With the name of Allah; the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. And Peace be upon His Prophets and Messengers.

Assalamu 'alalikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh,

Intention With Attention

Intention is the basis of every action. There is at least one reason behind our every action. Sometimes we omit something or sometimes we are not able to do complete something and then we feel like "we were wasting our time/efforts". In Islam, we get rewards even if we fail to complete a certain work, as long as the intention was positive & pure. Likewise, we can miss rewards, even though we have completed the work, if our intention was negative & impure.

So having good intention teaches us to THINK POSITIVELY and STICK TO OUR AIM. Our purpose should be to please Allahu ta'aala and be thankful to Him. Making intentions before any work also reminds us to FOCUS our ATTENTION at work.

Positive intentions make us SINCERE. There can be people who display others that they are such and such, but actually they have something else in there hearts. Only Allah subhanahu wata'ala knows best what is in our hearts.

There are so many benefits of having good intentions. For example, a person wants to become a doctor. If that person is asked "why are you becoming a doctor?" He/she might reply "To make good money.." or "To get a respectable job" etc. But if that person says "I want to become a doctor so I could help poor sick people..", he or she could be getting good rewards for this intention.

The followings are some of the words of the Prophet Muhammadur Rasool Allah ('alaihi salato wassalam). Very important to know:


Narrated Umar bin Al Khattab
Allah's Apostle said, "The reward of deeds depends upon the intention and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for Allah and His Apostle, then his emigration was for Allah and His Apostle. And whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for what he emigrated for."
Sahih Al-Bukhari (May Allah's mercy be upon Sheikh Bukhari)


Narrated Jundub
The Prophet said, "He who lets the people hear of his good deeds intentionally, to win their praise, Allah will let the people know his real intention (on the Day of Resurrection), and he who does good things in public to show off and win the praise of the people, Allah will disclose his real intention (and humiliate him)."
Sahih Al-Bukhari


Narrated Anas ibn Malik ; Zayd ibn Thabit
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "If anyone's intention is to seek the hereafter Allah will place his sufficiency in his heart and order his affairs, and the world will come to him submissively; but if anyone's intention is to seek worldly good Allah will place poverty before him and disorder his affairs, and only so much of it as has been ordained for him will come to him."

Tirmidhi transmitted it, and Ahmad and Darimi transmitted it on the authority of Aban whose authority was Zayd ibn Thabit.


On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) say:

The first of people against whom judgment will be pronounced on the Day of Resurrection will be a man who died a martyr. He will be brought and Allah will make known to him His favours and he will recognize them. [ The Almighty] will say: And what did you do about them? He will say: I fought for you until I died a martyr. He will say: You have lied - you did but fight that it might be said [of you]: He is courageous. And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face until he is cast into Hell-fire.
[Another] will be a man who has studied [religious] knowledge and has taught it and who used to recite the Quran. He will be brought and Allah will make known to his His favours and he will recognize them. [The Almighty] will say: And what did you do about them? He will say: I studied [religious] knowledge and I taught it and I recited the Quran for Your sake. He will say: You have lied - you did but study [religious] knowledge that it might be said [of you]: He is learned. And you recited the Quran that it might be said [of you]: He is a reciter. And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face until he is cast into Hell-fire.
[Another] will be a man whom Allah had made rich and to whom He had given all kinds of wealth. He will be brought and Allah will make known to his His favours and he will recognize them. [The Almighty] will say: And what did you do about them? He will say: I left no path [untrodden] in which You like money to be spent without spending in it for Your sake. He will say: You have lied - you did but do so that it might be said [of you]: He is open-handed. And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face until he is cast into Hell-fire.
It was related by Muslim (also by at-Tirmidhi and an-Nasa'i).
 

Authors' name witheld on request.

Allah Knows Best