Monday, 16 November 2015

The Power of Intention


Sincerity of intention (ikhlāṣ) is one of the most fundamental aspects of Islamic faith.
We always have the choice to either submit to God, the Lord of Majesty and Generosity, the Innovative Creator, the Self-sufficient, the One Who grants and takes lives, or to succumb to our own desires, lust, and allow evil to take over our lives.
Having sincere intention and purpose is the key to salvation and eternal life in Heaven for true believers. Without sincere intention, one does deeds seeking other than God’s pleasure and His reward in the hereafter, and thus acts as a hypocrite (munāfiq). Fame, material, status, social gains, showing off, and religious ostentation are perfect examples of intentions driven by worldly interest. Such intentions take one away from the straight path and are not compatible with the ikhlāṣ of the true believer.

ʿUmar Ibn al-Khaṭṭab (a close Companion of the Prophet Muḥammad) is reported to have said:
“I heard God's Apostle saying, ‘Deeds are rewarded according to their intentions, and everyone will be rewarded according to what one had intended. Whoever travels abroad for worldly gains or to marry a woman, his emigration will be rewarded according to that (intention) which he emigrated for’ ”.
Now the questions arises: “does this apply to someone who commits evil acts with good intentions?” Of course not. Only deeds that are performed with sincere intention and within the boundaries of what God made permissible are accepted. To further illustrate and put things in context, following are examples of what qualifies as ikhlāṣ and what does not:
Deeds done with ikhlās
Deeds done without ikhlās
 Seeking God’s pleasure by legally earning money to help the poor and sustain one’s dependants.
  Your commitments and responsibilities towards your family members, neighbours, friends, and co-citizens need to be based upon fulfilling your divine ordained roles and responsibilities.
Stealing money to give to the poor. The intention is good, but the act is immoral/forbidden (harām).
Doing good deeds for personal satisfaction and favour, rather than for the purpose of seeking closeness to God.
In short, one has to turn and surrender all one’s thoughts and deeds towards God.


For     French     Translation Please click HERE

For     Genman Translation Please click HERE

For     Italian     Translaton Please click HERE

For    Russain  Translation Please click  HERE

For   Suwahili Translation Please click  HERE

2 comments:

  1. Co-citizen ��?
    All are Allah's creations.. Prophet Mohammed SAW .... show his diginity of responsibility to All the citizens not only for the co- citizen.. if he does only for his citizen means Islam cannot spread.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Agreed, Islam is Universal

    Discrimination of the followers of Islam gives bad impression, and we are going to be judged of our decisions which is not matches with divine instructions.

    ReplyDelete

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