A Reflection on Pure Sincerity

A reflective reading of the words of God Most High: "And not [giving] for one having done him a favor to be rewarded * But only seeking the countenance of his Lord, Most High * And he is going to be satisfied." [al-Layl: 19–21]. Prepared by Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Ali Abu Seif, President of the American Imams Academy (AIA).

In a sublime passage among the closing verses of Sūrat al-Layl, the Noble Qurʾān draws a portrait of the soul as it reaches the purest height it can attain in its giving: it gives and waits for nothing, it does good and never reminds anyone of it, and it spends without so much as a glance toward any reward from any of God's creatures. Three brief verses distill the entire philosophy of giving: the negation of recompense, then purity of intent, then the glad tidings of contentment. And though they were revealed concerning one particular man, they remain an open law for every soul that seeks to free itself from the burden of obligation and the humiliation of waiting for a return.

First — Clarifying the meaning of the verse

The meaning opens with a precise negation: "And not [giving] for one having done him a favor to be rewarded" — that is, his spending of his wealth is not a recompense for some prior kindness once shown to him, such that he is now repaying a good turn with a good turn. Imam Ibn Kathīr says in explaining it: "His spending of his wealth is not in repayment of one who had shown him a kindness, so that he gives in return for it; rather, what drove him to it was seeking the countenance of his Lord, Most High." The giving here is wholly severed from any prior moral debt; it is an inauguration, not the return of a favor.

Al-Ṭabarī expounded both the grammar and the meaning together, relating from the masters of Arabic that the intended sense is: "He does not spend what he spends of that, nor give what he gives, as recompense to a person who is rewarding him for some favor that person had done him, nor as repayment to him for a blessing that had earlier come to him from that person… but rather he gives it in fulfillment of the rights of God, seeking the countenance of God." He then noted that "except" (illā) here carries the sense of "but" (lākin), as a disjunctive exception. So the giving is not a closed exchange between one hand and another, but a pure setting-forth toward God.

As for al-Qurṭubī, he laid bare the fruit and the goal, saying: "That is, he does not give in charity to be rewarded for a blessing; he only seeks the countenance of his Lord, Most High — the One exalted above all — 'And he is going to be satisfied,' that is, with the reward." Thus he joined together the purification of the motive — the negation of any quest for recompense — with the loftiness of the aim — the countenance of the Lord Most High — and with the outcome of all this: the contentment that has been promised.

Al-Saʿdī sealed the meaning with an exquisite subtlety, making the verse a measure of detachment, for he said: "No one among the creation holds over this most pious of men any blessing to be repaid except that he has already requited him for it… and so he became purely a servant of God, for he is the bondsman of His grace alone… and thus his deeds remained sincere, for the countenance of God Most High." The goal, then, is that the heart should become free of every created obligation, its servitude purely to God alone.

Second — The occasion of revelation and its application to Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq

It is reported regarding the descent of these verses that they were revealed concerning Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may God be pleased with him), when he freed the weak among the Muslims seeking the countenance of God, neither for reward nor for any return. Al-Ṭabarī related with his chain from Qatādah: "It was revealed concerning Abū Bakr; he freed people from whom he sought neither reward nor thanks — six or seven, among them Bilāl and ʿĀmir b. Fuhayrah."

Al-Qurṭubī added further detail to the account, relating from Ibn ʿAbbās, through the narration of ʿAṭāʾ and al-Ḍaḥḥāk, that the polytheists were torturing Bilāl while he kept saying, "One, One!" The Prophet (peace be upon him) passed by him and said, "The One will deliver you," then said to Abū Bakr, "O Abū Bakr, Bilāl is being tortured for the sake of God." So Abū Bakr went off, took a measure of gold, bought him from Umayyah b. Khalaf, and set him free. The polytheists said: Abū Bakr freed him only on account of some favor Bilāl had once done him. Then was revealed, "And not [giving] for one having done him a favor to be rewarded" — that is, there was no prior favor or obligation owed to Abū Bakr to be repaid; rather he did this seeking the countenance of his Lord, Most High.

The inclusion of Abū Bakr within these verses is exceedingly strong — so much so that more than one of the exegetes has reported a consensus upon it; and it has come down through routes that reinforce one another: the mursal report of Qatādah, the narration of ʿĀmir b. ʿAbdullāh b. al-Zubayr from his father with al-Ṭabarī, and the narration of ʿAṭāʾ and al-Ḍaḥḥāk from Ibn ʿAbbās with al-Qurṭubī. One ought to distinguish between the basic fact of its revelation concerning al-Ṣiddīq — which is firmly established and received with acceptance — and the particulars of the story of Bilāl, the amount of the price, and the wording of the polytheists, for these come through chains of varying rank, so that not every detail of them may be asserted with the same degree of certainty. The broader purpose, however, remains in its generality: the verse — as al-Saʿdī affirmed — "extends to everyone who is characterized by this noble quality"; so even if the occasion be confined to Abū Bakr, the wording is wider than he, and it remains a gateway for every act of giving that has freed itself from the quest for any human reward.

Third — The educative construction: from reciprocal giving to pure giving

Between two kinds of giving lies a vast distance. There is a reciprocal giving, built upon a prior debt, which is in truth a deferred transaction: its owner gives in order to take, does good in order to be praised, and spends with his eye fixed on the scales of take and return. And there is a pure giving that wells up from the heart at the outset, leaning on no past obligation and looking ahead to no coming reward. The verse carries the soul from the first to the second with a decisive transfer: "But only seeking the countenance of his Lord, Most High."

In this there is a liberation of the heart from three burdens: its liberation from waiting upon the gratitude of people — for whoever hangs his reward upon their praise is enslaved by their commendation and humbled by their indifference; its liberation from the reminding of favors and the causing of hurt that nullify charity, as God Most High said, "Do not invalidate your charities with reminders [of your generosity] or injury"; and its liberation from the weight of moral debt that turns giving into a settling of accounts rather than an act of kindness. The station of "the countenance of God, Most High" is the crucible in which the intention is smelted until it runs pure; for when the aim is loftier than every earthly glance, all the small petty gains fall away beneath it.

Sincerity does not mean that a person should despise the thanks of people or forbid it to them, for the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "He has not thanked God who does not thank people." Its true reality, rather, is that thanks should not be the original aim of the deed: if it comes, it is a blessing, and if it is absent, the reward is full and abundant with God. This meaning is the very kernel of what the Qurʾanic educative project seeks to plant in souls: that the learner and the caller to God not be raised upon seeking an immediate return of praise, position, or gratitude, but upon purity of direction toward God alone, so that the praise of the praiser and the silence of the heedless become equal in his sight — for his reward is with the One before whom not the weight of an atom is ever lost.

Fourth — The civilizational dimension: a benevolence that does not humiliate its recipient

Sincerity in giving has an effect that reaches beyond the individual heart to the very structure of society. The point is not that society should abolish self-interests — for these are recognized and legitimate — but that it should rise above being enslaved to them and above the reckonings of obligation and subordination. For when people give seeking the countenance of God, neither pursuing prestige nor awaiting loyalty, their bonds are freed from the danger that every gift should turn into a deferred bribe, and every favor into a shackle around its recipient's neck. In their place arises a society in which need is not turned into humiliation, nor benevolence into dominion; in which goods are bestowed without price, and needs are met without enslavement.

The highest fruit of this sincerity is that its benevolence does not humiliate the one who receives it; for the giver did not give in order to make the other his follower, nor spend in order to remind him of his own merit. Here the dignity of the one shown the kindness is restored to him; for he receives a gift that ascended to God before it descended to him, so that the giver retains over him no power of obligation. Thus did Abū Bakr act when he freed Bilāl: he freed him and so restored to him his dignity and his freedom together, returning the meaning of a human being to a body that had been meant to remain crushed; he did not make the manumission a debt around Bilāl's neck, but a pure act of nearness to God. That is the secret of why a society built upon such giving is the firmest in its bonds and the purest in its consciences — for its ties rest upon God, not upon the exchange of favors; so spending is transformed from a transaction to be tallied into an act of worship to be hoped for, and benevolence becomes a building-up of people rather than a lording over them.

Fifth — "And he is going to be satisfied" — the goal of all giving

Then comes the closing glad tiding, like light after the journey: "And he is going to be satisfied." How magnificent a conclusion for one who has divested himself purely for God! The lām is the lām of an oath, and "going to" (sawfa) is for emphasis and for breathing relief about the vastness of the divine giving — as though God says to His sincere servant: Be at peace, for the contentment is surely coming. Al-Qurṭubī interpreted that contentment as being "with the reward," and the reward is of the same kind as the deed: whoever has sought no reward from the creation, God takes it upon Himself to satisfy him by His own self.

Indeed, the loftiest thing in the verse is that what is promised is not a mere described recompense, but an absolute "satisfaction" that embraces all the believing soul desires and beyond it; and behind that lies a pleasure from God that is greater still. So whoever makes the countenance of God Most High his aim in this world, the contentment of God Most High becomes his aim in the next. And thus the circle closes upon the most beautiful of forms: a pure giving at its opening, and a complete contentment at its sealing.

That is the message of the three verses: that you give and seek no reward except from God, the Most High, and so set your own soul free from the bondage of obligation, just as al-Ṣiddīq freed Bilāl — and that you thereby raise up, within yourself and within the society around you, an edifice of benevolence untroubled by any reminder of favors and unspoiled by any waiting for a return. That is a goal worthy that every heart seeking the countenance of God be raised upon it.