Deprecated: Function av_icon_string is deprecated since version 7.0! Use Use avia_font_manager::html_frontend_shortcut_icon() or similar instead instead. in /wordpress/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114 Deprecated: Function avia_font_manager::frontend_icon is deprecated since version 7.0! Use Use avia_font_manager::get_frontend_icon instead instead. in /wordpress/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114

Actions Are Rewarded Due to Intentions


Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Question: Does one get rewarded for an act one does out of mere habit that corresponds to the sunna?

Answer: Walaikum assalam

The first legal maxim that Ibn Nujaym mentioned in his Ashbah wa’l Nadha’ir is: “There is no reward without intention.” This is one of the most repeated and well-known of legal maxims.

It is taken from the well-known hadith in which the Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace) said, “Verily actions are by their intentions, and one shall only have that which one intended.” [Bukhari & Muslim] The scholars stated that there is something implicit in this hadith, namely: “Verily actions are [rewarded] by their intentions, and one shall only have [the reward] for that which one intended.”

Therefore, if one’s habits or whims are in conformity to the sunna of the Prophet of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace), one should strive to have an intention in it for Allah. Otherwise, it remains a habit. The scholars say, “Through intentions habits become worship.” ( bi’l niyyaat tanqalibul `aadaat `ibaadaat)

Abd Allah ibn Mubarak (Allah be pleased with him), said, “How often it is that a small action becomes great by its intention. And how often it is that a great action becomes small by its intention.” [Dhahabi, Siyar A`lam al-Nubala’, 8: 400]

Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani.