Hassan Minhas, Missionary, Canada
One common challenge posed by atheists to theists is this: when a religious person performs a good deed, they do so for God and His pleasure, and thus there is an incentive behind their action. By contrast, atheists often claim they perform good deeds purely for their own sake, without seeking any external reward or incentive.
At first glance, this seems to grant the atheist the moral high ground: they appear selfless, while the theist appears motivated by a heavenly bargain.
However, Friedrich Nietzsche, in aphorism 57 of his work Human, All Too Human, challenges this very assumption. (Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits, 1924, p. 75)
Nietzsche’s perspective
Nietzsche observes that even when a person believes they are acting selflessly, their action is always tied to a desire, an inclination or a longing within themselves.
For example, a mother who sacrifices her health and comfort for her child is not acting without motive; rather, her love and desire for her child’s well-being is the motive. The soldier who risks his life in battle is moved by his desire for victory and honour. Even the most selfless act is rooted in a human want or longing.
From this perspective, the atheists’ claim of pure selflessness collapses. Nietzsche reveals that no act is free of desire. The desire may not be material, but it exists nonetheless: the desire for meaning, for love, for belonging, for peace of mind or even the satisfaction of living according to one’s ideals.
Thus, the atheist who says, “do good purely for goodness’ sake” is in reality still acting out of a personal desire – the desire to be good, to feel good or to uphold a value.
All actions spring from desires
Consider a practical example: when an atheist donates to charity, they may believe they act without incentive. Yet they still feel satisfaction, pride or peace of conscience afterward. This is itself the hidden desire that drives the act. The same principle applies across all so-called selfless deeds.
For the theist, then, doing good for the sake of God is not a lower motivation but rather the highest expression of this universal human truth. The believer acknowledges openly what the atheist denies: that all actions spring from desires.
That is why, according to Prophet Muhammadsa, our rewards are dependent on these very desires (or in other terms, intentions):
“The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab bad al-wahy, Hadith 1)
When one considers that Imam Bukharirh decided to place this hadith at the very beginning of his collection, it becomes clear that all the following narrations, whether they deal with deeds or words, are bound by that very first narration, where intention is the key ingredient.
Hence, a true believer directs this desire not toward fleeting earthly satisfactions; rather toward the Eternal – God and His pleasure.
If the atheist is moved by a hidden desire for personal satisfaction in being moral, the theist is moved by a transcendent desire for divine nearness. Both are motivated, but the object of the theist’s desire carries eternal weight.
Therefore, when atheists argue that religious morality is tainted by incentive while theirs is not, Nietzsche’s insight shows this to be a flawed argument.
The object of desire
Everyone acts from desire. The question is not whether desire exists, but what it is directed toward.
The believer directs it toward God, the highest good, and this does not diminish morality but elevates it beyond the narrow scope of human ego. This is precisely in accordance with the teachings of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas, the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi, who said:
“Those people whose deeds are solely for the sake of Allah do not allow for their deeds to be seen by others. It is these who are the righteous […] A righteous person wars with their inner self that incites to evil in order to veil and conceal their good deeds […] A truly righteous person desires to remain hidden […] In this relation, I have stated above the example of ostentation, which must be fought against by a righteous person throughout the day.” (Malfuzat [English], Vol. 1, 2018, pp. 21-22)
“It is my faith and belief that until a person becomes a true believer, their acts of virtue, irrespective of how magnificent they may be, cannot be free from the gild of ostentation.” (Ibid., p. 220)
Similarly, this matter was addressed by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa in his Friday Sermon on 24 April 2015, in which he explained that giving primacy to worldly values without spiritual grounding leads to moral decay, as can be seen from the Western world which is morally bankrupt.
Thus, morality without God is not free of incentive – it is only incentive without transcendence.