Having a Sincere Intention

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

The most important thing to do before starting anything is to have sincerity in what we are doing, and to make the right intention. The tiniest of actions can become huge just by having the right intention. Most of the books of Ahadith begin with the same Hadith:

It is narrated by Umar bin al-Khattab (ra), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saw), 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)

This is a really important thing to remember because being sincere in what we do puts our physical and spiritual state together. By us making a sincere intention or changing our intention, the result of our action changes.

As Muslims, we  should always be checking our intentions and understanding the purpose of our actions. We should always be asking ourselves about our intentions for our short term and long term goals.  The believer should constantly ask himself; “Why am I doing what I am doing?”

 The Hadith above means that the person will be rewarded for only that which he intended. So, as mentioned in the Hadith, if a person performed the Hijrah (migration), but did it with a different intention then he would not be rewarded for that action of Hijrah (migration).

Riya, the showing off of deeds publicly, is a major sin which ruins sincerity and can invalidate actions. For example, giving money in charity will not be accepted as a good deed if it was for the sake of showing off to others.

The Prophet (saw) informed us that if you perform an act for the sake of someone else rather than for Allah’s sake, then Allah will reject that deed entirely and will leave the reward of it for the partner that the person has made. This highlights the implications of showing off as well as the graveness of associating another person in your actions which should have been for the sake of Allah.

Everything we do has to be intended for the sake of Allah. A good action with the wrong intention will not get us any reward in the Hereafter.

May Allah give us all the ability to have sincere intentions for everything that we do - ameen.

Wasalaam!