Tayseer al-ʿAllaam: Commentary on ʿUmdat al-Ahkaam
by al-Bassam
Book of Purification
Intention and its Rulings
From the Commander of the Believers, Abu Hafs ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say:
“Actions are only by intentions, and every person will have only what he intended. Whoever’s migration was to Allah and His Messenger, then his migration is to Allah and His Messenger. But whoever’s migration was for some worldly gain he hoped to attain, or for a woman he wished to marry, his migration is to that for which he migrated.”
Explanation of unfamiliar terms:
1- “Actions are only by intentions.” The particle innamā denotes exclusivity, restricting the ruling to what follows. Here it confines the judgment of actions to intentions, as though he said, “No actions are valid except with intentions,” thereby negating that ruling for anything else.
2- “Intention” (niyyah) in language means “purpose,” and it appears in the singular form in most narrations. Al-Bayḍāwī said: “Niyyah is the heart’s movement toward what it deems suitable for an objective, whether to obtain benefit or repel harm.” Technically, it is the resolve to perform an act of worship in order to draw near to Allah, Exalted is He.
3- “So whoever’s migration …” is an example that confirms and clarifies the preceding principle.
4- “So whoever’s migration …” is a conditional clause.
5- “His migration is to Allah and His Messenger” is the apodosis of that condition. The condition and its response coincide because the meaning is: “Whoever’s migration is to Allah and His Messenger—intention and aim—then his migration is to Allah and His Messenger—reward and recompense.”
Overall meaning:
This is a tremendous hadith and a magnificent principle among the principles of Islam; it is the correct standard by which deeds are weighed—whether they are accepted or rejected, and whether the reward is great or small. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informs us that the pivot of deeds is intentions: if the intention is sound and the deed