وما اسالكم عليه من اجر ان اجري الا على رب العالمين

وَمَآ أَسْـَٔلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ أَجْرٍ ۖ إِنْ أَجْرِىَ إِلَّا عَلَىٰ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ

In the Name of Allaah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate,

Doing everything for the sake of Allah.

I have attached the same words but in different ayats in Surah Ash Shu’ara (The Poets). You can find these words throughout the Qur’an. However, for me they were very noticeable because of their quick repetition after each story in this Surah. 

In this Surah, Allah tells us of the story of Musa  Alahis salaam and then other Prophets (pbut); Ibrahim Alahis salaam, Nuh (AS), Hud (AS), Salih (AS), Lut (AS) and Shuaib (AS). The stories appear one after another, but all the Prophets here say the same thing:

'I do not ask you for any reward for this ˹message˺. My reward is only from the Lord of all worlds.'

All the prophets peace and blessings be upon them all, never looked at reward from any person, their works were not so they receive praise and reward from anyone. They were clear on their mission - to call people to Islam and seek the reward from Allaah alone.  They were sincere. 

The repetition of these words, makes me feel that we must be sincere when doing works for the sake of Allaah. We should not be doing it for anything else but Allah. We should not be motivated by praise or acknowledgement from others, but we should look at the bigger and everlasting picture.  No work done for the sake of Allah is too little. 

If people are not thankful or praising that you have helped them, don’t let that ever upset you, but do it for Allah who never lets the works of the righteous go in vain. You are helping yourself too by assisting
others. He knows, He sees.  Remember why you are doing what you are doing. Each act we do, it should be to win His pleasure and attain the everlasting reward from Him.

Truly, this will allow us to lead more better and fulfilling lives carrying little expectation from others but reserving the best expectation from the Lord of the Worlds.

May our intentions always be sincere. Ameen.

Reflexiones.: Ash-Shuará 26:109