acts.

Yet a weightier countervailing consideration may make what is ordinarily preferable less preferable. An example is someone who resides in Mecca while begging, looking expectantly to others for support, and neglecting many righteous deeds. The same applies to someone who seeks to reside in Greater Syria to safeguard his wealth and person, rather than to perform righteous deeds. Actions are judged by intentions.

The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—uttered this noble hadith in connection with migration, saying:

“Actions are judged only by intentions, and each person will have only what he intended. Whoever migrates to Allah and His Messenger, his migration is to Allah and His Messenger. Whoever migrates for worldly gain or to marry a woman, his migration is for that for which he migrated.”

He said this because a man had migrated to marry a woman called Umm Qays, and he became known as ‘the migrant for Umm Qays.’

Judging one group superior to another does not entail that every individual in the former is superior to every individual in the latter. Examples include the superiority of the second generation over the third, of the Arabs over others, and of Quraysh over others. The same principle applies here. And Allah knows best.