Lesson#2 THE NATURE OF INTENTION 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 incline towards and are overwhelmed by worldly matters, they find this difficult to accomplish and even obligatory acts of worship may become difficult and tiresome. The Prophet peace be upon him said: “Actions are only by intention, and every man shall only have what he intended. 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 in marriage, his hijra was for that for which he made hijra.”’ 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 the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “Actions depend upon their outcome.” 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 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 in marriage, his hijra was for that for which he made hijra.” So deeds which are apparently identical 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 hadtith and think that good intentions could turn forbidden actions into acceptable ones. The above saying of the Prophet specifically relates 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.When bad intentions are accompan ied by flaws in the actions themselves, then their gravity and punishment are multiplied. Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with h]m, said: “The best acts are doing what Allah has commanded, staying far away from what Allah has forbidden, and having sincere intentions towards what- ever Allah has required of us.” 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 in tent ions 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 iii- ram say: “0 Allah! I intend to do the Hajj and Ummrah.” So he said to him: “Is it not in fact the people whom you are informing of your intentions? 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. Al-Bukhari and Muslim have reported on the authority of Abduilah ibn Umar that the Messenger of Allah said: “Truly, Allah will not take away knowledge by snatching it away from people, but by taking away the lives of the people of knowledge one by one until none of them survive. Then the people will adopt ignorant ones as their leaders. They will be asked to deliver judgments and they will give them without knowledge, with the result that they will go astray and lead others astray.” When ‘LJbadah ibn as-Samit was asked about this hadith he said: “If you want, I will tell you what the highest knowledge is, which raises people in rank: it is humility.” He said this because there are two types of knowledge. The first produces its fruit in the heart. it is knowledge of Allah, the Exalted — His Names, His Attributes, and Hs Acts — which commands fear, respect, exaltation, love, supplication and reliance on Him. This is the beneficial type of knowledge. As ibn Mas’ud said: “They will recite the Qur’an, but it will not go beyond their throats. The Qur’an is only beneficial when it reaches the heart and is firmly planted in it.” Al-Hasan said: “There are two kinds of knowledge: knowledge of the tongue, which can be a case against the son of Adam, as is mentioned in the hadith of the Prophet : ‘The Qur’an is either a case for you or a case against you and knowledge of the heart, which is beneficial knowledge. The second kind is the beneficial kind which raises people in rank, it is the inner knowledge which is absorbed by the heart and puts it right. The knowledge that is on the tongue is taken lightly by people: neither those who possess it, nor anyone else, act upon it, nor then it vanishes when its owners vanish on the Day of Judgment, when creation will be brought to account”
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 05:33:10 +0000
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