‘Abdullah bin ‘Abbas reported:
فمن همّ بحسنة فلم يعملها كتبها الله تبارك وتعالى عنده حسنة كاملة، وإن هم بها فعملها كتبها الله عشر حسنات إلى سبعمائه ضعف إلى أضعاف كثيرة، وإن هم بسيئة فلم يعملها كتبها الله عنده حسنة كاملة، وإن همّ بها فعملها كتبها الله سيئة واحدة
He who intends to do a good deed but he does not do it, then Allah records it for him as a full good deed, but if he carries out his intention, then Allah the Exalted, writes it down for him as from ten to seven hundred folds, and even more. But if he intends to do an evil act and has not done it, then Allah writes it down with Him as a full good deed, but if he intends it and has done it, Allah writes it down as one bad deed.
Alhamdulillah!Much like my last attempt to write about Intention, I got started on a draft, then got stuck, and here we are.
The main point of Intention in Islam is, I think, that we have the correct intention. What is the correct intention? Well, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala told us:
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.
مَا أُرِيدُ مِنْهُم مِّن رِّزْقٍ وَمَا أُرِيدُ أَن يُطْعِمُونِ
I do not want from them any provision, nor do I want them to feed Me.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الرَّزَّاقُ ذُو الْقُوَّةِ الْمَتِينُ
Indeed, it is Allah who is the [continual] Provider, the firm possessor of strength.
We were created solely to worship Allah. At the same time, though, He gave us free will: we choose to worship Him or to worship other than Him. InshaAllah, if we can straighten out our intentions, if we can align our intentions and actions towards worshiping Him, InshaAllah, He will reward us on the Day of Judgement.
