Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 145
Socio-economic Peace 145 God or to win public favour. According to this verse, one cannot entertain both intentions simultaneously. When the refined faithful servant of God tells the needy that his intentions were indeed to please God, it also reminds him at the same time that God is his real benefactor. So whatever inferiority complex may have been born is wiped out. No Human Reward for Favours In Islam, to be courteous to others should not be a superficial habit acquired out of values of civilization but should be deeply rooted in the belief in God. All alms given to the needy should be given without any ulterior motive of getting any return from the recipient. Bestow not favours seeking to get more in return. 9 Once a favour is shown to anyone, Islam would require him to forget it, as if nothing had happened. To exult over one’s act of goodness and to rub in one’s favours are declared suicidal and self-annihilatory to the very act of goodness. On the contrary, the true believer behaves as described in the following verses, which compare the correct behaviour with the incorrect one most comprehensively: