Actions are by intentions (Ḥadīth)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 

"عَنْ أَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَبِي حَفْصٍ عُمَرَ بْنِ الْخَطَّابِ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ: " إنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ، وَإِنَّمَا لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى، فَمَنْ كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ إلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ فَهِجْرَتُهُ إلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ، وَمَنْ كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ لِدُنْيَا يُصِيبُهَا أَوْ امْرَأَةٍ يَنْكِحُهَا فَهِجْرَتُهُ إلَى مَا هَاجَرَ إلَيْهِ". رَوَاهُ إِمَامَا الْمُحَدِّثِينَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللهِ مُحَمَّدُ بنُ إِسْمَاعِيل بن إِبْرَاهِيم بن الْمُغِيرَة بن بَرْدِزبَه الْبُخَارِيُّ الْجُعْفِيُّ [رقم:1]، وَأَبُو الْحُسَيْنِ مُسْلِمٌ بنُ الْحَجَّاج بن مُسْلِم الْقُشَيْرِيُّ النَّيْسَابُورِيُّ [رقم:1907] رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُمَا فِي "صَحِيحَيْهِمَا" اللذَينِ هُمَا أَصَحُّ الْكُتُبِ الْمُصَنَّفَةِ." 

  

It is narrated on the authority of Amirul Mu'minin, Abu Hafs 'Umar bin al-Khattab (ra) who said: 

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) 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." [Bukhari & Muslim] 

Ḥadīth 1, 40 Ḥadīth an-Nawawi 

🔸Explanation🔸

This ḥadīth is reported by Aboo Ḥafs, 'Umar ibn al-Khattāb, the leaders of the believers who attained the leadership by being appointed as a leader by Aboo Bakr as-Siddique, the first leader of the believers after Prophet's ﷺ death.

Abū Bakr was appointed by the consensus of the companions in Thaqeefa and 'Umar's appointment was completely legal as Abū Bakr appointed him. So indeed it's from the good deeds of Abū Bakr that he made a good choice by appointing ʿUmar after him, رضي الله عنهما

In the ḥadīth, ʿUmar said ' سمعت ' ( I heard) meaning he took it directly from the Prophet ﷺ. Despite being a ḥadīth of great importance and value, all the narrations of this ḥadīth were not reported from Prophet ﷺ except through ʿUmar. However this ḥadīth has many supporting evidences in the Qur'ān and the Sunnah.

And whatever you spend in good, it is for yourselves, when you spend not except seeking Allâh’s Countenance  [2:272]

You see them bowing and falling down prostrate (in prayer), seeking Bounty from Allâh and (His) Good Pleasure.[48:29]

Here this is about intention that performing actions should be purely for الله and in the first ʾĀyah Qur'ān is referring to charity.

Also in ḥadīth Narrated by Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas that Allāh's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "You will be rewarded for whatever you spend for Allāh's sake even if it were a morsel which you put in your wife's mouth."

So the meaning of the ḥadīth is affirmed through Qur'ān and Sunnah though the wording of the ḥadīth is exclusive to ʿUmar. However the entire ummah received it with acceptance and al-Bukhārī started his authentic book with this ḥadīth.

إنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ، وَإِنَّمَا لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى

The eloquence of this ḥadīth includes restriction which means that the ruling is applicable to that which is mentioned and negated from everything other than that. Here ' إنَّمَا ' - is a restrictive term and this is from the eloquency of the Arabic language.

The other aspect of eloquency is in the second statement "But he whose migration was for some worldly thing he might gain or for a woman he might marry, his migration is to that for which he migrated." This part here is from the eloquency and it's main target is hiding the intention of those who migrated for any worldly benefit because heﷺ didn't say that his migration is for wordly benefit or to marry a woman rather heﷺ said 'for which he migrated' keeping it hidden and unkown indicating it's unworthiness to be mentioned. This is to scorn and belittle for what he migrated. As for the statement 'Thus he whose migration was to Allâh and His Messenger, his emigration is to Allâh and His Messenger; -here it was defined clearly indicating the high status of this intention.

Now regarding other linguistic terms- ' الْأَعْمَالُ ' (actions) is the plural of عمل. The 'actions' here is comprehensive covering the actions of the heart (which is settled in the heart from dependance upon الله, refering matters to Him and turning to Him as well as having awe of Him and much more), the actions of the tongue (all that is uttered by the tongue) and the actions of limbs (those done by hands and feet and so on)

 ' النيت ' (intentions) is plural of نيّة. Legally its definition is - determination to do an act of worship seeking closeness to Allâh and place of this intention is the heart (so it's an action of the heart).

The second phrase - وَإِنَّمَا لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى -meaning of امري is insaan, every person.

First phrase refers to the intention which is the action or deed and second phrase refers to what is intended and considering for whom he is doing this- For الله ? Or for world?

This legal intention is very important in the sense that- firstly, it distinguishes between the habits from acts of worship and secondly it also distinguishes the acts of worship from one another.

As an example for first one - Two person take bath, one intending to cool himself and another intending to purify himself from a major impurity.

The action of the first one is habit while the action of the second one is an act of worship.

Now if a person with major impurity dives into the river just to swim or cool himself and then prays, will it be valid or will he be rewarded?

No, it won't be accepted and he won't be rewarded as he didn't intend worship rather he just intended to cool himself.

That's why some scholars said that the worship of the heedless one are habits and the habits of the people of awareness are worship.

Because a person who gets up, does wudu and prays without any contemplation or realization on why even he's doing such then he has taken it just as a habit due to his heedlessness. On the other hand those who are the people of awareness, they seek closeness to Allâh even through their daily or normal actions. Due to proper intention even a permissible deed can turn into an act for which one will be rewarded. 

As for the second point - if two person perform 2 rakat of prayer, one of them intends to pray voluntary prayer and other one intends to pray obligatory prayer then the difference is made through their intentions. This is how intention distinguishes between two acts of worship. 

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