Thirty-Seventh Principle: Giving due weight to intentions when assigning rulings

Allah takes a person’s purpose and will into account when attaching legal rulings to his deeds. The Prophet ﷺ gave explicit voice to this great foundation when he said, “Actions are only judged by intentions” (agreed upon).

What concerns us here is that a multitude of Qur’anic verses affirm this principle. Foremost among them is that Allah conditions the attainment of magnificent reward on performing deeds solely for His Face. After mentioning charity, acts of kindness, and reconciling people, He says in Sūrat an-Nisāʾ: “Whoever does that seeking Allah’s good pleasure, We shall grant him a tremendous reward” (4:114). Likewise in Sūrat al-Baqarah: “Those who spend their wealth seeking Allah’s pleasure” (2:265); whereas, in contrast, He warns against doing so “for show before the people” (2:264).

Allah also describes His Prophet, the best of His creation, the Companions—may Allah be pleased with them—and those who follow them as “seeking bounty from Allah and His good pleasure.” Concerning the option of taking one’s wife back after a revocable divorce, He says in Sūrat al-Baqarah: “Their husbands have a better right to take them back during that period, if they intend reconciliation” (2:228).

He further states: “Allah will not call you to account for what is unintentional in your oaths, but He will call you to account for what your hearts have earned” (2:225). On inheritance He says: “after any bequest he may have made, or debt, provided it does not harm (the heirs)” (4:12). And: “If they willingly remit to you anything of it, then consume it with good cheer and pleasure” (4:4).

He commands: “Do not consume your wealth among yourselves wrongfully” (2:188), and: “If you mingle with them, they are your brothers; Allah knows the corrupter from the reformer” (2:220). Finally, in the believers’ supplication He teaches: “Our Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or make a mistake” (2:286).