Hadeeth 1:
Actions Are By Intention
ʿUmar bin al-Khaṭṭāb
Hadeeth 2:
The Levels of the Religion
ʿUmar bin al-Khaṭṭāb
Hadeeth 3:
The Five Pillars of Islām
ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿUmar
Hadeeth 4:
The Stages of Creation
ʿAbd Allāh bin Masʿūd
Hadeeth 6:
The Doubtful Matters
al-Nuʿmān bin Bashīr
Hadeeth 7:
Sincerity of Purpose
Tamīm al-Dārī
Hadeeth 8:
The Inviolabilty of a Muslim
ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿUmar
Hadeeth 11:
Leaving Doubt
al-Ḥasan bin ʿAlī bin Abī Ṭālib
Hadeeth 14:
Sanctity of a Muslim's Life
ʿAbd Allāh bin Masʿūd
Hadeeth 17:
Kindness to Animals
Shaddād bin ʾAws
Hadeeth 18:
Taqwā and Good Manners
Abū Dharr, Muʿādh bin Jabal
Hadeeth 19:
Faith in al-Qaḍā wal-Qadar
ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAbbās
Hadeeth 21:
Having Istiqāmah Upon Islām
Sufyān bin ʿAbd Allāh
Hadeeth 22:
The Path to Paradise
Jābir bin ʿAbd Allāh
Hadeeth 23:
Purity is Half of Īmān
al-Ḥārith bin ʿĀṣim
Hadeeth 24:
Prohibition of Oppression
Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī
Hadeeth 25:
The Excellence of Dhikr
Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī
Hadeeth 27:
Righteousness and Sin
al-Nawwās bin al-Samʿān
Hadeeth 28:
Sticking to the Sunnah
al-ʿIrbāḍ bin Sāriyah
Hadeeth 32:
There Should Be No Harm
Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī
Hadeeth 33:
The Proof is Upon the Claimant
ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAbbās
Hadeeth 34:
Correcting the Evil
Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī
Hadeeth 37:
Righteous Deeds Explained
ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAbbās
Hadeeth 39:
Mistakes and Forgetfulness
ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAbbās
Hadeeth 40:
Be in the World as a Stranger
ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿUmar
Hadeeth 41:
Following the Prophet
ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAmr bin al-ʿĀṣ




الأعمال بالنيات

1

Actions Are By Intention


عن أميرِ المؤمنينَ [أبي حفصٍ عمرَ بنِ الخطَّابِ] رَضِي اللهُ عَنْهُ قالَ: سَمِعْتُ رسولَ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يقولُ: "إِنَّمَا الأَعْمَالُ بالنِّيَّاتِ وإِنَّمَا لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ ما نَوَى، فَمَنْ كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى اللهِ وَرَسُولِهِ فَهِجْرَتُهُ إِلى اللهِ وَرَسُولِهِ، وَمَنْ كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ لِدُنْيَا يُصِيبُهَا أَو امْرَأَةٍ يَنْكِحُهَا فَهِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى مَا هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِ". رواه إماما المحدِّثينَ: أبو عبدِ اللهِ محمَّدُ بنُ إسماعيلَ بنِ إبراهيمَ بنِ المغيرةِ ابنِ بَرْدِزْبَه البُخاريُّ. وأبو الحُسَيْنِ مسلِمُ بنُ الحجَّاجِ بنِ مُسلمٍ القُشيْريُّ النَّيْسَابوريُّ في صحيحيهما اللَّذين هما أصحُّ الكتُبِ الْمُصَنَّفةِ.

From the Chief of the Believers, Abī Hafṣ ʿUmar bin al-Khaṭṭāb (raḍiyallāhu anhu) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allaah (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wasallam) saying:

"Verily actions are based upon the intentions (behind them) and every man shall have (in accordance) with what he intended. Thus, he whose migration was (for the sake of) Allāh and His Messenger, then his migration was indeed for Allāh and His Messenger. And he whose migration was to attain a portion of the world or to take some woman in marriage, then his migration was for that for which he migrated."

It was related by the two Imāms of the Muḥaddithīn, Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad bin Ismāʿīl bin ʾIbrāhīm bin al-Mughīrah ibn Bardizbah al-Bukhārī and Abū al-Ḥusayn Muslim bin al-Ḥajjāj bin Muslim al-Qushayrī al-Naysabūrī in their two Ṣaḥīḥ compilations which are the most authentic of compiled books.

Related by Muslim, al-Bukhārī

Introduction


The Importance of This Ḥadīth:
This is one of the ḥadīths upon which the whole of Islām revolves. Imām Aḥmad and Imām al-Shāfiʿī (raḥimahumallāh) said: “One third of all knowledge enters into the ḥadīth, ‘Actions are but by intentions’.” as related by al-Bayḥaqī and others. The reason is that a person’s earning occurs through his heart, tongue and limbs, and the intention is one of these three categories, (the heart).
Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd (d. 676H) in Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah, p. 10.
Added by: abuiyaad on 25-03-2019



The Narrator


ʿUmar bin al-Khaṭṭāb:
He is Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar bin al-Khaṭṭāb (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu). He took the khilāfah through appointment by Abū Bakr (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu), and this appointment is an [acccepted] legislative one.
Shaykh Ibn al-ʿUthaymīn in Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah (1435H), p. 9.
Added by: abuiyaad on 25-03-2019


Transmission of the Ḥadīth:
This ḥadīth is mash-hūr in relation to the end part of its chain, but gharīb in relation to its first part. This is because it was not related from the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wasallam) except by ʿUmar bin al-Khaṭṭāb (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu). And no one related it from ʿUmar except ʿAlqamah bin Abī Waqqāṣ. And no one related it from ʿAlqamah except Muḥammad bin Ibrahīm al-Taymī. And no one related it from Ibrahīm except Yaḥyā bin Saʾīd al-Anṣārī. Then it became famous after that and more than 200 people related it, most of them were Imāms (in ḥadīth).
Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd (d. 676H) in Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah, p. 10.
Added by: abuiyaad on 25-03-2019



Regarding Intention (Niyyah)


Actions and Ones Objectives and Pursuits:
Meaning: [That actions] are [judged] in accordance with the objectives of the people and their pursuits. Hence, it is desireable for a Muslim to make his intention sincerely for Allāh in every action that he works, from among the righteous actions.
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān in Al-Minḥat al-Rabbāniyyah (p. 19)
Added by: abuiyaad on 04-04-2019


Righteous Actions, Not Worldly Actions, Need Intentions:
As for the worldly actions, they do not need an intention. Such as when one eats, drinks, puts on clothes or drives his car. These do not require an intention. What is intended by ‘actions’ here are the righteous actions, these are the ones which must be founded upon an intention.
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān in Al-Minḥat al-Rabbāniyyah (p. 19)
Added by: abuiyaad on 04-04-2019


The Intention is Needed for All Commands, Prohibitions and Doubtful Matters:
This ḥadīth is needed in everything, it is needed in fulfilling the commands, avoiding the prohibitions, and leaving the doubtful matters. This is because a duty-bound person is in between a command that is either an obligation or recommendation, or a prohibition that is either unlawful or disliked, or the affair is doubtful, so he abandons in. And [none of] that will not be righteous except through desiring the Face of Allāh—the Lofty and Exalted—by it, and that is the intention.
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ Āl al-Shaykh in Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah (p. 9)
Added by: abuiyaad on 05-04-2019


The Intention is a Cause or Reason for an Actions Validity and Acceptance:
The letter bā (ب) [in ‘based upon the intentions’ (بالنيات)] is for causation (sababiyyah). Meaning, actions are only accepted, or are valid due to the intention. Hence, this is establishment of a general principle.
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ Āl al-Shaykh in Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah (p. 9)
Added by: abuiyaad on 05-04-2019


Intention is in the Heart and not on the Tongue:
The intention (niyyah) around which this ḥadīth revolves, is the intend and desire of the heart. Hence, it is connected to the heart which means that its place is not on the tongue nor the limbs. Rather, its place is in the heart. A persaon intended something (nawā), meaning he intended and desired this thing with this heart. Thus, actions are conditioned by the intent and desire of the heart.
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ Āl al-Shaykh in Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah, p. 25.
Added by: abuiyaad on 06-04-2019



The Nature of Action and What It Comprises


The Action Intended by This Ḥadīth:
Action, what is intended by it is whatever emanates from a duty-bound person and statements enter into it [as well]. Thus, by ‘action’, a separate category to speech (qawl) and belief (iʿtiqād) is not intended [here]. Rather, ‘actions’ here are everything that arises frrom the duty-bound person of both statements and actions. The statements of the heart and the actions of the heart. And the speech of the tongue and the action of the limbs. Thus, everything that relates to faith (īmān) enters into his saying, ‘Verily, actions are by the intentions (behind them)...’, because faith itself is speech and action: The speech of the tongue, the speech of the heart and the action of the heart and the action of the limbs. Thus, everything that emanates from a duty-bound person enters into his saying, ‘Verily, actions are by the intentions (behind them)...’.
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ Āl al-Shaykh in Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah, p. 25.
Added by: abuiyaad on 06-04-2019



Select any of the options below to read commentaries in Arabic on hadith 1 related by ʿUmar bin al-Khaṭṭāb.

Shaykh Ṣaliḥ al-Fawzān
Read the Shaykh's explanation from his book, “Al-Minḥat al-Rabbāniyyah Fī Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah”.

Shaykh ʿAbd al-Muḥsin al-ʿAbbād
Read the Shaykh's explanation from his book, “Fatḥ al-Qawiyy al-Matīn”.

Shaykh Muḥammad bin Ṣāliḥ al-ʿUthaymīn
Read the Shaykh's explanation from his book, “Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah”.

Shaykh Ṣāliḥ Āl al-Shaykh
Read the Shaykh's explanation from his book, “Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah”.

Shaykh Ismaʿīl bin Muḥammad al-Anṣārī
Read the Shaykh's explanation from his book, “Al-Tuḥfah al-Rabbāniyyah Fī Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn Hadīthan al-Nawawiyyah”.