Sincerity

Sincerity is the freeing of one's intentions from all impurities in order to come nearer to Allah. it is to ensure that the intentions behind all acts of worship and obedience to Allah are exclusively for His pleasure. It is the perpetual contemplation of the Creator, to the extent that one forgets the creation.

Sincerity is a condition for Allah's acceptance of good deeds performed in accordance with the sunnah of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and gran him peace. Allah has commanded this in the Qur'an:

"And they have been commanded to worship only Allah, being sincere towards Him in their deen and true." (Qur'an 98:5)

A servant can only free himself from shaytaan through sincere devotion, for Allah tells us in the Qur'an that Iblis said to Him:

"Except those of Your servants who are sincere." (Qur'an 38:33)

In fact, devotion is the purifying of the heart from all impurities, so that the intention of drawing nearer to Allah is freed from all other motives, except for seeking His pleasure.

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The remedy for love of this world is to break the worldly desires of the self, ending its greed for this world and purifying it in preparation for the next world. This will then become the state of the heart and sincere devotion will become easier to attain. 

Taken from "The Purification of the Soul",  compiled from the works of Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya, and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali.