Everything Is Because Of Intention

EVERYTHING IS BECAUSE OF INTENTION

Prof Dato Dr Mohd Asri bin Zainul Abidin

1. During Ramadan, each of us tries to improve the purification of our soul. We try to get closer to Allah. We try to admit that what is true is true, even if it goes against our own interests and desires. We admit that what is wrong is wrong, even if we are already involved in that wrong. This is not something easy; it requires a strong soul built on a Sincere Intention (Niyyah Sadiqah) in the struggle of life on this earth. It is a life based on the belief that every one of us will meet Allah s.w.t., and He will hold us the accountability (Hisab) of all the good and bad deeds we have done.

2. A person's journey in life actually represents what is hidden in the heart, or their intention. Actions done willingly and by choice are the interpretation of a person’s intention, understanding, and purpose in life. Nothing more than that. Even what is planned—the desires and hopes that eventually show up as actions—all start from intention. Therefore, in a Hadith from Umar bin al-Khattab r.a., he said: The Messenger of Allah s.a.w. said:

إِنَّمَا الأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّةِ وَإِنَّمَا لاِمْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى فَمَنْ كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ فَهِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَمَنْ كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ لِدُنْيَا يُصِيبُهَا أَوِ امْرَأَةٍ يَتَزَوَّجُهَا فَهِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى مَا هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِ

"Surely, every action is only by intention. And surely, every person only gets a reward according to what was intended. Whoever migrates (Hijrah) to seek worldly gains or to get a woman he wants to marry, then (the reward of) his migration is according to his intention." (Narrated by al-Bukhari).

Misunderstandings

3. Before we get the wrong idea, intention is not like what some people imagine, which is saying with the tongue "I intentionally intend to do such and such...". Not at all. That is only a speech of the tongue; it does not necessarily represent the real purpose. Intention is also not words arranged in the mind that cause many people who do not understand to repeat the 'intention' over and over, until it disturbs their prayer (Salah), fasting (Sawm), spiritual retreat (I'tikaf) and the like.

Intention is a person's resolve (‘azm) to perform an action. Inside it encompasses everything hidden behind a deed. It is exactly as the famous scholar al-Hafiz Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziyyah (died 751H) said:

"Intention is the purpose and resolve to do something. Its place is in the Heart (Qalb). It has no connection to the tongue at all. Because of that, it was never narrated from the Prophet s.a.w. and the companions any specific wording for the intention. We have never heard this from them. All the wordings that were made up before purification and prayer were made by Satan as a field to fight (disturb) the group of people who have obsessive doubts (was-was). Satan imprisons and punishes them with it. He makes them struggle to get those wordings right, until you see some of them repeating and exhausting themselves in pronouncing it. In fact, it has no connection to the prayer at all.

Instead, intention is the purpose of an action. Everyone who resolves to do something has already intended it. It is impossible to imagine an action separated from an intention because the action is the reality of the intention. It is impossible for there to be no intention while an action exists. Whoever sits down to perform Wudu (ablution), then he has intended to perform Wudu. Whoever stands up to pray, then he has intended to pray. No sane person performs an act of worship or anything else without an intention. Intention is something that must exist for a human's purposeful actions. One does not need to struggle or work hard to get it. If someone wanted to remove the intention from their chosen action, they would not be able to. If Allah made prayer or Wudu mandatory without an intention, then He would be commanding what a human is not capable of. It would not fall under human ability.

If that is the case, why struggle to get an intention? Truly, doubting if you have an intention is a type of madness. This is because a person's knowledge about their own state is something certain. How can a sane person doubt their own intention? A person standing behind an Imam to perform the Zohr prayer; how could he doubt his purpose?! If someone called him for some business at that moment, he would surely say: I have business, I want to pray Zohr. If someone asked him while he was walking to the place of prayer: where are you going? He would surely say: I want to pray Zohr with the Imam. So, how can a sane person be unsure about this in himself when he knows it with certainty?" (Ibn Qayyim, Ighathah al-Lahfan min Masaid al-Syaitan, page 144).

Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi also mentioned:

"This intention is purely an act of the heart. It is not an act of the tongue. It is not known from the Prophet s.a.w., nor from the companions and the Tabi'in who followed them well—who are the Salaf (Pious Predecessors) of this nation—any wording for the intention of worship, like prayer, fasting, bathing, Wudu and the like, which we see some people working so hard to do, such as them saying: I intend to remove the minor ritual impurity, or major, or Zohr prayer, or Asr four rakaat because of Allah the Most Great, or I intend to fast tomorrow in the month of Ramadan and so on. All of this was not brought (taught) by any verse of the Quran or Sunnah. There is no benefit to it, where a human will not say when going to the market: I intend to go to the market. Or when he wants to travel: I intend to travel. Al-Zarkasyi in his fatwas quoted the words of al-Ghazali: 'The matter of intention in worship is easy, but what makes it difficult is caused by ignorance of the reality of intention or (caused by) Was-was (obsessive doubts).'" (http//:qaradawi.net).

Wrong Intention

4. We often mention the emphasis on intention when we want to pray, fast, give Zakat, perform Hajj, and other specific acts of worship. Unfortunately, even that is done with a 'wrong' concept as explained by the two scholars above. It goes so far that some people mock the concept of intention by making statements that supposedly represent the intention, even though there is a different hidden meaning.

5. How many financial operations use the name 'Islam' with various wordings during the contract (Aqad), but the hidden meaning is different from the words on the tongue. So, various profits—some of which have elements of oppression and ambiguity—are made in the name of Islam with beautiful words, even though the real intention is very different. The reason? Our people understand that intention means the spoken words.

6. Therefore, intention is what is hidden behind every action. We are commanded to have Sincerity (Ikhlas) for Allah in worship. To correct the purpose of every action. This is one of the main goals of the Ramadan education. Because of that, the Prophet s.a.w. said in a Hadith Qudsi:

كُلُّ عَمَلِ ابْنِ آدَمَ لَهُ ، إِلاَّ الصَّوْمَ فَإِنَّهُ لِى ، وَأَنَا أَجْزِى بِهِ

"All the deeds of the son of Adam are for him, except for fasting (Sawm). It is for Me and only I reward it." (Narrated by al-Bukhari).

Fasting is a manifestation of the sincerity that exists in the soul. No one can know if a person is truly fasting or lying except Allah. Fasting is not a physical movement that can be seen, but an internal control of the self that is only known by Allah.

7. If the spirit of fasting were brought into life, then surely many problems of the Muslim Ummah (community) today could be solved. Our community today is poor and lacking in 'sincere intention' in many situations. Even though we cannot see intention, a large part of a human's actions and deeds are able to give signs or interpret the hidden intention.

8. We are in a drought of sincerity in knowledge, social interaction, brotherhood, politics, business and various branches of life. This is our crisis. Each of us, including those who hold important places in society, keeps various intentions. Politics, for example, should have every individual involved in it making their intentions sincere for Allah; with that, all their actions are ensured to meet the needs of the community and the people. However, when Muslim politicians place other intentions, the purpose of politics—which should go towards the interests of the community and the people—turns into a party or personal agenda that eventually makes life hard for the people.

9. The same goes for religious matters. Islamic knowledge should guide humans to understand the will of the Quran and Sunnah, but it has been turned into a personal agenda to grab profit, or business, or power and the like; in the end, religion becomes a tool to achieve personal and group goals. So, politics does not achieve its purpose, and religious matters do not achieve their goals. Today we see many parties whose calls are beautiful, some even using the name of Islam, but their path and actions are very different from the teachings of Islam. What is the reason? Everything is because of intention. Slogans are indeed beautiful, many can make them and invent them, but who knows the intention?