Intentions are called the “trade of the scholars”. This is because scholars have great knowledge in Islam, so before every action they do, they intend to do it for the sake of Allah, and by that they get rewarded for it. Their habits becomes acts of worships, while for many of us, our acts of worship become like habits. If we adjust our intentions before doing many everyday actions, we can get rewarded for them. We can even be rewarded for eating or going to sleep!!!
The prophet (Prayer and Peace of Allah be upon him) said, “Verily actions are but by intentions, and every person shall have (be rewarded for) what they intended” [Reported in Bukhari & Muslim]
Maximising the intentions is the trade of the hearts of the sahabah (May Allah be pleased with them) and the scholars, and those who know Allah very well. They used to carry out one action whilst having many intentions behind this action, so that they are rewarded abundantly for every intention. It is due to this that Ibn Kathir said, “The intention reaches further than the action”.
The believers should be visionaries because they should always be checking their intentions and understanding the purpose of their actions. They should be persistently asking themselves about their intentions for their short term and their long goals. Overall, the believer should constantly ask himself; “Why am I doing what I am doing?”
The connection between action and intention highlights the connection between the physical and the spiritual components of any human. This hadith emphasises on the importance of having an intention for every physical act that we do, and the importance of having a purpose for every action. It also brings to the forefront our conscious intention and the need to make the connection between our physical actions and their spiritual consequences.
Whenever we perform a good deed, we should make a pure intention in our heart to please our Rabb.
- The barakah of making a sound intention at the beginning of a good deed is that it creates awareness in our heart of performing that deed and if we can become aware in the beginning inshaAllah that will carry out throughout the ibadah and we will have more khushoo in our worship.
- Making Multiple intentions: one way in which we can multiply the positive effect of our good deeds and gain maximum rewards from it is by making multiple intentions, the more intentions that we can attach to the deed, the more reward we can expect to attain from the act, InShaAllah. For e.g. When we go to the Masjid, instead of just making an intention of going to pray namaz, we can make so many additional niyyahs for the same act: for instance we can make intention of doing i’tikaf, being in a sinless environment, to be in the company of pious people [saaliheen] etc.
To make an intention does not simply imply that we say it verbally but it actually means to have awareness in our heart.
Niyyah can be used as a tool to judge the worthiness/permissibility of an action. A simple way to tell if an action [ our words/thoughts/feelings] is right or wrong, we can use the power of niyyah to see if we can connect it to Allah[swt] then it is a good action otherwise its not allowed in our deen, hence it can be the biggest proof to check any of our deeds.
People will be rewarded on the day of judgement for deeds they didn’t actually perform. A person who would be raised on the day of judgement with so many hajjs/Tahajjuds etc that he did not actually do, just because he had this sincere niyyah/desire/yearning in his heart to do those deeds
Niyyah can transform a regular deed to Ibaadah or spoil an Ibadah. Islam places a great importance on intention and there is deep wisdom behind it. One can pursue amazing character, you can pursue everything in tazkiyah but you can be doing it with wrong intentions. The same applies with Knowledge and any other act of worship. You can line up everything but if it isn’t done solely for the sake of Allah then that is going to be in vain.
Make niyyah to do good even when you are not sure you will be able to do it. “Allah has written down the good deeds and the bad ones.” Then, he explained it [by saying that]: ”He who has intended a good deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed, but if he has intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds to seven hundred times, or many times over. But if he has intended a bad deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed, but if he has intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down as one bad deed.” [related by Bukhari and Muslim]
The above hadeeth is an indication of Allah’s Mercy; it also goes to show us the significance of intending to do a good deed. Reward simply for intending to do good – how awesome is that!? SubhanAllah.
A regular act being InshaAllah considered as an Ibaadah: –
- A man going out to work with the intention to earn Halal money to feed his family (which in itself is an Ibaadah) and himself so that they can stay fit and perform the required worship of Allah, this will make the whole process of the man doing his job an Ibaadah InshaAllah!
- A woman taking care of the house, children with the intention of pleasing the Allah and her Husband will make her regular work an Ibaadah InshaAllah!
- A person going to sleep with the intention to rest & freshen up to do worship of Allah S.W.T. will make the sleeping an Ibaadah InshaAllah!
- You eat every day, the Fitrah is to eat with the right hand but if one has the intention of eating with the right hand because it is Sunnah than the reward is for it. Also the same as above as in if the food eaten is with the intention to keep oneself fit to perform Ibaadah the process of eating is an Ibaadah InshaAllah!
One can go on and on about it, but the cue is to be mindful of Allah and try to think of getting reward in everything we do, Allah’s treasure is infinite so do not refrain and think how can this be an ibaadah or that be an ibaadah rather Allah is the Malik and the Generous who can give anything to anyone He wishes InshaAllah!
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