why do we do good deeds
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Peace,
Respectfully.Isn't a Muslim a believer?
What is the difference between the two?
Afterall, both of them are doing good deeds, which is why both of them will end up in Paradise, therefore a Muslim is a Believer - one person.Correct?
Glory be to our God.
Peace. -
Hi Br?s
A Muslim is one who surrenders because of repercussions or compulsion (see 4914 and 4915)
A believer is one who doesn't have doubts- he knows that good will ultimately produce the right result he doesn't need compulsion.
A hypocrite whose looks are that of a believer but is full of cunning deceit.So there are believers, non believers, Hypocrites and Muslim in all societies, I would say.
God Bless.
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peace to all
i've been talking to people about doing good deeds and people have different opinions about why we should do them. some say they do it so we can go to heaven, some say we should do it because it's the right thing to do...
basic idea is, we should not do them in order to get something, because that would be selfish.
one of them made a good point when he asked me why do study at school, to get better grades so i'll pass the class or to learn something?
and i used to think i should do good deeds so i'll get a reward in the next life, then i thought that might be wrong and that i'm not doing it for the right reasons. (right now i'm leaning more towards the idea of doing it because it's right)i'd like to hear your thoughts on the subject, please )
should we do it for a reward in the afterlife? or to feel closer to God? or just because it's the right thing to do? why should we do it at all? basically, is it wrong to expect something?
I pray I will go to heaven, but that is not the reason I do good deeds. I believe that if I found out today there was no heaven, I would not choose to start doing evil because of that. I do good deeds because it is the right thing to do... because my parents taught me to do good deeds and I had excellent examples as a child of how to be kind to others. It's a big part of who I became as an adult. Sure, I think I became a better human being when I found Islam, but the core of my beliefs to do good deeds came from my upbringing... for me it is always the right thing to do and heaven is a merciful bonus... thanks God!
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peace to all )
thanks for all the replies.
A Muslim is one who surrenders because of repercussions or compulsion (see 4914 and 4915)
A believer is one who doesn't have doubts- he knows that good will ultimately produce the right result he doesn't need compulsion.
So there are believers, non believers, Hypocrites and Muslim in all societies, I would say.although, don't you think that muslims and believers can be the same, muslims who surrenders to God by doing good because it's the right thing to do?
Imagine this
English teacher (somewhere) says to her students that they must learn English in order to get good grades and therefore have access to people who speak English.
Teacher - let's call her Laura - tells them they will be given a test. Piece of paper with questions and some exmplaes. If they pass, they will get a reward - acces to English speaking countries like UK, USA and Australia. If they fail the test, she will punish them with keeping them here in this coutry where they will always watch the beauiful world outside only on TV.
She is nice and she says, okay, if you fail, i'll give you same test over and over again until you pass. She's very nice and she gives them more tests, lots of easy tests so that they pass, her goal is to send them to those English speaking countries.Of course, some students are happy being in this country and they say not only are they not interested in going out into the Beatiful World, they don't even believe that the beautiful world exists. She smiles at this and simply leaves them alone. She could've thrown them out the window (reminder she teaches on the 456th floor of a really tall building!) but she didn't, because she is nice.
She sees that there are some students who are trying their best and sweating from working, from learning new words, memorizing them and they always come to the class on time.
Bell rings! It's over! Class has finished! School is over!!!
Now, they all go outside and she steps in front of them all.
laura"Today, you will be rewarded for what you earned in this school. You (students who studied every single day and achived good grades) will get US, UK and Australia passports. You (students who were lazy, didn't study and achived nothing) will stay here.i don't think that's a good example, i for one studied a lot of things when i was at school, and yes i passed the class but i learned nothing, i forgot it as fast as i learned it, because i didn't care or pay attention to what i was reading and memorizing, i did it to pass the class, not to learn something, so in a way... i failed.
Do good deeds simply because
God is our Lord and He has commanded us to do it )hmm, is that really how God wants us to do good? by COMMANDING us to do it? i don't know, then in most cases it wouldn't be sincere, people would do it because they HAVE TO not because they want to.
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i don't think that's a good example, i for one studied a lot of things when i was at school, and yes i passed the class but i learned nothing, i forgot it as fast as i learned it, because i didn't care or pay attention to what i was reading and memorizing, i did it to pass the class, not to learn something, so in a way... i failed.
Peace,
Respectfully.You studied a lot of things, you learned them, kept the knowledge and now that you have this knowledge, you're a different person.
Peace.
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We do good for self-interest and we should do good for self-interest, which includes the promotion of one's genes. Furthermore, we define the concept of "good" according to our self-interest and the range and depth of our good deed is proportional to our intelligence. Studies demonstrate that the more intelligent a species is the longer they can delay gratification for more benefit. Monkeys do better than birds, and we do better than monkeys.
See the following articles (I could not find the the most relevant article at the Science Magazine which I read last year, though)
http//www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051025080057.htm
http//www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9898270Thus, humans sacrifice in their youth to get some benefits when they are retired. We care more about our family members since we expect care by them first, then we care about our relatives, neighbors etc. No wonder, the level of our care is proportional to the proximity of the subject of the care and the probability of return. The smartest people care about environment since the long term interest involves the well being of the planet, including plants, insects and the rest of the echo system.
God created us via a very ingeniously designed assembly line called the survival of the fittest, which has so far produced homo sapien as the top of the food chain. Thus, through our potential intelligence which has accumulated in our genes and through our active live intelligence, we can calculate and negotiate our individualistic and social tendencies and behavior to obtain optimum advantage according to the changing circumstances. In other wourds, our ethics is consequential. Though it is flattering for our ego to subscribe to the so-called virtue ethics or deontological ethics, I personally find them to be the disguised version of consequentialism. As our emotions are canned responses learned from painful experiences including our ancestors, they have still reason (self interest) behind them. Thus, emotions are useful, and yet risky responses since they are well calculated to fit exactly to the stimuli, it is preferred when timely response is more important than precision. Doing good just because it is virtuous or duty works opposite to emotions; the time element and the individualistic consequences are almost ignored in such frame of mind. However, a virtuous or dutiful person cannot deny the fact that he or she knows that his or her act will benefit people and indirectly his or her well being.
God knows our nature, so throughout his books, He shows us both carrots (heavens) and stick (hell).
I recommend you reading, How Much Muslim Are You?
http//19.org/index.php?id=14,44,0,0,1,0
Peace,
Edip -
Peace
I do good deeds to build myself up, also because I need it to settle in the abode I should like to have, but then again someone might choose to abide in a totally opposite abode and bring the necessary material with them.
Not sure you can argue about "selfish" because we do have to meet our needs no matter who we are and perhaps that is being selfish to deny oneself the provisions for one's needs.
Joe
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hmm, is that really how God wants us to do good? by COMMANDING us to do it? i don't know, then in most cases it wouldn't be sincere, people would do it because they HAVE TO not because they want to.
What about, i WANT TO do what i have to do as God's believer/creation/servant...
simply because it is our duty to do good deeds?I'm just offering another different perspective... )
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Do good deeds simply because
God is our Lord and He has commanded us to do it )Peace,
Respectfully.Yes, thank you, good point sister, very good point.
The Exalted God AllPowerful has commanded us to do good deeds and The Exalted God The Most Merciful knows the outcome of such deeds, therefore listen to The Exalted God The Most Wise, He knows what He, The Most High, is doing.The Exalted God The Eternal and Supreme and The Only Cretaor, lives His Etrenal Existance outside Time and is not affected by Time, so, He is giving us very good advice here do good and you'll be provided for. You won't miss a thing. God willing.
Glory be to our God.
Peace.