The Definition of Ikhlas:

You should know that various definitions have been suggested for ikhlas, to some of which that are prevalent among the people of the mystic path we shall briefly refer here. The honourable `arif' and the wise wayfarer, Khwajah `Abd Allah al-'Ansari, quddisa sirruh, says:

Ikhlas means purging action of all impurities.

And the impurity mentioned here is a general one, including both that which arises from the desire to please oneself and other creatures. It is narrated from the great Shaykh Baha'i that the people of the heart have offered various definitions for it:

It has been said: "(Ikhlas means) keeping action free from other-than-God having a role in it."

This definition is close(nearby) to the former one.

And it has been said: "(Ikhlas means) that the performer of an action should not desire any reward for it in the world and the Hereafter."

And it has been narrated from the author of Ghara'ib al-bayan that the mukhlisun are those who worship God in such a way that they don't see themselves in service nor do they take notice of the world or .its people, nor transcend the bounds of servitude in their vision of Lordship. Hence when the devotee foregoes all gains and stakes in everything from the earth to the Throne ('arsh), he comes to traverse the path of din, which is the path of service and devotion on which the soul does not take any notice of the events on account of its vision of the beauty of the Lord. This is the Din that God Almighty has chosen for Himself and cleared it from the taint of association with other-than-God, and He has said:

Lo, to God belongs sincere allegiance (al-din al-khalis). (39:3)

And `sincere religion' is the light of pre-eternity (qidam) that appears after the disappearance of contingency (huduth) in the wilderness of resplendent glory and monism. It is as if God Almighty has invited His servants by indicating and signaling(beckoned) to them that they should purify their souls from others and make them turn exclusively towards Him. And it has been narrated from al-Shaykh al-Muhaqqiq Muhyi al-Din al-`Arabi that he said:

'Lo, to God belongs sincere allegiance,' free from the taints of otherness and egoism. And that your extinction in Him should be total, the Essence; the Attributes, the Acts and the din should cease to be relevant for you. Lo, until the allegiance is not purified by Reality, it will not belong to God.

Until the traces of servitude ('ubudiyyah), otherness (ghayriyyah) and egoism (ananiyyah) remain and as long as there is a worshipper and the worshipped one, worship, sincerity and din, there remain the taints of otherness and egoism, and this is regarded as shirk by the 'urafa'. The worship of the sincere ones is the imprint of the manifestations (tajalliyat) of the Beloved and nothing passes through their hearts except the Essence of the One God. And although the horizons of possibility (imkan) and necessity (wujub) have been joined for them and they have attained proximity to the Essence (tadalli-ye dhati) and absolute nearness to the Real (dunuww-e mutlaq-e haqiqi) and the traces of otherness have been completely wiped out, they still perform the duties of servanthood. And their servitude is not through reflection and thought, but through manifestation - a point indicated by the prayer of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah's peace and benedictions be upon him and his progeny, on the night of his heavenly ascent (mi'raj).

Ikhlas is Subsequent to Action:

You should know that that which is said in the noble tradition, that

To persevere in an action until it becomes sincere is more difficult than the action itself,

is meant to encourage man to exercise care and diligence in that which he does, both at the time of its performance. and after it. For it sometimes happens that man carries out an action faultlessly and without any shortcoming and performs it without riya' or `ujb; but after the action he becomes afflicted with riya' through mentioning it, as pointed out in the following noble hadith of al-Kari:

Al-'Imam al-Baqir (A) said: "Perseverance in an action is more difficult than the act itself." He was asked, "what is meant by perseverance in action?" He replied, "A man does some kindness to a relative or expends something for the sake of God, Who is One and has no partner. Thereupon the reward of a good deed performed secretly is written for him. Later, he mentions it to someone and that which was written earlier is wiped out and instead the reward of a good deed performed openly is written for him. Later, when he makes a mention of it again, the vice of riya' is written for him (instead of the reward written earlier)." 

Man is never secure from the evil of Satan and his self until the end of his life. He must not imagine that once he has performed an act solely for the sake of God, without desire for the good pleasure of creatures having played any role in it, the purity of his act shall remain secure from the evil of the vicious self. Should he fail to exercise care and vigilance, the self may prompt him to make a mention of it or, as sometimes happens, to express it in the way of a subtle hint. For instance, wishing to impress people about his nightly prayers, the subtle machinations of the self may prompt him to pass a hint(implication) by speaking about the good or bad weather conditions at daybreak or about supplications or the call for prayer, thus making his acts invalid and unworthy. Man must keep a watch over himself, like a kind physician or nurse, and not let the rebellious self get out of control; for a moment of neglect may give it the opportunity to break its reins and lead man into ignominy and perdition. Hence in all conditions he must take refuge in God Almighty from the evil of Satan and the carnal self:

Surely the self of man incites to evil - except in as much as my Lord had mercy. (12:53)

And it should be known to you that purification of intention from all levels of shirk, riya' and other things, constant vigilance over it, and its perseverance in purity make up a greatly difficult as well as an important(remarkable)  task. Rather, some degrees of it are not attainable by anyone except the sincere awliya' of Allah. This is because intention is the efficient motive of action and is subject to other goals. These goals are in turn subject to the spiritual traits that make up man's inward essence and spiritual character. If someone possesses the love of office and position and this love becomes part of his spiritual makeup and character, the end of his desires is to reach that goal and the actions that originate from him are subject to that goal; his motive being the same sought-after object of his spirit, the actions that originate from him are directed to reaching the goal sought. As long as this love remains in his heart, his acts cannot be sincere, and one whose spiritual character and make-up(perfume) are characterized by self-love and egoism his ultimate goal and end is attainment of selfish satisfactions, which are also the motive of his acts, regardless of whether his acts are directed to mundane goals or such otherworldly ends as the houris, palaces, gardens and bounties of the next life. Rather, as long as egoism, self-seeking and egotism are there, even if he takes a step for the acquisition of mystic knowledge and spiritual excellences, these are sought for selfish ends, self-seeking, not God-6eeking, being their aim. And it is obvious that self-seeking and God-seeking cannot go together. Rather, if God is sought for the sake of the self, the ultimate end and goal is the self and the ego.

Thus it is evident that the absolute purification of intention from shirk is a great task that cannot be achieved by every one, and the defectiveness and excellence of deeds is subject to the defectiveness and perfection of intentions, for intention is the efficient and malakuti form of action, as hinted above. The noble tradition also refers to this point where it says:

And intention is superior to action, or, rather, intention is the complete reality of act itself.

And there is no exaggeration involved in this, as some have suggested; rather, it is based on fact, for intention is the complete form of action and its essence itself, the wholesomeness and corruption, the excellence and defectiveness of acts depending upon it. Accordingly, a single act may, on account of the intention that underlies it, at times imply respect and at times insult. Sometimes it may be perfect and sometimes defective. Sometimes it may belong to the highest level of spiritual sublimity, possessing a beautiful, blessed form. Sometimes it may belong to the lower spiritual realm and possess a frightful and odious form.

The apparent form of the salat of `Ali ibn Abi Talib, upon whom be peace, does not differ outwardly in regard to its elements and conditions from that of a certain hypocrite; but whereas for the former it is a means of spiritual ascent toward God (mi'raj ila Allah) and has the highest spiritual form, for the latter it is a means of descent to hell and its spiritual form is incomparably black due to the intensity of darkness.

Because of a few loaves of bread of barley given away by the House of Inerrancy (i.e. The Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt) (A) for the sake of God, God Almighty sent down several verses in their praise. An ignorant person may be led to think that two or three days of hunger and giving away one's food to the poor is a matter of importance, whereas such kind of acts may be performed by anybody and are of not much consequence. Their significance lies in the purity of their (i.e. the Ahl al-Bayt's) purpose and the sincerity of their intention. It is the power and elegance of the spirit of their action, coming forth from their pure hearts, that gives their action so much significance.

The outward appearance of the Noble Prophet (S) was not much different from that of other people. Hence often when he (S) was sitting with a group of people and some strangers from among the Arab bedouins came to meet him (S), they would ask, "Which one of you is the Messenger?" That which distinguished the Messenger (S) from others is the power and elegance of the spirit of that Master, not his blessed body or his noble frame. In the rational sciences it is demonstrated that a thing's thingness depends on its form, not on its matter. Rather, a definition based on species is exhaustive, and it is defective when based on genus and species, because intermingling with that which is strange and foreign to a thing is inimical to its reality, definition, and wholeness, and matter and genus are foreign and strange to its reality, which lies in its form, actuality, and species. Hence the total reality of acts is that of their forms and their malakuti dimension, represented by intention.

This discussion shows that that which al-'Imam al-Sadiq (A) says in this noble tradition is, firstly, in view of the form of action and its matter. What he says is that their formal aspect supersedes their material aspect and that, therefore, intention supersedes action, in the same way as spirit is superior to body. And this does not necessitate the validity of an act devoid of intention and the possibility of a body devoid of spirit. Rather, it is the association of intention with action and the attachment of spirit to body that makes action and body what they are. These two are compounds of intention and action, body and spirit and the formal, malakuti aspect of each is superior to its material, mulki aspect. And this is the meaning of the famous tradition:

The intention of the man of faith is better than his act.

Secondly, that which the Imam (A) says is in view of the dissolution of action in intention, of the mulk in the malakut, and manifestation (mazhar) in the manifest (zahir). Hence he (A) states:

Lo, verily intention is act itself.

Apart from intention there is nothing that is involved, and the totality of act is merged in intention; action has no independent reality of its own. Thereafter, he (A) cites the utterance of God Almighty as witness:

Say: 'Everyone acts according to his character' (shakilatihi) ....(17:84)

Acts are subservient to the soul's character (shakilah) and although the soul's character is constituted by its inward form and the traits (malakat) inherent in it, intentions constitute its outward character.

It may be said that spiritual traits constitute the soul's primary(elementary) character and intentions, to which actions are subservient, makeup its secondary character. Hence the statement of the Imam (A) that shakilah is niyyah.

This shows that the way to the purification of action from all kinds of shirk, riya', etc., is only through the reform of the soul and its malakat, for it is the fountainhead of all the reforms and the source of all the excellences and degrees of perfection. Hence if man expels the love of the world from his heart by means of austerities and exercises based on knowledge and action, the world will cease to be his ultimate goal and his acts will be purged of the biggest shirk, which is the desire to attract the attention of the world's people and to attain respect in their eyes. When that happens, he will be the same in solitude and company, inwardly and outwardly. To the extent that he succeeds in purging his heart of self-love, through spiritual austerities, the love of God shall enter it to the same extent and it shall also be purified of latent shirk. And as long as self-love remains in the heart and man remains in the oppressive habitat of the self, he is not a wayfarer toward God (musafir ila Allah); rather, he is one of those who cling to the earth (mukhalladun ila al-'ard). The first step in the journey toward God is abandonment of self-love and crushing the head of egoism under one's foot. And there are some who say that one of the meanings of the noble verse:

Whoso goes forth from his house an emigrant to God and His Messenger, and then death overtakes him, his wage will have fallen on God ..., (4:100)

is that if someone leaves the habitat of the self to migrate to God and sets out on a spiritual journey, and thereafter he encounters complete annihilation (fana'-e tamm), his reward lies with God, the Exalted. And it is obvious that such a wayfarer deserves no reward except the vision (mushahadah) of that Sacred Essence and entry into His court. These words express their sentiments:

None except the Beloved has a place in our heart,

Give both the worlds to the enemy, for the Beloved suffices us.