﴿ مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةَ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتَهَا نُوَفِّ إِلَيْهِمْ أَعْمَٰلَهُمْ فِيهَا وَهُمْ فِيهَا لَا يُبْخَسُونَ ﴾

“AS FOR THOSE who care for [no more than] the life of this world and its bounties -We shall repay them in full for all that they did in this [life], and they, shall not be deprived of their just due therein:”

He who desires the life of this world and its adornment, We shall repay them their deeds...Whoever aspires by his actions (ʿamal) to [attain] something other than God, will be granted by God the reward of his actions in this world, but there will remain nothing for him in the Hereafter. For such a person does not devote his actions purely to God, due to his desire for [having] a position in this world. If he but knew that God has placed the world and its people at the service of those who desire the Hereafter, he would not be ostentatious about his acts.Sahl was asked, �What is the hardest thing for the lower self (nafs)?� He replied, �Sincerity (ikhlāṣ).� He was asked why this was so, and he said, �It is because the lower self cannot have a share in it.� He was asked, �Does ostentation (riyāʾ) penetrate the obligatory acts?� He replied:Yes, it may even penetrate faith, which is at the root of obligatory acts, so that [faith itself] is falsified and becomes hypocrisy. So how then will the acts be? Anyone whose outward conduct is not found fault with by a single person but whose real state in his inner self God knows to be the contrary, is being ostentatious without a doubt. His words, Exalted is He: