Ruling on doing righteous deeds with the aim of worldly gain
Question

                Is it permissible for a person to do righteous deeds and acts of worship with the aim of obtaining worldly benefits?
Praise be to Allah.
	The basic 
	principle is that the Muslim should intend, by doing acts of worship and 
	righteous deeds, to seek the pleasure of Allah, and his intention should be 
	purely for that purpose.

	Whoever does 
	righteous deeds or acts of worship with the aim of attaining some worldly 
	gain, comes under one of two headings:

	1.
	Worldly gain is all that he is seeking

	Thus he fasts 
	for the purpose of health or diet; he performs pilgrimage on behalf of 
	someone else for the money only; he goes out to fight in jihad for the sake 
	of the booty; he gives charity for the sake of healing or earning people’s 
	praise, and so on.

	Such a person 
	has no share in the hereafter.

	Allah, may He be 
	exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

	“Whoever desires 
	the life of this world and its adornments - We fully repay them for their 
	deeds therein, and they therein will not be deprived”

	[Hood 11:15].

	Ibn Jareer at-Tabari 
	said: Whoever does a righteous deed seeking worldly gain, whether it is 
	fasting, praying, or tahajjud at night, doing it only for the sake of 
	worldly gain, Allah says: I shall give him what he is seeking in this world 
	of reward, but his deeds that he did for worldly gain will be rendered 
	invalid, and in the hereafter he will be among the losers.

	End quote from
	Jaami‘ 
	al-Bayaan 
	(12/347).

	Abu’l-‘Abbaas 
	al-Qurtubi said: If his motive was otherwise, such as worldly gain, then it 
	is no longer an act of worship; rather it is a sin that may doom the doer, 
	for it is either disbelief, which is major shirk, or it is showing off, 
	which is minor shirk…. This applies if the motive for the act of worship was 
	worldly gain only, in the sense that if that aim was not attainable, he 
	would not do that deed.

	End quote from
	al-Mufhim lima ashkala min Talkhees Kitaab Muslim (12/50)

	2.
	By doing this deed he is seeking the pleasure of Allah, but 
	he also hopes to attain some worldly gains or benefits that may result from 
	this deed,

	such as one who 
	fasts for the sake of Allah, but in addition to that he is seeking to look 
	after his health; or he does Hajj for the sake of Allah, but at the same 
	time he intends to do some business; or he strives in jihad for the sake of 
	Allah, and also aims to acquire some of the booty; or he gives zakaah on his 
	wealth for the sake of Allah, but also seeks blessing and growth for his 
	wealth; or he gives charity for the sake of Allah, and at the same time 
	intends to seek healing from disease; or he upholds ties of kinship, seeking 
	reward, long life and abundant provision.

	In such cases 
	the ruling differs, according to which is the stronger motive for doing the 
	action in question.

	i.
	If the stronger motive is seeking the pleasure of Allah and 
	hoping for reward from Him, then there is nothing wrong with that.

	At-Taahir ibn 
	‘Ashoor said: If one hopes for some immediate benefit and reward (in this 
	world), and that comes about as a result of this particular act of worship, 
	but it is not the main aim, then it may be overlooked, especially since this 
	is something that no one can avoid; or especially if it is something that 
	may motivate one to do more acts of worship.

	End quote from
	at-Tahreer wa’t-Tanweer 
	(23/318)

	Shaykh ‘Abd 
	ar-Rahmaan as-Sa‘di said: The hope of the one who strives for some worldly 
	gains from his righteous deeds should not harm him, if his main aim is to 
	attain the pleasure of Allah and seek the hereafter.

	In His wisdom 
	and mercy, Allah has ordained that there should be immediate reward and 
	deferred reward (for righteous deeds), and He has promised that reward to 
	those who strive, because hope of reward and investing effort for that 
	purpose energises people to strive and prompts them to do good, just as 
	warnings of punishment for offences and mentioning types of punishment is 
	something by means of which Allah instills fear in people’s hearts and 
	motivates them to give up sins and offenses.

	The sincere 
	believer is sincere to Allah in all that he does or refrains from, and is 
	motivated in his efforts to attain the sublime goal by the various rewards 
	that he may earn.

	End quote from
	Bahjat Quloob al-Abraar, p. 273

	Shaykh Ibn 
	‘Uthaymeen said:

	If his motive is 
	mostly to show devotion to Allah, then he will miss out on the perfect 
	reward, but that will not harm him, because Allah, may He be exalted, says 
	concerning the pilgrims (interpretation of the meaning):

	“There 
	is no blame upon you for seeking bounty from your Lord [during hajj]”

	[al-Baqarah 
	2:198].

	End quote.
	

	ii.
	But if worldly gain is the stronger motive, then there will 
	be no reward for him

	Shaykh Ibn 
	‘Uthaymeen said, carrying on from the words quoted above:

	If his motive is 
	mostly something other than showing devotion to Allah, then he will have no 
	reward in the hereafter; rather his reward will be what he gains in this 
	world, and I fear that he may be sinning thereby, because he has taken an 
	act of worship, which is the means of attaining the most sublime aims, and 
	has turned it into a means of attaining insignificant worldly gain. Thus he 
	is like those of whom Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

	“And 
	among them are some who criticize you concerning the [distribution of] 
	charities. If they are given from them, they approve; but if they are not 
	given from them, at once they become angry”

	[at-Tawbah 9:58].

	In as-Saheehayn, 
	it is narrated from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allah be pleased with him) 
	that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever 
	migrated for some worldly gain or in order to marry some woman, then his 
	migration was for the purpose for which he migrated.”

	iii.
	If both aims are equal, and neither out weighs the other, 
	then the matter is subject to further discussion. The more correct scholarly 
	view is that there is no reward for him; he is like one who does an act of 
	worship seeking the pleasure of Allah and of someone else.

	End quote from
	Majmoo‘ 
	Fataawa wa Rasaa’il ash-Shaykh 
	(1/99)

	in His wisdom, 
	Allah, may He be exalted, has ordained reward in this world for acts of 
	obedience, as part of the blessing of those acts of obedience, and He has 
	mentioned some of them in order to encourage his slaves to do them: 
	“Whoever 
	desires the reward of this world - then with Allah is the reward of this 
	world and the Hereafter” 
	[an-Nisa’ 4:134].

	Mention of these 
	worldly benefits of righteous deeds make one long to do such deeds and want 
	to them. By His generosity, Allah, may He be exalted, gives to those who 
	strive – if they seek His pleasure – reward in both realms: 
	“So Allah 
	gave them the reward of this world and the good reward of the Hereafter” [Aal 
	‘Imraan 3:148].

	There is no 
	blame on the one who does something for the sake of Allah, with the reward 
	of the hereafter as his main aim, and whatever reward he attains in this 
	world is a secondary matter for him. Rather blame is due on the one who does 
	not seek anything but worldly gain by doing good, or that is his main aim 
	and intention from the outset. Allah, may He be exalted, says 
	(interpretation of the meaning):

	“And when you 
	have completed your rites, remember Allah like your [previous] remembrance 
	of your fathers or with [much] greater remembrance. And among the people is 
	he who says, ‘Our Lord, give us in this world,’ and he will have in the 
	Hereafter no share.

	But among them 
	is he who says, ‘Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in 
	the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the 
	Fire’”

	[al-Baqarah 
	2:200-201].

	Some religious 
	texts offer encouragement by referring to worldly benefits, such as the 
	following verses (interpretation of the meaning):

	“And 
	said, 'Ask forgiveness of your Lord. Indeed, He is ever a Perpetual 
	Forgiver’

	He will send 
	[rain from] the sky upon you in [continuing] showers,

	And give you 
	increase in wealth and children and provide for you gardens and provide for 
	you rivers”

	[Nooh 71:10-12]

	“Whoever 
	does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer - We will 
	surely cause him to live a good life”

	[an-Nahl 16:97]

	“And 
	if only the people of the cities had believed and feared Allah , We would 
	have opened upon them blessings from the heaven and the earth”

	[al-A‘raaf 7:96].

	And the Prophet 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Follow one Hajj or ‘umrah 
	with another, for they eradicate poverty and sins as the bellows eliminate 
	the dross of iron, gold and silver; and an accepted Hajj brings no less a 
	reward than Paradise.” Narrated by Ahmad; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani.

	And he 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “The siwaak is cleansing 
	for the mouth and pleasing to the Lord.” Narrated by Ahmad (33683); classed 
	as saheeh by al-Albaani.

	There are many 
	verses and hadiths that speak of the benefits of various righteous deeds.

	Further 
	examples:

	·
	Repeatedly performing Hajj and ‘umrah with the intention of 
	being saved from poverty

	·
	Seeking forgiveness with the intention of attaining wealth 
	and sons

	·
	Saying some adhkaar so that Allah will protect one from harm

	·
	Praying Fajr in congregation so that one will be under the 
	care and protection of Allah

	·
	Being easy-going when claiming debt from one who is in 
	financial difficulty, so that Allah will make things easy for one in this 
	world

	·
	Sending blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of 
	Allah be upon him) so as to be saved from worry

	·
	Giving zakaah so that one’s wealth will increase and grow

	·
	Doing a lot of acts of worship so that Allah will take care 
	of one’s offspring after one dies

	·
	Praying for forgiveness so that one might be healed from 
	disease.

	The apparent 
	meaning of the texts indicates that a person may do a righteous deed, hoping 
	to attain some worldly benefit that results from doing that deed, because 
	the only reason Allah mentioned these worldly benefits is to encourage 
	people to do these deeds, on condition that seeking Allah’s pleasure is the 
	main motive in doing the act of obedience, and the hope of attaining these 
	worldly benefits is secondary to that. Based on the above, we may understand 
	some statements of the early generations:

	Sa‘eed ibn 
	Jubayr said: I make my prayer lengthier for the sake of this son of mine. 
	Hishaam said: (That is,) in the hope that Allah would take care of his son 
	because of that.

	End quote from
	Hilyat al-Awliyaa’ (4/279).

	Whatever the 
	case, the fact is that doing an act of worship with the sole aim of 
	attaining the reward of Allah is better and more proper, and brings a 
	greater reward, then hoping for worldly gain thereby, even if that is a 
	secondary factor.