Righteous Deed with the Intention of Seeking Nearness to Allah Through It
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, is it permissible for a servant to perform a righteous deed with the intention of seeking nearness to Allah through it when he performs it?
Answer:
That is sufficient, and he should not perform a righteous deed solely seeking reward and desiring what is with Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. However, if he needs to seek nearness to Allah through it, he may do so, like the people of the rock who were closed in by the rock and sought nearness to Allah through their righteous deeds. If he needs it, he may seek nearness to Allah through it; there is no harm. But if he performs it only in order to seek nearness to Allah through it, that is not permissible. He should perform it seeking the reward of Allah and the pleasure of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, is it permissible for a servant to perform a righteous deed with the intention of seeking nearness to Allah through it when he performs it?
Answer:
That is sufficient, and he should not perform a righteous deed solely seeking reward and desiring what is with Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. However, if he needs to seek nearness to Allah through it, he may do so, like the people of the rock who were closed in by the rock and sought nearness to Allah through their righteous deeds. If he needs it, he may seek nearness to Allah through it; there is no harm. But if he performs it only in order to seek nearness to Allah through it, that is not permissible. He should perform it seeking the reward of Allah and the pleasure of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. Yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، تابع كتاب الجهاد - 3 — islamhouse.com (51:52)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.