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Scholars use the word “intention” in two senses. Sometimes they mean distinguishing one deed from another, or one act of worship from another. At other times, they mean distinguishing whom one worships and for whose sake one acts.

The first sense appears in their discussions of intention: Is it a condition for purification from ritual impurity? Does fasting require an intention specifying the fast and formed during the preceding night? If someone purifies himself intending an act for which purification is recommended, does that suffice for obligatory purification? Must the intention in prayer specify which prayer is being offered? And other such questions.

The second sense concerns, for example, distinguishing sincere devotion to Allah in one’s deeds from acting for show and reputation. Thus, they asked the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about a man who fights out of bravery, partisan zeal, or a desire to show off: which of these is fighting in Allah’s cause? He replied:

“Whoever fights so that the word of Allah may be supreme is fighting in Allah’s cause.”

This hadith applies to all other deeds. This kind of intention distinguishes someone who seeks Allah and the abode of the Hereafter through his deeds from someone who seeks worldly things: wealth, status, praise, commendation, veneration, and so forth. The hadith directly indicates this kind of intention, although it may be said that its general wording encompasses