What is intention?

An article written by the teacher, Jumana Al-Asadi

Intention is the determination and determination to do a certain thing and the consensus of the soul to do it after conceiving it and believing in its benefit. It is the determination of the heart to do something: that is, the action of the heart. Deeds and the criterion for accepting them are purely for God, because it is the will that is directed towards action, seeking the pleasure of God Almighty and in compliance with His judgment.

Sincerity to God is the goal of religion, as the Almighty, the Almighty, says: “And who is better in religion than he who submits his face to God and is a doer of good” (Surat Al-Nisa, verse 125), and the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) says: “Sincerity is the goal of religion” and it is the best of worships, rather it is the spirit of servitude. God and its essence, as Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: “The best worship is devotion.”

The intention is the first mover of action, that is, it is the motive and the instigator, so with its validity and soundness, the action is righteous and sound, and here the Prophet Muhammad (may God’s prayers and peace be upon him and his family) said: “Actions are but by intentions” and “a person’s intention is better than his action.”

The work must be purified and filtered from the impurities of hypocrisy, and accordingly, work in this way is more difficult than the work itself, and that is why it was said (sincerity in work is more severe than work) and that the spirit of work is the first task (meaning the intention to work, i. Man and his work are from the taint of hypocrisy, so that it is purely for the sake of the Lord of glory, and this is only achieved by those who are loving the Lord, so that nothing remains in his heart for the love of the world, the love of the soul, the pleasures of life and its positions, and he said, applying this, that the reason for Abraham’s success (peace be upon him) in The exam in which he was tested (his sincere and sincere intention for God), and therefore, as soon as he succeeded in that difficult test, he forbade applying it in practice, and the Almighty said: “And when they submitted to Islam, he bowed to the forehead, and we called to him: Oh Abraham, the dream has come true. clear, and We redeemed him with a great slaughter” (Surah Al-Safat, verse 103 and beyond).

 The sincere one is the one who does not ask behind any work he does except the pleasure of God Almighty, and does not have a goal or motive other than his love and closeness to Him, so that the intention is directed always and forever towards the Lord, out of love for Him and hope for His bounty and benevolence, because pure work is the one that does not want That no one praises you but God Almighty.

Human actions depend on pure intentions, since sincerity is the basis of religion and its pillar on which it rests in the process of building man on the line of faith in God and constant orientation to Him. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said: “He who is not accompanied by sincerity is not accepted.” He devoted worship and supplication to God, and his heart was not occupied with what his eyes saw, and he did not forget to mention God with what his ears heard, and his chest did not grieve with what he gave others.

Pure intention lies in knowledge and knowledge of the foundations of religion, its principles, and its divine knowledge. Without this knowledge, man remains weak and slippery, according to which the reward is: either reward or punishment. Every apparent deed that agrees with God’s law and the Sunnah of His Messenger is a good deed. Otherwise, the deed is not valid. Fix your intention. And I dedicate it to God Almighty, for it is the permissible means to approach God.

What is the ruling on the intention if it is separated from the action, and the action if it is separated from the intention?

 If the intention is singular in that it is not associated with an outward action, it does not entail Shari’a rulings. For example, if a man sells his house in his heart or his farm, and he does not speak with his tongue, then that inward action does not result in a ruling. Shari’ah rulings are only related to outward appearances, and here we differentiate between two matters:

The first: If the expressions are clear, then they do not need an intention. Rather, it is sufficient for the occurrence of the action to necessitate the judgment on it, because the explicit words do not need an intention to include it.

For example: if a person says to another: I sold you this house, or I bequeathed this house or farm to you, or stole something, all of these things do not depend on the intention, but rather its action is sufficient to result in a ruling on it.

The second / if the words are not explicit, then the ruling on a single word differs according to the intent of the actor, so selling or buying if used in the form of the present tense, such as the saying of the seller or the buyer, I sell and buy, and the intent is to receive it, it does not take place, and accordingly the ruling differs according to the intent of the actor, since it is not The explicit one does not give his judgment except with the intent, so the act is not separated from the intention in it.

Is intention obligatory and what is the evidence for that?

 The Almighty’s saying: “And they were commanded only to worship God, being sincere to Him in religion, as true” (Surah Al-Bayyinah, verse 5), and He, the Most High, said: “But He will call you to account for what your hearts have earned” (Surah Al-Baqara, verse 225), and as in the Almighty’s saying also: “And that you reveal what is in yourselves, or you conceal it. God will call you to account for it, so He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills, and God has power over all things” (Surat Al-Baqarah, verse 284).

A clear indication indicates that it is an obligatory blessing, because it carries the meaning of the necessity of intention towards God Almighty and devotion to Him with action, so when a person intends to invalidate that intention, then the righteous intention of that action has been invalidated, since he did not do it as commanded by the people of intention to do it, and from the Qur’anic evidence, on The obligation of intention is the aforementioned verse in Surat Al-Bayyinah, verse 5 of it, and sincerity here is what is meant in their words (intention) and the noble Messenger (may God’s prayers and peace be upon him and his family) also said: “Actions are but by intentions, and for each person is what he intended, so whoever emigrated to God And His Messenger, his emigration is to God and His Messenger, and whoever emigrated for worldly gains, or a woman to marry, then his emigration is for what he emigrated for.” Every action that lacks an accompanying intention is robbed of God’s success and blessing in it, so the existence of the intention makes the work worship, not even that the intention is part of it. Among the completions of some practical acts of worship: (such as washing, giving, fasting, tayammum, zakat, and Hajj) because intention is the spirit and essence of worship.

What is the importance of intention in action?

Intention is one of the pillars of prayer, and an educational school that refines and purifies the soul and elevates a person with it. It is not only one of the pillars of prayer or one of the pillars of any good deed.

Neither education nor promotion without having the intention to call for all of this, because it is the mediator between knowledge and action.

 And since the intention is an expression of the inner attitude and the self-direction that is the spirit of the true act, therefore there are benefits for the person with good intentions, which are the increase in good deeds, the doubling of the reward, the descent of housing in the heart, the reassurance, and the raising of ranks, and it is also a way to get closer to God, especially when we are in a time of need Desperate for what brings us closer to God, Glory be to Him, even if it is only with good and righteous intentions, despite the many temptations in the other way.

What are the special conditions for intention?

Several conditions are required for the intention: Islam, closeness to God Almighty, sincerity, and righteousness, in addition to the agreement of the work with the law, the availability of assignment, discernment, intent towards the events of the intended, and knowledge of the intended with sufficient knowledge that fulfills the motive.

Does intention have types? Or is it the same?

 We found that there are many types of intention, including:

The first: The obligatory (obligatory) intention in such a way that work or worship is not valid without it, such as the intention for ablution, prayer, zakat, fasting and pilgrimage.

The second: the desirable intention, and this is done in order to collect the reward, and this intention is unfortunately overlooked by many people, and it is to evoke the intention in what is permissible so that it will be acts of obedience and acts of worship.

Finally it can be said:

 What helps to conjure up this intention is deliberation, contemplation, contemplation, and not rushing. A person thinks about what is to come and considers himself before action, so he considers whether it is permissible or forbidden, then he looks at his intention: what did he intend by that?.

Undoubtedly, while we live in a time of moral and worship conflicts and crises, we must monitor our words and deeds and before them, we evoke them by refining our souls. Actions whose reward we may be rewarded by mere intention without doing them for a specific circumstance.

And we see among the ways of treatment to prevent the loss of wages, and we are in the process of the project of pure intention, which is the multiplication of good intentions in all the actions that we do for ourselves (from worship, prayer, glorification, obedience, personal work, smiling, purification, obtaining knowledge and knowledge, etc.) The seventy bearings, giving rights, preventing disobedience, and renouncing everything that would lead to cracks, etc.) The multiplicity of intentions in a single deed doubles the reward, so the one who intends it gains a reward for each intention he intends once it is held in his thoughts, which burdens his balance with countless things, so how great is Islam that we are upon!