Doing Good Deeds For Rewards

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Question:

The idea that good should be rewarded with good and that evil should be rewarded with evil makes sense to me. However, I often wonder about whether seeking reward for virtuous behaviour and ethically sound action renders such behaviour and action less virtuous. If someone, for example, decides to donate charity to please and earn the pleasure of God, who is the Supreme Good, as well as to satisfy the natural desire to assist the deprived/weak, the action retains its moral and ethical value. When we say, in Muslim parlance, that we shall receive 'sawaab' or reward for good deeds, it seems to be the logical consequence of performing deeds of piety. But when a person thinks solely about reward when doing good deeds, it seems to me that a kind of 'reductive disintegration' of morality takes place.

There seems to be something embarrassingly puerile about needing the thought of pretty women and sparkling fountains to serve as the motor for moral and ethical action. If someone has only these images in his mind when doing good deeds, there seems to be something less virtuous about it all. I do not condemn these desires, but I think that such motivation should remain an adjunct to the primary motive of serving and pleasing God.

Please explain where and how the concept of reward fits into the Islamic picture of moral and ethical action and please comment on the claim that the concept of reward contributes to a "reductive disintegration" of morality.

Omar Sarwar
Singapore

Answer:

The essence of the Qur'anic message is only that people shall be rewarded for their good deeds. However, to put this message across more effectively, the Qur'an has referred in some detail to some of the forms of these rewards, which under the present human perspective are likely to be more generally comprehensible by all human beings. Nevertheless, even while referring to these forms of rewards in the hereafter, the Qur'an has clearly mentioned the point that the greatest of these rewards, even though it may not be as easily comprehensible for many human beings, is to have earned the pleasure of the Lord (Al-Taubah 9: 72). Furthermore, the Qur'an has also mentioned that the referred forms of rewards, in fact, present only a vague glimpse of what is to come in the afterlife. The Qur'an has emphatically stated that man cannot even imagine the great rewards that await him during the hereafter (Al-Sajadah 32: 17).

The idea that 'doing good deeds with the intention of earning rewards in the hereafter is a kind of reductive disintegration of morality' may seem to be extremely attractive from a philosophical perspective. However, a thorough deliberation over it would show that it can only be propounded by those who not only have their basic needs fully met, but who also take the fulfilment of these needs for granted. It is extremely unfortunate how man can take his fulfilled needs for granted to the extent that sometimes he can even forget how pressing and demoralizing these needs can become, if they remain unfulfilled for some time. Only those who have tasted hunger can realize the blessing of sleeping with a full belly.

The Qur'an, while mentioning the rewards of good deeds addresses humans, who realize that they are indigent and needy of God's special blessings to even sustain their existence. It is such humans, who have been informed by the Qur'an that if they live a life of piety, they shall not only earn the pleasures of their Merciful Creator - which is indeed the biggest reward for man - but shall also provide them with all that their hearts desire and shall grant them unimaginable bounties as a special gift from Him.

It is man's nature to work for rewards, whether internal or external, physical or emotional, social or economic and intellectual or carnal. No one knows this aspect of human nature better than the Creator of this nature. The Qur'an, recognizing this nature of man, has portrayed a life of complete contentment and satisfaction as a reward for piety during the life of this world. Furthermore, the Qur'an wants us - indigent humans - to live a life of piety in the desire to earn the rewards as well as with the fear of the punishment of the hereafter. The Qur'an says:

"... they call upon their Lord with fear [of punishment] and desire [of reward]". (Al-Sajadah 32: 16)

I hope this helps.
Regards,
Moiz Amjad
January 3, 2003

Taken with thanks from www.understanding-islam.org

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