Sahih Al Bukhari , the compilation of ahadith by Imam Bukhari is the most revered book of Ahadith by all Muslims and is lovingly called “bukhari” by many . During my first hadith class, my teacher said, “In a house, if there is a Quran , then there will be a bukhari“, and the picture of a thick book , with a colorful cover and tiny font came to my mind.

 An excitement filled me, as I was soon to get the answer to a question that had hankered in my mind since my teenage years. What was the hadith of “intentions” doing in the beginning of the esteemed bukhari in the first chapter of Book of Revelations?!!

Narrated ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab  : I heard Allah’s Messenger saying, “The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for what he emigrated for.”  1



And Imam ash Shafi has said, “This hadith is one third of all knowledge”.

And alhamdullilah, I got my answer. However, some time passed before I could fully understand the importance of that hadith and its placement in the bukhari. Let me take you down the memory lane on my journey to understand this beautiful and important qawl (saying) of our beloved Messenger of Allah  .



Whenever you read a book or an article, you will always find scope for improvement in terms of how its written or edited, except the Book of Allah  . Every verse in the Quran is in it’s best place and serves a perfect purpose. Interestingly, even though the bukhari consists of over tens of thousands of ahadith, whenever Imam Bukhari sat down to compile the bukhari , he would perform ghusl(bath) and offer 2 rakats (units) of salat -ul-istikhara ( the prayer for guidance) before recording each and every hadith.



So in other words, our beloved bukhari had Allah   as it’s editor!



This hadith talks about “intentions”. To understand the concept of intentions let me begin by asking you a question.

 Have you ever sowed a seed?

Well, when you decided to do that, you picked the best quality seed, dug deep into the ground, placed it carefully in the soil and then covered it with layers of soil and added fertilizers to ensure that it gets good nourishment and sprouts into a healthy plant. Then, you regularly watered the seed, waiting eagerly for it to sprout. While the seed on its part, would struggle with its layers and push out roots that would hold the soil together firmly, so that no storm can easily uproot it. And then it pushed upwards with all its might and you saw a tender little stem coming out of the soil and sighed in relief and happiness at the sight of it.

Our intentions, niyah are like that seed, buried deep inside our hearts, away from everyone’s eyes.

In the dictionary, “intentions” are defined as “an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions.”

These “intentions” are motivations behind our actions and /or behavior. These motives determine our enthusiasm,quality and amount of effort and even our tolerance and perseverance while working. As Muslims, understanding the concept of “intentions” is of utmost importance as Allah   and His Messenger   attach great importance to it.





Allah   evaluates our deeds according to our intentions as He says,



“ It is neither their meat nor their blood that reaches Allah; It is only your piety that reaches Him” (Al Hajj, 22:37)

Dr Hazim Said says that ,“Intentions are the transformative agent in our lives”. An admirable deed can become useless without the right intentions and the smallest of deeds can become huge because of the correct intentions behind them.

So intentions alone would not help us earn Allah’s   pleasure, they have to be the “right” ones!



So as a Muslim, what does “right” intentions mean?

Ikhlaas, sincerity, is the most important element that makes intentions the right one. Just as a seed of a mango tree cannot sprout an apple tree, our actions not done with “sincerity/ikhlaas” will not be accepted by Allah  .



So what is Ikhlaas?

The Arabic word, Ikhlaas is translated as “Sincerity” for us English speakers. Sincerity in Islam is “freeing of one’s intentions from all impurities in order to come nearer to Allah  .”



The dictionary meaning of Sincerity says, “an honesty of mind, freedom from hypocrisy, the quality of being open and truthful, not deceitful or hypocritical.”

Sincere intentions bring peace to our hearts. Anxiety, suspicion, doubt and anger have no room in a heart that harbors sincere intentions. Approval, reward and acknowledgement are all sought only from Allah  .



A peaceful heart finds it easier to connect to Allah  , thereby helping us improve the quality of our relationship with Allah   and with the people as well. Allah   rewards a person by granting him/her with the ability to do more good deeds with sincere intentions as He   says in the Quran,









“Indeed, Allah does not do injustice, [even] as much as an atom’s weight; while if there is a good deed, He multiplies it and gives from Himself a great reward.” (An Nisa, 4:40)

Good deeds done with conscious sincere intentions are great Imaan boosters. Sincerity act like roots that the seed of intentions sprouts to hold on tightly to the soil, so that any wind laden with emotions like pride, arrogance,anger or revenge cannot uproot it.

We now know that that all intentions behind every single act of worship and obedience to Allah  are exclusively for seeking His pleasure alone. May Allah     make us of those who have sincere intentions, Ameen.

Sincerity act like roots that the seed of intentions sprouts to hold on tightly to the soil, so that any wind laden with emotions like pride, arrogance,anger or revenge cannot uproot it.





In sha Allah, in the next article,  we will talk about how Shaitan tricks us into turning our good intentions into bad ones, and how we can strive to keep our intentions sincere.

1.  Bukhari, Vol. 1, Book 1, Hadith 1







Part II
To be continue

In part I, we talked about the importance of intentions and sincerity in Islam and why we should pay attention to them. In sha Allah in this part, we will talk about the role that shaitan plays in corrupting our intentions and how we can safeguard ourselves.

Imagine — You are a king who lives in a castle which has many valuable treasures. A fierce enemy has launched an attack on you to wrest away the castle with those valuable treasures from you. What will you do? You will fight till your last breath with all that you have to defeat the enemy. This is real life for you and me.

We are the kings that have to protect the valuable intentions that are inside our hearts, as they are the key to paradise. And Shaitan will do ANYTHING to destroy them. Hence, it is of UTMOST importance to learn how to protect our intentions. If we knew where these intentions lived, it would be easier to protect them, as we would put more safety measures around that area. 

So where do these intentions live?

Intentions reside in our hearts. They are buried deep in the layers of our hearts, just as the seed is buried deep within the soil. An-Nu`man ibn Bashir (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that Prophet Muhammad   said,



“Beware! There is a piece of flesh in the body, if it becomes good (i.e., Reformed), the whole body becomes good, but if it gets spoilt, the whole body gets spoilt, and that is the heart.” 1

So let’s learn how to build a fortress around our hearts to prevent Shaitan from coming near it and also learn how to strengthen our hearts so that if in case Shaitan does get in, our hearts can fight and push Shaitan out of the way.

Protection from the Outside:

Du’a-
A dua a day keeps Shaitan away. Duas act as a fortress for a Muslim. They protect our hearts from the attack of shaitan from the outside. They guard the heart as intentions are buried deep within its layers, known only to Allah  as



“.. Indeed, Allah is Knowing of that within the breasts.” 2

The morning and evening duas, the duas before entering the bathroom, saying Bismillah before eating amongst others act as a means of protection from Shaitan’s attacks.

They conceal [their evil intentions and deeds] from the people, but they cannot conceal [them] from Allah, and He is with them [in His knowledge] when they spend the night in such as He does not accept of speech. And ever is Allah, of what they do, encompassing. 3

Protection from Inside:

1. Increasing in Repentance and constant remembrance of Allah   -



“Every son of Adam sins, and the best of those who sin are those who repent.” 4

and

“Will they not turn with repentance to Allah and ask His forgiveness? For Allah is Oft‑Forgiving, Most Merciful” 5

Repentance cleanses the heart just as water cleanses us. It strengthens the heart to fight shaitan if he ends up sneaking inside the fortress we’ve built.

“O you who believe! Turn to Allah with sincere repentance!” 6

It’s really beneficial to make a habit of constantly being in the state of some form of dhikr such as “Alhamdullilah”, “SubhanAllah”,”La illaha ha illalah”, as they humble the heart because it is constantly aware of the Might of Allah  . This in turn would keep away emotions like pride and arrogance.



2. Seek Knowledge  and Introspect

Knowledge is power. And this power is essential for the heart to fight shaitan and keep it away from the seeds of intentions buried deep within. Knowledge of the Quran gives a person the criterion between black, white and gray.

As Allah  says,



“…the Qur’an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion..”7

Knowledge that is internalized is the only knowledge that proves beneficial for a person. Acting upon the knowledge and introspecting upon oneself is an essential act for strengthening the heart.

One day, a dear friend told me that she could actually figure out what her intentions were or the reasons behind certain thoughts since she had started seeking knowledge of the Quran; and this helped her immensely in keeping her intentions in check. SubhanAllah!

3. Make a Habit of Checking Intentions

This has been stressed upon by many scholars. They say that checking and re-checking intentions helps in keeping them pure as one can feel the moment any corruption in them begins.

4. Start a Secret Good Habit with Good Intentions

Arrogance and self-acclaim are destructive emotions that nullify deeds. They creep in slowly and sometimes blatantly in our hearts. We need to pay attention to our tone of voice and the choice of words we use to talk about an act, as they are the first to manifest these emotions. Hence, starting a habit and keeping it secret is counter intuitive to these emotions. Praying Tahajjud and not telling anyone about it, keeping the tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah   , secretly helping the needy are some examples of private habits that we could develop in sha Allah.



Our hearts are the bastions of power. Its ruler determines the direction in which we will go. We need to strive constantly to protect it from the tricks of Shaitan in order to prevent it from corruption and also, constantly reinforce it with Allah’s   help. In the end, I would like to leave you with duas that Allah  and His Messenger  taught us to keep our hearts strong;







“Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred 8

and

“Oh turner of the hearts (Allah, the Most High), keep our hearts firm on your religion” 9

1.  Al-Bukhari ↩

2.  Quran, Chapter 3, Verse 119 ↩

3.  Quran, Chapter 4, Verse:108 ↩

4.  Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2499; classed as Hasan by al-Albaani ↩

5.  al-Maa’idah 5:74 ↩

6.  al-Tahreem 66:8 ↩

7.  Quran, Chapter 2, Verse: 185 ↩

8.  Quran, Chapter 2, verse 286 ↩

9.  al-Albanee