The intention of a person is not his
utterance of the words, "I intend to do so and so." It is an overflowing from
the heart which runs like conquests inspired by Allah. At times it is made easy, at other
times, difficult. A person whose heart is overwhelmingly righteous finds it easy to summon
good intentions at most times. Such a person has a heart generally inclined to the roots
of goodness which, most of the time, blossom into the manifestation of good actions. As
for those whose hearts inclide towards and are overwhelmed by worldy matters, they find
this difficult to accomplish and even obligatory acts of worship may become difficult and
tiresome.
The Prophet 
said: "Actions are only by intention, and every man shall only have what
he intended. Thus he whose hijra was for Allah and was for Allah and His Messenger, his
hijra was for Allah and His Messenger, and he whose hijra was to achieve some worldly
benefit or to take some woman in marriage, his hijra was for that for which he made
hijra."(1) Imam ash-Shaf'i said: "This hadith is a third of all knowledge."
The words, "actions are only by intention", mean that deeds which are performed
in accordance with the sunnah are only acceptable and rewarded if the intentions behind
them were sincere. It is like the saying of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, "Actions depend upon their outcome."(2)
Likewise, the words, "every man shall only have
what he intended", mean that the reward for an action depends upon the intention
behind it. After stating this principle, the Prophet gave examples of it by saying, "thus he the Prophet gave examples of it by saying, "Thus he
whose hijra was for Allah and His Messenger, his hijra was for Allah and His Messenger,
and he whose hijra was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman I nmarriage,
his hira was for that for which he made hijra." So deeds which are apparently
identitcal may differ, because the intentions behind them are different in degrees of
goodness and badness, from one person to another.
Good intentions do not change the nature of
forbidden actions. The ignorant should not misconstrue the meaning of the hadith and think
that good intentions could turn forbidden actions into acceptable ones. The above saying
of the Prophet specifically relattes to
acts of worship and permissible actions, not to forbidden ones. Worship and permissible
actions can be turned into forbidden ones because of the intentions behind them, and
permissible actions can become either good or bad deeds by intention; but wrong actions
cannot become acts of worship, even with good intentions.(3) When bad intentsions are
accompanied by flaws in the actions themselves, then their gravity and punishment are
multiplied. Any praiseworthy act must be rooted in sound intentions; only then could it be
deemed worthy of reward. The fundamental principle should be that the act is intended for
the worship of Allah alone. If our intention is to show off,then these same acts of
worship will in fact become acts of disobedience. As for permissible deeds, they all
involve intentions -- which can potenitally turn them into excellent acts which bring a
man nearer to Allah and confer on him the gift of closeness to Him.
The Excellence of Intention
Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him,
said: The best acts are doing what Allah has commanded, staying for away from what Allah
has forbidden, and having sincere intentions towards what-ever Allah has required of
us."(4)
Some of our predecessors said: "Many small
actions are made great by the intentions behind them. Many great actions, on the other
hand, are made small because the intentions behind them are lacking."
Yahya Ibn Abu Kathir said: "Learn about
intentions, for their importance is greater than the importance of actions."
Ibn Umar once heard a man who was putting on his
ihram say: "O Allah! I intend to do the Hajj and Umrah." So he said to him:
"Is it not in fact the people whom you are informing of your intention? Does not
Allah already know what is in your heart?"(5) It is because good intentions are
exclusively the concern of the heart, that they should not be voiced during worship.
Purifying the Soul - The Nature of Intention
