We do a lot of good things every day. We help a lot of people. A lot of worship is done. But what do we expect from the good deeds we do? Do we want the nearness of Allah? Or do we want people around us to praise us? Will we be rewarded for the good deeds we did on the day we met Allah? Or does Allah tell us that "you will not be rewarded for the acts of worship because you did good deeds for the people to see"
Hadith of the day in Arabic
وعن أمير المؤمنين أبي حفص عمر بن الخطاب بن نفيل بن عبد العزى بن رياح بن قرط بن رزاح بن عدى بن لؤى ابن غالب القرشى العدوى. رضي الله عنه، قال: سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول: " إنما الأعمال بالنيات، وإنما لكل امرىء ما نوى فمن كانت هجرته إلى الله ورسوله فهجرته إلى الله ورسوله، ومن كانت هجرته لدنيا يصيبها، أو امرأة ينكحها فهجرته إلى ما هاجر إليه"
Hadith of the day
Narrated 'Umar bin Al-Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him), reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "The deeds are considered by the intentions, and a person will get the reward according to his intention. So whoever emigrated for Allah and His Messenger, his emigration will be for Allah and His Messenger; and whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration would be for what he emigrated for". [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
What we need to understand from Hadith of the day
What we need to understand from today's hadith is that no matter what good we do, our desire must be good. Suppose we are walking down a path. There is a big stone lying on the road. If we do not remove that stone from the road, someone will be in danger. Removing obstacles from the way is a great reward from Allah.
If we remove that stone from the way so that no harm may befall our fellow human beings, we will be rewarded by Allah. But if we think that the good work I do should be seen by others and that I should get fame through it, we will only get it. Perhaps if we did this good deed only for the reward of Allah, then we would get both.
In short, no matter what good things we do, our intentions must be good. We should only desire the love and reward of Allah. There are many ways to lose the reward of the good deeds we do. May Allah bless us to stay away from it all ... Ameen