and dismisses it simply out of ignorance, he is in fact rejecting what his ear takes no pleasure in hearing. In the same vein, a munkar hadith, in the view of the hadith scholars, is a report they have never previously heard in a way that would allow them to delight in its soundness and truthfulness; when they do encounter it, they repudiate it once they have perceived it.
The point here is that loving these virtuous deeds is not blameworthy but praiseworthy. Whoever performs them out of such love is neither censured nor punished, nor should it be said of him that he has acted for other than Allah, thereby placing him alongside the ostentatious worshiper or the polytheist—that is the condemned form of shirk.
As for the one who does them solely because of an innate affection, he is no polytheist, yet he is not—by that alone—drawing near to Allah so as to deserve the reward granted to those who act purely for His sake and worship Him. Still, Allah may recompense him in various ways: He may increase those deeds and their like so that the person enjoys them in this world. This is why a disbeliever is repaid for his good deeds here below, even though he did not seek closeness to Allah through them. If every good act not performed for Allah were blameworthy and deserving of punishment, the disbeliever would never enjoy any fruit of his good works in this life; they would count only as sins. Yet because he does in fact delight in them and is provided through them in this world, one of the benefits, fruits, and rewards of such deeds here is that Allah may guide him to seek nearness to Him through them, whereupon he will earn an even greater reward for them in the Hereafter.
This is what some of the early Muslims meant when they said, “We sought knowledge for other than Allah, but it refused to be for anyone but Allah.” Likewise, when another was told, “They study hadith without any intention,” he replied, “Their very study is an intention,” meaning that the mere act of seeking it is itself a praiseworthy deed that benefits them. These remarks relate especially to knowledge, for knowledge is the guiding signpost: when a person pursues it out of love and attains it, it acquaints him with sincerity toward Allah and with acting for His sake.
For the same reason someone else said: “It belongs to the first reflection that serves as a prelude to recognition; for purpose and intention depend on knowing the One who is intended. If a person has not yet come to know Him, how can he seek closeness to Him? When he reflects—whether out of love or otherwise—and thereby learns of the One who is worshipped and sought, then and only then is it valid for him to worship and intend Him.” The same holds for sincerity: how can someone be sincere who does not yet know what sincerity is? If the quest for the knowledge of sincerity could occur only through sincerity itself, a vicious circle would ensue, for knowledge precedes resolve and intention—whether the intention concerns sincerity or anything else—and no will or purpose can be formed until knowledge has first been acquired.
Accordingly, what Imam Ahmad related about himself is commendable; it is the state of praiseworthy, upright souls.