Do Good Deeds Only For The Sake Of Allah I

According to Islam, do you have to do everything for the sake of Allah?

On the day of judgement our actions, no matter how small, will be weighed. On that day we will be hoping that we performed all our obligations and refrained from all the prohibitions as these two will seriously determine our fate. However in his mercy Allah has also provided us with further acts where we can get rewarded. These are through performing the recommending acts and avoiding the disliked acts.In this manner all our acts are covered by Islam. It is now down to the individual motivation how much they want paradise and to avoid the hellfire.

Is it permissible in Islam to just do good deeds and not pray much? How is someone who just pray but not read Quran and not know about prophets regarded?

Is it permissible in Islam to just do good deeds and not pray much? How is someone who just pray but not read Quran and not know about prophets regarded?The question is like an engineer trying to figure out what is the bare minimum requirement to meet the by-laws LOL (no offence to engineers. I am one myself). From what I understand when you mean “good deeds”, you mean stuff like helping people or being a good to others.Lets look at the question this way:Person A prays a lot, reads the Quran a lot but does not help anyonePerson B does not pray, or read the Quran etc but helps a lot of people.Who among these two is guaranteed forgiveness and by extension paradise? The simple answer is…no one. Forgiveness from Allah is granted solely on His mercy alone. No amount of prayer will help person A if Allah is not happy with him/her. Same applies to person B as well.The important question should be: how do we make Allah happy with us?First thing to know is that Allah judges any and all of our deeds based on the intention behind it. So if I picked up trash that was on the street because I wanted to be a productive member of the society then Allah will view that action differently when compared to if I had picked up the trash just to get applause from people around me.Second, we try to live a life that is according to what Allah has decreed for us. I stress on the word “try” because being humans there will be innumerable times when we wont be able to do that either knowingly or unknowingly. The key is to keep trying. Now living a life according to Allah’s way also means praying 5 times a day, fasting, reading the Quran etc.Third, when we do slip and stray from Allah’s way then we immediately repent and change our ways. Rinse and repeat this all our lives.The most important thing in all this is to remember:Allah's Messenger said that Allah said: He who comes with a good deed, its reward will be ten like that or even more. And he who comes with vice, his reward will be only one like that, or I can forgive him. He who draws close to Me a hand's span, I will draw close to him an arm's length. And whoever draws near Me an arm's length, I will draw near him a fathom's length. And whoever comes to Me walking, I will go to him running. And whoever faces Me with sins nearly as great as the earth, I will meet him with forgiveness nearly as great as that, provided he does not worship something with me. Hadith QudsiIn the end, Allah knows best. I hope this helps.

Is judging between good and evil a sin?

Perhaps you are implicitly referring to the story of Adam and Eve — i.e., Why did God tell them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden? Did he want them to remain ignorant?The answer is perhaps found by considering the story in an allegorical sense. The sin being symbolized here is the human tendency to substitute internal rationalistic judgments of right and wrong for the more accurate, divine moral insights that spring forth spontaneously from well-formed, spiritual-oriented conscience.In other words, for someone who has a holy attitude to begin with, conscience may direct us in various ways, e.g., by means of ‘a small still voice’, to act rightly. But when we are not in a holy condition of mind, we try to approach ethical/moral decisions using rationalistic arguments. When we do that, it’s like the blind leading the blind: our rationalistic arguments are prejudiced and corrupted by vain ambitions and sensual desires. So, by relying only on our own reasonings we are very likely to fall into error. Moreover, that approach feeds pride — when we should instead be humbly admitting our limitations and always seek guidance ‘from above.’In sum, then, we should always make the effort to see what’s right or wrong, (where seeing is the exercise of our innate, intuitive, divine conscience). But if by ‘judging’ we mean deciding based exclusively on rationalistic reasonings, then that indeed has the potential to get us into trouble.

Do you think God would let Muslims into heaven if Christianity was true? Would God let Christians into Heaven if Islam was correct?

Let me simplify your question first.I surmise that you wish to know as to which religious group will be allowed to enter into Paradise.Since I desist from giving my own opinion on religious issues, let us try solving this problem with the help of Qur'an. Let us see what God Himself has said in this regard.And they say, "None will enter Paradise except one who is a Jew or a Christian."This claim was made by Jews and Christians. They used to believe that only they have the right to enter Jannah. But they are rebuffed by Allah SWT for this act of theirs:That is [merely] their wishful thinking, Say, "Produce your proof, if you should be truthful."We are taught not to make irrational assumptions as to who will and will not go to Paradise. The people who have done so in the past have been called “wishful thinkers”. So instead of guessing, judge your own self with this principle, which is mentioned in the next verse:Nay, whoever submits his whole self to Allah and is a doer of good he will get his reward with his Lord; on such shall be no fear nor grieve.According to this verse, only the one who places God's command over and above his own ego or desires, and then keeps doing good deeds is deserving of an amazing reward from His Lord. The person who accepts the truth even if it leads to his embarassment, and who makes it a habit to do beautiful deeds constantly only for the sake of Allah, his reward/return awaits him in the Hereafter.So the two qualifications required to enter Paradise are:Aslama wajhahu lillahi: submissive to Allah's call, andMuhsinun: doer of beautiful deeds.Anyone having these two qualities would be permitted into Paradise, if Allah wills.I hope to have answered your query.Al-Quran Surah 2. Al-Baqara, Ayah 112