or reveal it, Allah knows it.’ (Āl ʿImrān 29).

A person must therefore purify his intention for Allah alone in every act of worship, seeking by those acts nothing but Allah’s Face and the Abode of the Hereafter.

This is precisely what Allah commanded when He said, “They were not commanded except to worship Allah, devoting the religion purely to Him, and to establish prayer and to give zakah; that is the upright religion.” That is, devoting the deed solely to Him. One must, then, keep the intention of sincerity alive in every form of devotion.

Take wuḍū’ as an example: a worshipper should intend
• the act of purification itself,
• that it is for Allah,
• and that he is performing it in obedience to Allah’s command.
These three together constitute the most complete form of intention.

The same applies to the prayer: first, you intend the particular prayer—whether Dhuhr, ‘Asr, Maghrib, ‘Isha’, Fajr, and so forth; second, you intend that you are praying for Allah alone, not for show or reputation, not to be praised for your prayer, nor to obtain any worldly benefit; third, you remain mindful that you are praying in compliance with your Lord’s order, as He said, “Establish the prayer,” “So establish the prayer,” and, “Establish the prayer and give zakah,” and other similar commands.

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—has cited several verses, all of which indicate that the seat of intention is