Actions and Intentions

[Ms DD]

Salaam Aleykum

 

It is narrated on the authority of Amirul Mu'minin, Abu Hafs 'Umar bin al-Khattab, radiyallahu 'anhu, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, say:

"Actions are (judged) by motives (niyyah), so each man will have what he intended. Thus, he whose migration (hijrah) was to Allah and His Messenger, his migration is to Allah and His Messenger; but he whose migration was for some worldly thing he might gain, or for a wife he might marry, his migration is to that for which he migrated."

[Al-Bukhari & Muslim]

 

 

This hadith was said by the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, at the time when a man emigrated from Makkah to Madinah during the Hijrah for the sake of marrying someone and not for the sake of Islam.

 

It is considered to be one of the greatest hadiths in Islam.

Al-Imam al-Shafie said: This Hadith is one third of the knowledge of Islam; related to about 70 topics of Fiqh.

 

Al-Imam Ahmad (with reference to al-Imam al-Shafie's statement) said: Islam is based on three fundamentals (all are among the 40 hadiths ):

 

Hadith 1: which is stated above.

Hadith 5: "Whosoever introduces into this affair of ours (i.e. Islam) something that does not belong to it, it is to be rejected."

Hadith 6: "Truly, what is lawful is evident, and what is unlawful is evident, and in between the two are matters which are doubtful which many people do not know……"

These three hadiths are agreed upon by Al-Bukhari and Muslim.

 

These hadiths can be seen as three criteria to help Muslims evaluate and judge what they do and say "as an ibadah" in their daily life:

 

Hadith 1 - To evaluate and judge our internal actions (actions of the heart).

Hadith 5 - To evaluate and judge our external actions (actions of the limbs).

Hadith 6 - To evaluate and judge our dealings "mu'amalat" (interaction between people).

Niyyah (intention) has two meanings:

 

The intention before an ibadah (e.g. prayer)

The willingness

The second meaning (ii.) is what is meant in this hadith.

 

This hadith emphasises ikhlas (sincerity - to be truthful and honest to Allah alone, performing an act solely for Allah's sake whereby no other witness except Allah is sought). Ikhlas is one of the conditions of accepting good deeds. The other condition is that the actions must be done in accordance with the Shariah as it will be explained in the fifth hadith.

 

This can be seen in the shahadah :

"I bear witness that there is no god but Allah" is the ikhlas - ensuring that we do things for the sake of Allah and Allah alone.

"I bear witness that Mohammed is the Messenger of Allah" - the Sunnah is the manifestation of the Quran - the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, is our example, our best model to follow. Following his Sunnah in our ibadah, Akhlaq (ethics), and Muamalat (dealings) ensures that we are acting in accordance with the Shariah.

Thus, the shahadah shows us the conditions for accepting a deed or performing an action: (a) it should be for the sake of Allah because He is the only One we worship, and (b) it should be in accordance with the Shariah.

 

To achieve ikhlas, we have to avoid shirk (associating others with Allah, which causes insincerity). Al-Imam al-Harawi said the root cause for insincerity (or shirk) is self-desire (al-hawa). Therefore no action should be done because of self-desire.

Imam al-Harawi states that there are 7 types of self-desires:-

 

To make oneself appear good in the hearts of others

To seek the praises of others

To avoid being blamed by others

To seek the glorification of others

To seek the wealth/money of others

To seek the services or love of others

To seek the help of others for oneself

Ways to obtain ikhlas:

Do righteous deeds - the more good deeds we do and hence get closer to Allah, the more sincere we will be.

Before we do any deed we should firstly seek knowledge (ilm) - our actions/deeds should be guided by knowledge so that we do them in accordance to the Shariah.

Do not give false impressions - do not make others believe that an action we did was good when it was not.

Al-Imam Ahmad said: Before you do anything, check your intention (niyyah) - ask yourself before performing an action: "Is it for the sake of Allah?"

There are four things that contradict ikhlas:

 

Ma'siat - committing sins - this will weaken our ikhlas

Shirk - associating others with Allah

Riya' - performing an ibadah with the intention of showing off to others

Nifaq - hypocrisy

Even though we must always make sure that our actions do not deviate from ikhlas, there are actions, which are automatically considered that of good intentions. For example, seeking knowledge in Islam, helping the community, doing da'wah, etc.

 

Conclusion

Our actions are undermined by our intentions - whether they are good intentions or bad intentions. Therefore we should always check our intentions before we do or say anything. We must make sure that the action is for the sake of Allah so that it is accepted by Allah and that we will be rewarded for it, insha Allah.

 

Allah (swt) knows best

[xiinfaniin]

Right on yaa Cambarro…

 

Actions depend on intentions, and there lies the effectiveness of religious duties! Without good intentions, one’s deeds render its result quite worthless in the Allah’s divine scale! The beauty of Islamic justice really lies in the essence that people are judged based on what they intended to do, and not solely what they did.

 

A very good reminder yours is yaa Cambarro…always remember the power of good intent!

[Ms DD]

To make oneself appear good in the hearts of others

To seek the praises of others

To avoid being blamed by others

To seek the glorification of others

To seek the wealth/money of others

To seek the services or love of others

To seek the help of others for oneself

Above almost stops me doing a good deed. I guess it is the sheytan whispering into my ear and i must overcome that. Nafta wey jeceshahay in la faaniyo and to tame it could be difficult.

[umu zakaria]

I have to admitt, alot of times i question my intensions, am i really doing this to gain that or is it solely for Allahs sake.

 

The other day i was with cristian neighbour and she curiously asked me how i felt about polygamy in islam and asked dont u resent even a bit? i had admitt u woman dont celebrate being a co wife but at the same time tried to showcase the merits. It is Allah who permitted and we aint smarter so for our own good we got sacrifice but again i felt i had a mixed feeling of resentment which is not intertained in islam and abodeince, just except Allahs command and work it out.

 

How do you feel about polygamy? isnt it better for us woman to let men marry willingly if they can and just work hard for the here after?

[Ameen]

Mash'Allah Cambarro,that was very well said and writen. There are alot of lessons that can be extracted from your post so may Allah reward you and us and guide us all to the straight path, ameen.

 

And Allah knows best