Hadeeth on Intentions

Hadeeth on Intentions : Ikhlas in Intentions.

There is a very famous story you must all have heard. It is the story of the prostitute of bani israel (Jewish). It is a story we hear often hear in many bayans. she’s the one who was drinking water from the well and she saw a dog that was thirsty, she drew water from the well and gave it to the dog as well. It comes she later in her life accepted Islam and entered into jannah based on the sincerity of that deed of giving the dog water.

If you think about it, when she gave the dog water, it probably wasn’t the thinking that  “Oh I am going to give this dog water and I’m going to go to Jannah”, that fore-thought for doing it for that purpose was not there. Instead she has the intention to do it for him for the sake of Allah swt, for caring for the makhlooq (creation) of Allah swt and Allah swt accepted and rewarded it with Jannah.

This is not negating the fact that even giving a dog water could be a sabab (reward) for Jannah right but the real point here is that we have the intention to do it for the sake of Allah swt, for the pleasure of Allah swt whatever it is, no matter how small the deed; whatever it is that we do we for the sake of Allah swt. There are many things that we do mindlessly, we do good things but we don’t have the correct  intention for it. Today, the point of writing this article is sharing the pearl of Wisdom that if We make intention for everything we do it multiply our rewards and we will see that peace and tranquility in our life.

Allah Almighty says,  “Their flesh and blood does not reach Allah but your fear of Him does reach Him.” 

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Hadeeth on Intentions

There are many hadeeth that talks about Sincerity of intentions. Some of the hadeeth are –

• The Amir al-Mu’minin, Abu Hafs ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, ‘Actions only go by intentions. Everyone gets what they intend. Anyone, therefore, who emigrates to Allah and His Messenger, his emigration is indeed to Allah and His Messenger. But anyone who emigrates to gain something of this world or to marry a woman, his emigration is to that to which he emigrated.'” [Agreed to be sound]
• A’isha, Umm al-Mu’minin, Umm ‘Abdullah said, “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘An army will invade the Ka’ba. When they are at Bayda’, the earth will swallow them up from the first to the last of them.'” She said, “I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, how will it swallow them up from the first to the last of them when their traders are among them as well as others who are not really part of them?’ He said, ‘It will swallow them up from the first to the last of them and then they will resurrected according to their intentions.'” [Agreed upon. This is the version in al-Bukhari.]
• A’isha, may Allah be pleased with her said, “The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘There is no more hijra after the Conquest [of Makka], but there is jihad and intention. When you are called to it then go.” [Agreed upon]
• Abu ‘Abdullah Jabir ibn ‘Abdullah al-Ansari said, “Once we were with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, on an expedition and he said, ‘There are certain men still in Madina who have accompanied you on every stretch you have travelled and every valley you have crossed. It was only illness that prevented them from coming.'” One variant has, “from their sharing the reward with us.” [Muslim] Al-Bukhari related it from Anas who said, “We returned from the expedition to Tabuk with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he said, ‘Some people have stayed behind in Madina and we did not travel through a ravine or a valley without their accompanying us. A valid excuse prevented them from coming.'”
• Abu Yazid Ma’n ibn Yazid ibn al-Akhnas – and he, his father and grandfather were Companions – said, “My father, Yazid, had put aside some dinars to give as sadaqa and placed them in the care of a man in the mosque and then I came and took them and brought them to him. He said, ‘By Allah, I did not mean you!’ I took the case to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he said, ‘Yazid, for you what you intended, and for you, Ma’n, what you took.'” [al-Bukhari]
• Abu Ishaq Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas Malik ibn Uhayb ibn ‘Abdu Manaf ibn Zuhra ibn Kilab ibn Murra ibn Ka’b ibn Lu’ayy al-Qurashi az- Zuhri, one of the ten testified who would have the Garden, may Allah be pleased with them, said, “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, visited me in the year of the Hajj of Farewell on account of a serious illness I had. I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, this illness has affected me as you see and I have property but no heirs other than my daughter. Shall I give two-thirds of my property away as sadaqa?’
• He replied, ‘No. I asked, ‘A half?’ He replied, ‘No.’ He said, ‘A third, and a third is great (or a lot). It is better to leave rich heirs than to leave them poor, begging from other people. There is nothing you spend, desiring by it the face of Allah, but that you will be rewarded, even for a morsel you put in your wife’s mouth.‘ I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, will I be left behind [in Makkah] after my companions leave?’ He said, ‘You will not be left behind, for any virtuous actions you do will raise you in degree and elevation. And then perhaps you might be left behind so that some people will benefit from you and others be harmed by you. O Allah, let My Companions complete their emigration and do not let them turn back on their heels,’ but poor Sa’d ibn Khawla had the Messenger of Allah grieve over his death in Makkah.” [Agreed upon] [Muslim] 
• Abu Hurayra ‘Abdu’r-Rahman ibn Sakhr said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Allah does not look at your bodies nor your forms but He looks at your hearts and your actions.”
• Abu Musa ‘Abdullah ibn Qays al-Ash’ari said, “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was asked about the man who fights in anger, a man who fights to defend himself and a man who fights to show off, and whether any of these were fighting in the way of Allah The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘The one fights so that the word of Allah will be uppermost is in the way of Allah.'” [Agreed upon]
• Abu Bakra Nufay’ ibn al-Harith ath-Thaqafi said, “The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘When two Muslims clash with their swords, then both the killer and killed are in the Fire.’ I asked, “Messenger of Allah, I can understand this with regard to the killer, but what about the murdered man?’ He replied, ‘He also was eager to kill his companion.'” [Agreed upon]
• Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “The group prayer of a man is some twenty degrees higher than his prayer in his business or his house. That is because when one of you does wudu’ thoroughly and then goes to the mosque with no other object than that of doing the prayer, without being impelled by anything other than the prayer, Allah will raise him up a degree with every step he takes, and a wrong action will also fall away from him, until he enters the mosque.

When he enters the mosque, he is in prayer the whole time he is waiting for it and the angels pray for him all the time he is sitting there, saying, ‘O Allah! Show mercy to him! O Allah! Forgive him! O Allah! Turn towards him!’ as long as he has not caused anyone injury and has not broken wudu’.” [Agreed upon. This is the version in Muslim]

Abu’l-‘Abbas ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abdu’l-Muttalib said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said in what he reported from his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, “Allah wrote good actions and bad actions and then made that clear. Whoever intends to do a good action and then does not do it, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, will write a full good action for him. If he intends to do it and then does it, Allah will write ten to seven hundred good actions multiplied many times over. If he intends an evil action and then does not do it, Allah will write a full good action for him. If he intends it and then does it, Allah will write one bad action for him.” [Agreed upon]

Abu ‘Abdu’r-Rahman ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, “Three men of the past were travelling and took refuge for the night in a cave. They entered it and a rock fell down the mountain and blocked the entrance. They said, ‘The only thing that will rescue us from this rock is to call on Allah invoking good actions we have done!’ One of them said, “O Allah, my parents are both old and it is my habit never to give milk in the evening either to my family or friends before giving it to them first. One day I went a long way in search of something and did not reach them until they had already gone to bed.

I milked their evening drink but found them asleep. I did not want to wake them nor to give my family or friends their evening drink before they had had theirs, so I remained with the cup in my hand waiting for them to wake up until dawn came. The children were at my feet, crying because of hunger. Then they woke up and drank their drink. O Allah, if I did that out of the desire for Your Face, then rescue us from the situation we are in regarding this rock.” It opened up a little but they still could not get out. The second said, “O Allah! A cousin of mine was the person I loved more than any other. (Another variant has, “I  used to love one of my uncle’s daughters with the most intense love it is possible for a man to have for a woman.”) I tried to seduce her and she refused me until, one year when she was in dire need, she came to me and I gave her a hundred and twenty dinars provided that she would let me do what I wanted with her.

She did that but when I was about to have my way with her, (One variant has, “when I was between her legs.”) she said, ‘Fear Allah and do not break the seal without having the right to do so.’ Then I left her alone in spite of the fact that she was, of all people, the one I loved the most and also left her with the gold I had given her. O Allah, if I did that out of the desire for Your Face, then rescue us from our situation!” The rock moved a little further but they still could not get out. The third said, “O Allah, I employed some workers and gave all of them their wages except for one man who went off without taking what he was owed. I invested his wage until it multiplied in value.

After a time he came to me and said, ”Abdullah, pay me my wage!’ I said, ‘All the camels, cattle, sheep and slaves that you see here have come from your wage.’ He said, ”Abdullah, do not make fun of me?’ I said, ‘I am not making fun of you.’ He took them all and drove them off, not leaving anything. O Allah, if I did that out of the desire for Your Face, then rescue us from the situation we are in!” The rock moved away and they walked out.'” [Agreed upon]

 Excerpts of hadeeths taken from Chapter on Sincerity and having an intention for all actions, words and states, outward and inward-Riyadh As Saliheen

Hadeeth on Intentions

Also read the story of Man who killed 99 People relevant to this hadeeth

Having read all the above hadeeth and especially the last one let us ask a question to ourself – If we were the fourth person in the cave what deed would we have mentioned ?

Sincerity is a strong power of believer . So let us purify our intentions, Let us make multiple intentions before every task. Imagine going back to Allah with hours of Ibadah, lots of fast and lots of charity but none of it accepted by Allah because it lacked sincerity ,because It lacked ikhlas. Let us do deeds only for the pleasure of Allah swt and let us never judge anyone based on his appearance and deed because it is only Allah swt who knows the sincerity of the heart.

In Sha Allah in the next post I will share a very beautiful story on Why we should never ever judge a person . If you haven’t bookmarked our site or subscribed ,do subscribe and do initiate or participate in discussion in the comment box below. Jazak Allah Khair.

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