It is of course important and excellent for someone to be known in the community for “being good and having a pure heart.” However, basing oneself on the importance in society of “having a pure heart” and then saying, “I do no harm to anyone, and even help them on occasion, when necessary,” does not mean that one is fully living by the moral values of the Qur’an. In addition, thinking in that way is nothing more than self-deception.  An act or an attitude that is accepted as a good deed by a society remote from the Quran’ic morality, although it is not based upon the Qur'an's values, may not be worthy in Allah's sight. The main criterion that renders a deed good and worthy in His sight is the degree of its conformity with Allah’s good pleasure. The following verses are quite explanatory:

Do you make the giving of water to the pilgrims and looking after the Masjid al-Haram the same as having iman in Allah and the Last Day and doing jihad in the Way of Allah? They are not equal in the sight of Allah. Allah does not guide wrongdoing people. (Surat At-Tawba, 19)

It is not devoutness to turn your faces to the East or to the West. Rather, those with true devoutness are those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, the Angels, the Book and the Prophets, and who, despite their love for it, give away their wealth to their relatives and to orphans and the very poor, and to travellers and beggars and to set slaves free, and who establish prayer and pay alms; those who honour their contracts when they make them, and are steadfast in poverty and illness and in battle. Those are the people who are true. They are the people who guard against evil. (Surat Al-Bakara, 177)

Allah’s Approval and Fear of Him Are The Bases of Qur’anic Moral Values

The Basis of the Moral Values of the Quran is the Approval and Fear of Allah

People may be known as “good” by giving food to animals they see in the street or getting along well with their neighbors. And this is of course good behavior. But the way to avoid eternal suffering in Hell, the way to attain the approval and mercy of Allah, lies not in being known as “a good person,” but in being a true believer in the manner described by Allah in the Qur’an.

As stated at the outset, there can be no question of someone who fails to fully submit to our Almighty Lord and to abide by the requirements of Islamic moral values having “purity of heart.” Those who live by the logic of “my heart is pure, so there is no need for me to completely adhere to the requirements of religious moral values” and who persist in that way of thinking may imagine that they thus deceive other people, but they are in fact only deceiving themselves. Saying such a thing is the mistaken mentality of someone who avoids fully adhering to the moral requirements of the Qur’an and who seeks to portray a mistaken lifestyle as being a Muslim one. Such insincere attitudes can never be acceptable. Because Allah is He Who knows what lies concealed in people’s hearts. We are told in one verse from the Qur’an that, …Allah knows what your hearts contain. (Surah Al ‘Imran, 119)

Living by Qur’anic moral values bestows freedom from worldly values and all forms of dependence felt towards other people. A believer with such moral values seeks the approval of Allah, not that of other people. He fears Allah alone and knows that all things are under His control. Fear leads him to scrupulously adhere to the bounds set by Allah and silences all excuses proffered by worldly desires. The awed respect felt for Allah and the sincere efforts made to attain His approval are the basis of Qur’anic moral values. Almighty Allah has revealed this as follows:

Who is better: someone who founds his building on fear of Allah and His good pleasure, or someone who founds his building on the brink of a crumbling precipice so that it collapses with him into the Fire of Hell? Allah does not love wrongdoers. (Surat At-Tawba, 109)