The importance of intention

The intention transforms the permissible deed into an act of obedience and an act of worship, so care and attention should be paid to it. it must be sincerely dedicated to Allah Almighty, free from the impurities of hypocrisy and reputation. There is no doubt that correcting the intention, and bringing it up at the beginning of the deed, is one of the greatest things that the worshiper must be keen to do, because it is the criteria for accepting or rejecting the deed. Moreover, it is the indicator of the goodness or corruption of the heart. The heart will not be upright unless it strives to please Allah only with no partners.

The reward is multiplied by the multiplicity of the intention in the same act. If a Muslim enters the mosque in a state of  ablution and prays two units of prayer with the intention of the voluntary prayer of dawn, the Sunnah of ablution, and the Sunnah of greeting the mosque, he will be rewarded for what he intended, and with Allah is the Greatest Bounty.

An-Nawawi, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “If one enters the prayer with the intention of performing the obligatory prayer and the prayer of greeting the mosque, his prayer will be valid and he will be rewarded for both the obligatory prayer and the prayer of greeting the mosque.”

Al-Ghazali, may Allah have mercy on him, said: " the acts of obedience .. are contingent on the intentions, in terms of the original validity and the multiplication of the reward. As for the original; it is to worship Allah alone with no partners. Therefore, if one shows off with his deed then it will turn into an act of disobedience. As for the multiplication of the reward, it relies on the multiplicity of the good intentions for one can have more than one good intention in the same deed so that he receives a reward for each good deed, each good deed will be multiplied ten folds and Allah increases the reward as he likes as confirmed in the authentic Hadith".  

Let us consider this example: Sitting in the mosque:

It is an act of obedience, and it is possible to bear many good intentions so that it becomes one of the virtuous deeds of the righteous, and the doer attains the ranks of those who are close to Allah.

The First: is to believe that it is the house of Allah and that inside it he will be considered a visitor of Allah, so he intends to visit his Lord, hoping to attain the reward promised by the Messenger of Allah, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, who said: " the one who sits in a mosques has visited Allah, and it is due on the visited to honor his visitor"

The Second: To wait for the prayer after performing a  prayer.

The third: Devotion to Allah, contemplation of the hereafter, and repelling one’s diverting concerns by secluding oneself in the mosque.

The Fourth: To free oneself to remember Allah or to listen to his remembrance and to be reminded of him.

The Fifth: To intend to convey the knowledge through ordering what is good and forbidding what is wrong, because in the mosque he may meet people who pray in an improper way or commit a prohibition.

The Sixth: To benefit a brother for the sake of Allah.

The Seventh: To abstain from sins out of shyness from Allah the Most High, and out of shyness from transgressing in the House of Allah what necessitates an offense against its sanctity.

Then ……………

This is a way to multiply the intentions, you may apply the same method on the other acts of obedience and the permissible things. Since there is no act of obedience but it is liable to bear many good intentions. These good intentions will be present in the heart of the servant when he strives to attain the goodness, prepare for it and contemplate on it. In this way, the deeds can be elevated and the deeds may be multiplied