsincerity, that ikhlas, may
Allah make us amongst themukhliseen, that we, in all of
our actions and conduct, arealways acting with full and

(37:32):
absolute sincerity and arecompletely devoted to Him alone.
Subhanaka la ima lana illama'alamtana innaka anta al-alimu
al-hakim wa akhru dawana inalhamdulillahi rabbil alameen