It is narrated on the
authority of Amirul Mu'minin, Abu Hafs 'Umar bin al-Khattab (ra) who said:
I heard the Messenger of
Allah (ﷺ) say: "Actions are
(judged) by motives (niyyah), so each man will have what he intended. Thus, he
whose migration (hijrah) was to Allah and His Messenger, his migration is to
Allah and His Messenger; but he whose migration was for some worldly thing he
might gain, or for a wife he might marry, his migration is to that for which he
migrated." [Bukhari & Muslim]
". Reference : 40 Hadith Nawawi 1 English translation
As-salamu alaykum wa
RahmatuLlahi wa Barakatuhu
In the name of Allah, the
Most Gracious the most Merciful
Alhamdu liLlah, we have been
given another opportunity to study the teachings and traditions of our Noble
Prophet Muhammad SAW.
In our previous class which
was just introductory, we took our first hadith from the book of Imam an-Nawawi
and I hope some of our members have at least made efforts to learn how to read
this hadith if not memorize it. In shaa Allah today we shall give a little
explanation and insight into this hadith. May Allah ease our affairs.
It is actually amazing that
this hadith was not narrated by anyone of the companions of the Messenger of
Allah SAW except Umar RA with its importance. But for this hadith there are a
lot of testimonies and supports in the Qur’an
and also the Sunnah of the Prophet SAW.
In the Qur’an,
Allah SWA says, “and you do not give out in charity except to seek the
face(pleasure) of Allah” al-Baqara 272. And
this statement ‘to seek the face of Allah’
is referring to niyyah. Allah again says, “Muhammad
is the Messenger of Allah SAW, and the people with him are stringent upon the
kuffar yet merciful among each other, you see them bowing and in prostration
seek favour from Allah and also His Pleasure…”
this is also referring to niyyah.
And the Messenger of Allah
SAW said in a hadith to Sa’ad bin Abi Waqqas RA,
“and know that you do not give out anything in charity
seeking with the countenance with Allah except that you are rewarded for it
even if it is a morsel of food you put in the mouth of your wife.”
So we realise that this
hadith which we are studying and was also narrated by Umar RA has been emphasized
and confirmed by both the Qur’an and the Sunnah.
And this hadith is attributed only to Umar RA. He is the only one from the
companions of the Prophet SAW to have narrate this hadith. Meanwhile the
Prophet gave this hadith in a Friday sermon.
Allahu Akbar. Notwithstanding
that, this hadith is accepted by all and sundry and no one can doubt it
authenticity.
Among some of the purposes of
niyyah is to differentiate habits from worship. It also differentiates certain
acts of worship from other acts of worship.
Taking a look at its purpose
to differentiate acts of worship from habits let us take the following
scenario:
A man takes food solely to
satisfy his hunger, and another man takes his food in compliance or having in
mind the command of Allah in which He said, “and eat and drink” (al-a’raf 31).
Now, the eating of the second
man is worship and the eating of the first man is just a habit.
Let’s
look at a second scenario:A man bath with water in order to cool his body, and
another man baths in order to attain ritual purity, in this case, the first man’s
bath is a habit and the second man’s bath is worship.
And in respect to this if a man were to be in a state of ritual impurity and
then he jumped into a pool of water in order to cool his body and after that he
performed Salah, his Salah is not valid because of the intention with which he
jumped into the pool. He jumped in it to cool his body and not to attain ritual
purity.
As a result of this some of
the scholars have a statement which goes, “the
habits of the conscious one are worship and the worship of the negligent ones
are habits.
So you will see that a man
wears nice clothes to the masjid just to look nice but he has no reward for it
because his intention was just to look nice. Something which could be born out
of habit or an external influence. But another man dresses nicely to the masjid
in accordance to the statement of Allah or command of Allah to us to approach
each Salah with the best appearance. This man earns reward for his actions just
because of his intention.Another purpose of niyyah is to differentiate one act
of worship from another and we shall take examples of that also:
A man prays two rakats with
the intention of it being an optional prayer and another man prays the same two
rakats with the intention of it being a compulsory Salah. We realise that the
two actions are the same both being made up of two rakats and that the only
thing that differentiated them was the intention/niyyah.
We need to know that this
niyyah we are talking about, or the intention we are talking about is in the
heart. It is not made by uttering, you are about to worship the One Who Knows
that which the eye cannot see and Knows that which is hidden in the hearts of
men.Allah the Most High Knows that which is in the heart of His servant and it
isn’t as if when you are about to worship, you are
worshipping someone who does not know what you want until you tell Him. You are
standing before the One who knows what your soul whispers to itself.Therefore,
the uttering of intention is bid’ah. An innovation.
Whether it is uttered out loud or silently.
And the statement of the
Messenger, and everyone shall get only that which he intended, refers to the
actions or the intentions of the one who is making the actions or the deeds.
And a lot of people have fallen prey in this.
You will find that two men
are praying in the same Salah in the same masjid yet these two men are very far
away from each other in terms of rewards the distance between the east and the
west. This is because one of them is sincere in his prayer and the latter is
not sincere.
And you will find two people
who seeking knowledge of Tawheed, or Fiqh, or Tafseer, or hadith and yet one of
them is closer to Jannah, the other is closer to Jahannam. This is because one
of them is studying on order to become a prominent person in the society and a
rich person and a judge, meanwhile the other is seeking the knowledge in order
to become one the scholar among the scholars of the Ummah of the Messenger SAW
and teach its people this knowledge.
Alhamdu-liLlah, we shall end
here. May Allah SWA grant us beneficial knowledge, may He forgive us our sins
and may He grant us Jannah.
But we shall take our next
hadith for next week in shaa Allah
As-salamu alaykum wa
Rahmatu-Llahi wa Barakatuhu
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