seeking Allah’s help in following the path of His allies and those He loves:

Yahyā ibn Sa‘īd al-Ansārī narrated from Muhammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Taymī, from ‘Alqamah ibn Waqqās al-Laythī, from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb—may Allah be pleased with him—who said:

“I heard the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—say:

‘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 some worldly gain or to marry a woman, his migration is for that which he migrated.’”

This is an authentic hadith whose authenticity is unanimously accepted. The Muslim community has received it with acceptance and belief in its truth, although it is among the singular authentic hadiths. For although it has been narrated from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—through multiple chains, as collected by Ibn Mandah and other leading hadith scholars, hadith scholars agree that none of these chains is authentic except the aforementioned chain through ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb—may Allah be pleased with him. No one narrated it from him except ‘Alqamah ibn Waqqās al-Laythī; no one narrated it from ‘Alqamah except Muhammad ibn Ibrāhīm; and no one narrated it from Muhammad except Yahyā ibn Sa‘īd al-Ansārī, the judge of Medina.

The leading scholars of Islam narrated it from Yahyā ibn Sa‘īd. It is said that some two hundred scholars narrated it from him, including Mālik, al-Thawrī, Ibn ‘Uyaynah, Hammād and Hammād, ‘Abd al-Wahhāb al-Thaqafī, Abū Khālid al-Ahmar, Zā’idah, and Yahyā ibn Sa‘īd