A-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths - Hadith #1 : Actions are judged by intentions

Hadith #1

Actions are judged by intentions

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 isto 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]

Background:

This Hadith was expressed by the Prophet (saw) at the time when a man migrated from Makkah to Madinah during the Hijrah for the sake of marrying someone.

It is considered to be one of the greatest ahadith in Islam. According to Al-Imam al- Shafi, this Hadith is one third of the knowledge of Islam and it can be related to over 70 topics of Fiqh.

Al-Imam Ahmad (with reference of Imam al Shafi’s statement) said: Islam is based on three fundamentals or principals:

1-Actions of the heart - our internal actions


2-Actions of the limbs - out external actions


3-Interaction between people - our daily dealings with people

These ahadith can be seen as three criteria to help Muslims evaluate and judge what they do and say “as an ‘ibadah” (act of worship) in their daily lives:

Intention or Niyyah has two meanings:

i. the intention before performing an ‘ibadah

ii. the willingness of performing an action

Lessons

In this Hadith, the Prophet (saw) starts with the principle (“actions are judged by intentions”) and then gives three practical examples. This is the methodology used by the Prophet (saw) when conveying the message to Islam. The examples help to illustrate the principle so that it is easier for people to understand and so that they can apply the principle to other similar situations.

The three examples consist of a single good intention (migration for the sake of Allah and his Messenger) and two inferior intentions (migrations for the sake of worldly gains or marriage).

This Hadith emphasizes the importance of ikhlas (sincerity – to be truthful and honest to Allah alone, performing an act solely for Allah’s sake whereby no other witness except Allah is sought). Ikhlas is one of the conditions for the acceptance of good deeds. The other condition is that the actions must be done in accordance with the Shariah (Islamic Law).

The interdependence of these two conditions is being clearly illustrated in the shahadah:

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah is ikhlas – ensuring that our actions are for the sake of Allah and Him alone.

I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah is the Sunnah. The Prophet (saw) is out model and the best example to follow. Following his Sunnah in our ibadah, akhlaq and mu’amalat (dealings) ensures that we are acting in according with the Shariah.


Thus the shahadah shows us that the conditions for performing an action and the acceptance for those actions are:

- It should be for the sake of Allah as he is the only One we worship, and

-It should be in accordance to the Shariah

To achieve ikhlas, we must avoid shirk. Al-Imam al-Harawi said the root cause for insincerity is self-desire (al-hawa’). Therefore no action should be done on the basis of self-desire.

Imam Al-Harawi states that there are 7 types of self-desire.

To make oneself appear good in the hearts of others

To seek the praise of others

To avoid being blamed by others

To seek the glorification of others

To seek the wealth/money of others

To seek the services or love of others

To seek the help of others for oneself

There are various ways in which one can obtain ikhlas:

· Increase in righteous deeds – the more good deeds that we do, the closer we will get to Allah and Insha Allah the more sincere we will become.

· Seeking knowledge – prior to the doing of any deed, we should seek knowledge. Out actions and deeds should be based on knowledge to ensure these are performed with accordance to the Shariah.

· Avoidance of giving false impressions – we should not make others believe that an action is good when it isn’t

· Checking of the intention – Al-Imam Ahmad said: Before you do anything, check your intention – ask yourself before performing an action: “Is this for the sake of Allah”
Ibn Qayyim says: Any Action we do may be defective for 3 reasons:

Being conscious that others are observing our actions

Seeking a return (benefit/reward) for the action

Being satisfied with the action

Some examples on how we can obtain ikhlas:

- We should not be proud of ourselves and think that we are better than others if we were to reach the masjid early for salat. Even if we are on the front saff and arrive prior to the imam. We should rather, praise Allah for enabling us to go to the masjid and for being able to perform the salat without any difficulties.

-After every salat, we should tell ourselves that we could have performed it in a better manner and try to improve our next salat.

What if our niyyah changes while we are performing an action? Ibn Rajab said that according to the ilama if the niyyah at the end of the action matches the beginning i.e. doing an action for the sake of Allah then any changes in the middle of performing the action will be forgiven, or it will not matter, insha Allah. However if the niyyah at the end does not match the beginning i.e. we perform the action not for the sake of Allah then repentance must be made

There are four things that contradict ikhlas:

Ma’siyat – committing sins – this will weaken our ikhlas

Shirk

Riya – performing an ‘ibadah with the intention of showing off to others

Nifaq – hypocrisy

Although we must always ensure that our actions do not deviate from ikhlas, there are actions, which are automatically regarded as good intentions for example, seeking knowledge in Islam, helping the community, doing da’wah.

Based on this Hadith, scholars have derived some rulings (ahkam) amongst which are:

When a person swears by Allah by saying Wallahi, but their intention is not to actually swear by Allah, this is considered pointless. In many instances, the swearing by Allah is done simply out of habit – as it may be a culture to some, or to others this expression readily rolls off their tongues. A Muslim should do his/her best to minimize this.

When someone is requested to give an oath, he is judged by his intention when he gives the oath.

There can be a combination of intentions between performing an ibadah and teaching others – we perform an ‘ibadah for the sake of Allah and we also do it with the intention of teaching others. For example when the Prophet (saw) performed the Hajj, he did it for the sake of Allah as well as to teach his companions (May Allah be pleased with them all)

A man may go through the process of divorcing his wife, verbally in or outside the court. Its validity would depend on his intention.

What could be seen as ghibah (backbiting – talking bad even though these are factual), could simply be a joke or a dua. If someone talks bad about someone else, it is his intention which determines whether it is ghibah backbiting or not.

Conclusion

Our actions are determined or undermined, by our intention, i.e: whether they are good or bad. Therefore we should always check our intention. We must ensure that the action is for the sake of Allah so that it is accepted by Him and that we will be rewarded for it.