Q-News Dec 2004 Issue 358

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Umar ibn al-Khattab tells us the Prophet, upon whom be peace, said: "Actions are only by intentions, and every person shall be credited only with which he intended. So whoever's hijra (migration) was for God and His Messenger, then his hijra was indeed for God and His Messenger. And whoever's hijra was to acquire a worldly thing, or to marry a woman, then his hijra was for that for which he made it."
According to an Arabic saying - al-niyya matiya - "an intention is a riding-beast". If we don't have this creature beneath us, taking us forward, it doesn't matter what other good works we are doing. It is perfectly possible to pray all night and fast all year, and still get no closer to God. In fact, to perform an act without intending it to be for God is to do no more than flog a dead horse.
Developing pure intention, however, is not as easy as it looks, because it can never be faked. Anyone can perform the actions required by the Shari'ah. But performing these actions one hundred per cent for the Revealer of the Shari'ah is a million times more problematic. Before starting the prayer, the fast, the Hajj and many other things, we are in the habit of murmuring a set formula of intention, and we vaguely assume that this is enough. Whether our hearts are really and completely present, however, is a question we should be asking ourselves very seriously.
Before each deed we have to insert an intention; but before making the intention we must carry out a quick examination of it. Sufyan al-Thawri, one of the early Muslims, said: "I spend as much time learning a good intention as I spend in learning a good action." Of course, this kind of precision is not feasible all the time and for all activities. But when we intend something really important, such as praying, visiting the sick, or allocating our annual zakat, it is essential that we check our intentions, and make sure that they come from the heart as much as they do from the tongue. This can make the difference between acceptance and repudiation. Even a small, apparently insignificant act can be made immense in God's sight, and can really transform us - if we attach the right intention to it.
This is proved by the following hadith: "Anyone who intends a good deed but does not perform it, God records it as one good deed. Whereas, should he intend it and then do it, God records it as ten good deeds, up to seven hundredfold, and even more."
In this way can a pure, clear intention attract unimaginably vast amounts of divine grace and indeed reward.
It is related that thousands of years ago, during a severe famine, a man once passed by a sand dune. He looked at it, and declared: "If only this dune were food, so that I could distribute it among the people!" And after his death, he found that God rewarded him as though he had actually done this.
For some activities, having clear intention helps to be clear in one's mind exactly why the activity is valuable. It is not unusual to discover that several good intentions underlie a single act: in which case we will be rewarded for each of these. For instant, when we recite the Qur'an, we can intend three different things: firstly, to worship God; secondly, to learn about religion; and thirdly, to be of benefit to anyone who might be listening.
Properly constructed intentions help us get the most out of our religious practices. But they can also help us turn seemingly mundane and neutral activities into religious ones for which we can be regarded. Islam, as everyone knows, embraces every department of life, and regards any distinction between the "sacred" and the "secular" as dangerous and misleading.
Not only has God designed everything on this earth, He has also assigned a correct way of dealing with it. Food can be used and abused. So can a rainforest. So can knowledge. So can the five senses. Islamic ethics are all about learning and applying the proper response to everything around us. When we do something, we can confirm our conformity to natural law by making an intention; and this can turn any action into a religious one. For instance, when we eat, we can intend to gain strength for the worship of God and the leading of an upright life. When we begin work at office, we can intend to earn a living to support our families. When we cook, clean, or wash, we can intend to look after our families, and create a solid, well-managed home. There is nothing which cannot be a useful part of our strategy for salvation. There is no moment which we cannot use to take us forward.
Checking up on our intentions has still another benefit: it gives us the most effective remedy there is for indecision. For when we study our niyya, we recognise which of our intentions are of dubious value. If we can't find a credibly Islamic intention or an act, it probably isn't worth doing, and may well be a cunningly disguised vice. The niyya stands like a sentry between knowledge and action. If we equip the sentry well, every other aspect of our behaviour will be protected. Spot-checks on our intentions also help us to acquire the important virtue of sincerity (ikhlas). A Muslim with a good niyya is a sincere Muslim, for sincerity is defined in Islam as the harmonising of the inner intention and the outer act.

Fuad Nahdi

Editor-in-chief