How does a person know that his acts of 'ibaadah are helping him to achieve taqwa? To develop taqwa, one must fulfill the
following conditions:-
1. Ikhlaas, sincere intention that the act is performed
purely for the pleasure of Allah, out of love for Him,
while hoping for His reward and mercy, as well as
fearing His anger and punishment if He is disobeyed.
2. To do the deed in accordance with the authentic
Sunnah. To have the necessary knowledge of the
'ibaadah that is being performed. To know how the
Prophet performed the action and proper times for the performance of that action. Concerning Ikhlaas (sincerity), it must be present both before and after performing the deed, with no riyaa(showing off) or sum'ah (doing things to be seen or heard by
people). For instance, after doing a good deed, someone tells others, "Look at all the good I have been doing ", or "I'm such a marvelous person because I do such and such".
This formula, if used to achieve taqwa, is scientific, in that if you follow it, while fulfilling all of its conditions and their rights, you will achieve taqwa Insha Allah.
