Re: Good Non-Muslim People
I am sure some atheists and some believers do good deeds exactly for the reasons you list.
But there are also atheists who do good and believers who do good just to help the person in need, without any other motive.
The way I see it is:
When Atheist helps a beggar => beggar benefits + atheist feels good When Believer helps a beggar => beggar benefits + believer feels good + God approves (in the believer's mind ofcourse)
And then there may be believers who may do a good deed not so that the beggar benefits or he feels good but only because he thinks god wants him too.
In all cases the irony is the net result is the same.
When an athiest intends to help a beggar, he does it with the intention that he is helping the beggar whereas he is only helping his own sense of good feeling.
When a believer intends to help a beggar he does so thinking God is helping the beggar through him and that he should humble himself in this act of giving.
The good feeling in the athiest is one of arrogance, the good feeling in the believer is spiritual joy and will get a reward in the hereafter.
Now a believer gets his reward from God in the hereafter because his intention was to gain God's mercy and happiness by doing good, the athiest on the other hand denies the existence of God all his life but if he expects from God to recognise and count his good deeds when meeting Him at the Day of Judgement then this would be an injustice to those believers.
Also when a non muslim becomes a believer all his previous sins are washed away and all his previous good deeds and following ones will be counted in the hereafter.
Not in the mind of the believer but according to Qur'an and Sunnah.