The Conditions for the Acceptance of Deeds
Allaah said (speaking of Himself): {The One who created death and life to test you; which of you is best in deeds} [Surat-Al-Mulk(No. 67), Aayah 2]
Notice that in this Aayah, Allaah said: {best in deeds}, and did not say: most in deeds. This means that quality is more important than quantity.
Actually, for every deed to be accepted by Allaah, it must have two conditions:
1) To be done in sincerity; for the sake of Allaah only.
2) To be done in accordance with the teachings of the Messenger (SAAWS = Salla Allaah Alayh Wa Sallam).
If any of these two conditions is not met, the deed is not accepted.
Allaah said (addressing His Messenger): {Say: "I am only a man like you. It has been revealed to me that your God is One God. So whoever hopes for the Meeting with his Lord, let him perform righteous deeds and not associate anyone else in the worship of his Lord”} [Surat-Al-Kahf(No. 18), Aayah 110]
Allaah’s saying: {perform righteous deeds}, means: perform the deeds that were legislated by Allaah (and taught to us by the Messenger)
And His saying: {and not associate anyone else in the worship of his Lord}, means: that the deeds are only performed for the sake of Allaah
This is the essence of Islaam. A person becomes a Muslim when he (or she) testifies (acknowledges based on belief in the heart) that:
1) There no God worthy of worship except Allaah, and that
2) Muhammad is the messenger of Allaah
So when we state the first testimony, we are acknowledging that all our deeds have to be done for the sake of Allaah, and for the sake of Allaah alone. We cannot associate anyone (or anything) else in our worship of Allaah
And when we state the second testimony, we are acknowledging the fact that Allaah sent us this Messenger to teach us how He (Allaah) wants to be obeyed and worshipped. We cannot worship Him in any way better than what HE SENT His messenger with
So every deed that we perform must be:
1) Sincere, meaning: it is done solely for the sake of Allaah
2) Correct, meaning: it is done in accordance with the legislation that our Messenger was sent with
To be continued, if Allaah wills