Purpose and effect

The purpose of our creation is the obedience of Allah Ta’ala. We obey Allah Ta’ala, we please Him. So, the purpose of our existence itself is to live for the pleasure of Allah Ta’ala. To live for the pleasure of Allah Ta’ala has many benefits and good effects. However, we must not live in the obedience of Allah Ta’ala with the intention of taking benefits from its positive effects. By doing this, we will lose our true direction. And this will deflect us from our real destination. For example, a person has a destination to which he is heading to. To reach his destination, he must follow a route or a path. On the way, he sees beautiful views. If he admires these beautiful views all the time, this can deflect him from his destination. Or else, this will at least delay him from completing his journey. Similarly, our real goal and destination is the pleasure of Allah Ta’ala. The means to reach it is the Deen. We see its positive effects by following Deen. We must not continue to admire its positive effects. Otherwise, it will make us expect positive effects for every good deed that we do. Then, we will do good deeds for the positive effects. We will forget that our real goal is the pleasure of Allah Ta’ala.

For example, when a person practices his Deen well, he may see that his work is going on smoothly. He starts having beautiful dreams. People love him. He sees that all his transactions are in order. However, he must not run after these effects. If he does that, he will lose his direction because it will be like practicing Deen merely for these benefits. In contrast, he should have practiced Deen to please Allah Ta’ala, although he does not see any effects. Success is attained only through practicing Deen in this way.

This explanation leads us to understand a principle: When we do what should be done, in the way that it should be done, in the right context, with the proper intent, then, there is no need to look at its/the effect after that. On the other hand, if a good effect is seen for a work which was wrongly done, this does not justify this bad action or this good action which was wrongly done.

[English version of "But et l'effet" – Al Jamiat – Vol.2 No.13]