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Question: Do we need to determine whether a beggar is genuinely needy before giving him/ her Sadaqah?

Both the Ahadith and the Qur'an teach us to be kind to the poor and needy, and help beggars. "..Do not treat the orphan with harshness, nor drive the beggar away" (93:9-10). However, nowadays people often dismiss beggars without giving them anything, giving the reasoning that the beggars are either drug addicts, part of a mafia gang, just pretending to be needy, or will use the money for buying things they don't really need. This situation is very confusing for me, as it compels me to think that the Qur'an does not tell us to distinguish between beggars which are genuinely needy and beggars which are just pretending and give Sadaqah  to only the ones which are genuinely needy. My question is: should we just give sadaqah to every beggar or needy person we come across or first determine that he/she is not part of a mafia gang, not pretending, or not a drug addict and then give him/her something? (Question by Zainab Salman)
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Question: What should be the intention of doing a good action?

The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said that 'Actions are judged by intentions.' This made me wonder that what should be the intention for doing a good deed? Should we do something good because it is something good and we should be doing it; because Allah wants us to do that thing, or because doing that thing will lead us to Jannah? I was also thinking, that isn't it a bit selfish and greedy to do something good just for the sake of going to heaven? It also made me think that if there was no concept of Jannat and Jahannum, should we still be doing good deeds?  Should we as Muslims think of Jannah as an additional reward we will get if we do good actions, or as the sole purpose  of doing good actions? I mean, shouldn't we be doing something good because that's what Allah wants us to do and ultimately, because it's the best thing for us? (Question by Zainab Salman)
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