Will I Be Sinful for Sending a Well-Intended Chat Message and Later Intended to Show Off?
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
If a person sends a good message via online chat with good intentions and the other person hasn’t seen it yet, but his intention later changes to a bad one (e.g. manipulative/riyaa’), then after the other person sees his message.
Is he violating the rights of the person with whom he chatted, and should he apologize to him for having bad intentions behind a good message, or should he simply repent to Allah for the bad intention and let his message stand?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
I pray you are well.
In your case, you should seek forgiveness from Allah (Most High), with nothing to worry about. Your initial intention was of good nature.
However, if a person intends to show obedience so that people know about or see him as obedient, and they have an opinion that he is obedient. This is an infamy of the soul.
This condition is treated by the individual knowing that he does not possess any benefit or harm to other people, and that he strives in demanding sincerity from his soul in performing its deeds in order to bring an end to this infamy.
Allah (Most High) says, “And they have been ordered no more that this; To worship Allah sincerely, being true in faith.” [Quran, 98:5]
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, conveying from his Lord, Mighty and Majestic, “whoever performs my deed (wherein he) associates someone else with Me: I a free from it and it belongs to the one he associate with Me.” [Muslim] [Sulami, Uyub al-Nafs Wa ‘Adwiyatuha]
I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied within UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete hifz of Quran in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in UK where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in UK with his wife. His personal interest is love of books and gardening.
