Intention Matters!
I have finally started reading the Forty Hadith by Imam Nawawi. Even though I have only read a few yet, I encourage every one to read them. All of them hold great importance but I am discussing the one I think I struggle the most with. Here is the Hadith: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]
Our greatest enemy is Satan. Those who are doing Ibaadah as our Prophet Sallahu Alaihi Wassalam did and comanded others to do may suffer from this dirty trick of satan which I have suffered and till date, I suffer. This is not just the case with the prayers but all other things we try to perform in a certain manner that was commanded by our Prophet Sallalahu Alaihi Wassalam. Being careless about one's intention when performing a deed of worship is not a good sign. One must intend in his/her heart that this Ibaadah is solely for the sake of ALLAH, that I want my LORD to accept this from me and forgive me any shortcomings in the performance of this action. Such is the rule for doing other things that we do in our daily lives that revolve around our 'beliefs'.
I am going to give my example here. Well, I migrated at age 14 to America. Then I went back to to my home land for a few months and came back again for the 'sole' purpose of a 'better' material life and a 'better' education. This 'sole' purpose was not decided by me, neither did I really pay attention to why I am coming here but my parents decided that for us, me and my brother. We accepted it as it was because we didn't really care. This is just a small anecdote I am sharing.
The real example I am going to talk about which depresses me so much and I feel scared because of it is this: Sometimes, I start caring about what other people thinks about me. Then, if I even do something that, in normal situations, would be rewarded, it seems to me it may lose the reward because of the drift in the intention. I become more conscious of people's thought of me for doing certain things. I become more obssessed with the praise I would get from people for performing that action. I start thinking 'because I did such and such, now that other person is going to think good of me' or 'now that person will know how good (a big joke or a lie?)I am' This shift into the intention is a dangerous one. Alhumdulillah that doesn't happen for the Salah though. That would be even more scary. May ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala save us from that. ameen thuma ameen.
After reading this hadith, I have come to learn a very good point about my actions which, if put to practice, shall inshaALLAH help me change my thoughts. The point is:
- Always keep a check on your intention. Actively, at the beginning, middle and the end of something, check your intention. Am I doing it for the sake of people or worldly benefits? or am I doing it solely for the sake of ALLAH to get HIS approval?
No matter how pious the person you are dealing with is, or you think is pious, don't think that if I do such and such, because this person likes it, I'll be a better human being in his eyes. If you want to know the end result, here are a few things that will happen:
- You have done that act with the intention to please that person, so you shall get rewarded according to that intention.
- You might get that person's appreciation because he/she doesn't know what goes on in your little brains.
- But you won't be able to get the appreciation of the ONE and ONLY ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala because your action was to please the person not to please your LORD.
Do you think that this is worth it? (the actions mentioned are not the worldly matters, such as doing homework, or little things but ones that relate to your Ibadaah) When we seek pleasure of people and forget about the pleasure of our LORD, it might get us what we wanted for this world, but we won't have any good written for us in regards to that particular function. Another thing can be that we seek pleasure of people because we seek pleasure of ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala. For example, I want to be nice to people and practice Ihsaan because that is what I am commanded by ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala in Quran. If I am nice to people with this intention, there shouldn't be anything wrong with that. But if I am nice to people in supporting the man-made laws that contradict Quran and Sunnah just because I want them to be pleased with me, then that is a big sin.
One other thing we must be careful with in our dealings is checking our intention while interacting on the internet. When we share a piece of the deeni knowledge we have, we must do so for the sake of ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala. Our intention should be to share it with as many people as possible so that they may gain knowledge and benefit from it inshaALLAH. In a similar way, we should not become obssessed with performing a good deed BECAUSE this other person we really like performs that deed and likes those who perform it. Rather, we should do so for the sake of ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala. We should know that performing this good deed with the intention to please ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala is far better because HE is the ONE who rewards us. The most we can get from people is a few words of appreciation whereas the reward from ALLAH Subhana Wata'ala is endless (Paradise) inshaALLAH.
So always keep on checking your intention because it helps you become loyal towards the Originator of the heavens and the earth.
posted by Allah's Slave @ 3:05 PM
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