علم و دین فرهنگستان جهانی مطالعات تطبیقی در علم و دین، عرفان ناب اسلامی، علم و دین، عرفان مقربین، علم، دین، حکمت ناب شیعی، استاد علوی، علم و دین
In the social media these days, many question the relationship between outer appearance and inner intent of human behavior.
Some refer to versus from Quran and quotes from saints that inner intents are more important than outer appearance and visible actions. This argument is made by those who lack the will and desire to act on prayers and worships to justify their laziness and hypocrisy that their heart is clean and their inner intents are virtuous. Such talk is to knock down pious and active believers with ridicule to confirm their own hypocritical characters.
It is true that what is absorbed and retained by the heart is more important and is the main parameter for judgement by God, but unless actions and outer appearance don’t conform to the inner intent, one cannot make sure that his behavior match his actions, and his actions match his words, and his words match his thoughts, and his thoughts match his intent, and his intent match his belief.
If outer appearance and action is in obvious contradiction to correct and true belief, then diffidently the belief was not settled correctly in the heart. Therefore, claiming that what is in ones heart is correct and true belief with no need for action or outer appearance is a fallacy and hypocrisy to justify their bad behavior and lack of good intended actions.
Paying respect to the Sanctuary of Imams
One obvious example of this fallacy is argument made to justify not visiting the sanctuary of Imams and paying visitation to the cemetery to pray and pay respect for the desists. Many say that my passed away father is in my heart and I don’t need to make the effort to travel or physically move toward his grave to pray for him. In addition, why do I have to spend money and time to travel and physically attend the sanctuary of Imams when the intent is to remember and respect them by heart. The answer to this argument is that how can you confirm and make sure that your intents are clean and true. If you are not willing to make the effort and show action, how do you know that you truly love and respect the ones you claim to remember by heart. Therefore, physically distancing ourselves from our comfort zone and taking the time to move away from all our busy life and make this visitation a priority in our heart and mind to travel and visit these sites, gives us the chance to ponder and think more to evaluate and reassess our intentions, therefore truly remembering and respecting them by heart. In addition, who knows, maybe on the way we may learn many things about our true thought and beliefs and intents.
What about the Quotes?
Finally, It is true that “God will look into your heart and not your actions (ان الله ینظر الا قلوبکم و لاینظر الا اعمالکم)” for judgement, but this quote is to confirm that “the value of actions depend on intents (“ان الاعمال بالنیات”)”, however, we have to keep in mind this quote as well that “the outer appearance is always a sign of the true inner intent (“الظاهر عنوان الباطن”)”
More information in Farsi can be found here.
