Salah & Intentions

[MuslimahAK]

Bismillahir Arahman ir Rahim

Salamu Alaikum!

I am curious, for improving my salah, what should my intentions be? I have recently realised that intentions are a big part of ibadah, not just the actions themselves.

Shukran.

[Hassan-]

Everything revolves around your intention. You could give a poor person food with the intention to feed him or with the intention to look good in front of people. Both intentions resulted in the same action, but one intention was good and the other was bad. Allah doesn't look at just the action that's being done, He also looks at the person's intention if it was good or bad.

For salah, intention is the first act you do. if you're praying the Fajr for example, you need to intend in your heart that you're about to pray the obligatory Fajr prayer, than you say the Takbeer and start praying. If you want to do Qada for duhr, your intention needs to be Qada for duhr. If you want to pray a mustahab salah such as salatul layl, your intention needs to be for salatul layl.

[mesbah]

W Salam

Chapter 2: Sincerity

One of the important disciplines of the niyyah, which is of the important parts of all worships and of the general and comprehensive instructions, is “sincerity”. Its nature is purging the act of worship from the impurity of doing it for other than Allah, and clearing the heart from discerning anything other than Allah, the Exalted, in all formal, intellectual, external, and internal acts.

It achieves its perfection by absolutely neglecting the other [than Allah], and decisively pounding upon I-ness, selfishness, the other and the otherness. Allah, the Exalted, says:

“Surely Allah's is the pure religion.”5

So, if the religion was mixed with any selfish and satanic desires, it would not be pure; and that which is not pure is not acceptable to Allah, and that which has a blemish of otherness and selfishness is outside the limits of Allah's religion..

Chapter 3: A Brief Account On Some Stages Of Sincerity To Fit Within These Papers

One of these stages is to purge the act, whether cordial or formal, from the blemish of acquiring the creatures' pleasure and attracting their hearts for the sake of a praise, and advantage or anything else. And the counterfeit of it is the act performed hypocritically, which is a juristic hypocrisy and is the meanest of all degrees of hypocrisies, and such a hypocrite is the lowest and meanest of all hypocrites.

The second stage is to purge the act from wanting the fulfillment of mundane objectives and transient desires, although these acts may be fulfilled in order to attain Allah's grace, such as performing night salāts [nāfilah] for improving one's sustenance, or performing the salāt of the first day of the month, for example, in order to be safe from the plights of the month, or giving out alms to ward off diseases, and other worldly objectives.

Some jurisprudents (may Allah's mercy be upon them) regard this degree of sincerity to be necessary for the correctness of the acts of worship, in case the objective of performing the act is to attain it. But this is contrary to investigation according to the juristic rules. Yet, this salāt has no value, whatsoever, in the eyes of the people of knowledge, and it is like all other lawful gains, or maybe even lower.

The third stage is to purge the act from trying to attain corporeal paradises, houris, luxurious abodes and the likes of the corporeal pleasures. Its counterfeit is the worship of the traders, as is described in the noblehadīths. This, too, is, to the people of Allah, similar to other gains, though the wage of the acts of this trader is more and higher, in case he carries them out and rids them from the formal viles.

The fourth stage is to purify the act from being afraid of the threatened bodily punishment and torture. The counterfeit of this is the worship of the slaves, as is mentioned in the narratives.13

To the people of the heart, this kind of worship is also of no value and far from being a service to Allah, while, to the people of knowledge, it makes no difference if a man performs an act out of fearing the penalties and punishments of this world or the tortures of the Hereafter, or for the purpose of possessing worldly women, or for obtaining the paradisiac women, none of them will be for Allah, and they [only] show the intention [reason=dā'ī] for the performance of an act, which, according to juristic rules, takes the act out of formal invalidity. But in the market of the people of knowledge this stuff is of no value.

The fifth stage is to purge the act from trying to attain intellectual happiness and everlasting spiritual pleasures, and to join the cherubim, the group of the sacred intellects and the favorite angels. Its counterfeit is acting for this purpose. Although this stage is great and an important goal, and the wise men and researchers attach great importance to this stage of happiness and regard it very valuable, yet, in the ways of the people of Allah, this stage has also its shortcomings in sulūk, and its sālik is also regarded as a trader or a worker, though his trade and business are different, in many ways, from those of others.

Generally if you want to improve your Salat, you HAVE to read this book, it might be difficult (via translation), but it's definitely worth it:

https://www.al-islam.org/adab-as-salat-disciplines-of-prayer-second-revised-edition-imam-khomeini

[ahmedhen]

We can ponder on the meaning of takbir: how Allah the Exalted is beyond description, how lowly we are before Him. Since it's the month of Ramadhan and we are often feeling hungry and thirsty during the day, we can try to imagine our state on the Day of Judgement, how hungry and thirsty (literally and figuratively) we will be. Then we think to ourselves: Ya Allah, there are many things calling upon me. The dunya is calling; Shaitan is calling; I kind of want to check my phone etcetc. But it's time for salah so I put everything behind and focus on You only. Then we ask Him to help us and grant us the sincerity and ability to fulfill the rights of salah. And off we go. 

[MuslimahAK]

thank you all for the help.

I have been wanting to do more research on this as I just recently realised that intentions are a lot more important than I thought they were. And I really have to rethink my salah now.

and if I am correct, going to Jennah, not going to hellfire, etc. those are all supposed to be secondary to the intention ofpleasing Allah? Are there intentions with Salah that have anything to do with Ahlul Bayt?

[mesbah]

2 hours ago, MuslimahAK said:

Are there intentions with Salah that have anything to do with Ahlul Bayt?

What do you mean?

There are Salat al ziyara and salat al niyaba, but the intention in them must be completely for Allah swt, only its reward, thawab, will be sent as gift to Ah lulbayt a, like Salawat.

[ahmedhen]

There are certain surahs in the Qur'an for which there are well known interpretations that have to do with the Ahlul Bayt. For example, Surah Qadr is very much related to Sayyida Fatima (blessings be upon her):

http://purifiedhousehold.com/fatima-as-and-laylat-al-qadr/

It is against the etiquette of reciting the Qur'an to reject esoteric meanings of surahs. (There's a section on Qur'anic recitation here: https://www.al-islam.org/suluk-al-arifan-spiritual-journey-of-the-mystics/splendour-and-eminence-supplications-compiled-ahlul#1-etiquette-holy-quran-and-supplications)

And there shouldn't be any contradictions between a pure intention in salah and using the Ahlul Bayt (peace and blessings be upon them) as means to Allah (the Exalted). 

[Botak]

On 6/22/2017 at 6:35 PM, mesbah said:

The second stage is to purge the act from wanting the fulfillment of mundane objectives and transient desires, although these acts may be fulfilled in order to attain Allah's grace, such as performing night salāts [nāfilah] for improving one's sustenance, or performing the salāt of the first day of the month, for example, in order to be safe from the plights of the month, or giving out alms to ward off diseases, and other worldly objectives.

I guess I am still in between this stage and the next. My intention for prayer is to please God. And my intention to please God is probaby 35% avoiding hell, 30% feeling good and no anxiety, 20% getting rich in this world, 10% reaching heaven, 5% being grateful (really inaccurate but you get the picture)

Does this mean my prayer is worthless then?

(Also oops sorry for necro)

Edited November 7, 2024 by Botak

[Ashvazdanghe]

On 11/7/2024 at 6:07 AM, Botak said:

Does this mean my prayer is worthless then?

Salam surely your prayer is not worthless although take it easy & leave everything in hand of Allah.  

Related thread

 

 

Edited November 9, 2024 by ShiaChat Mod
typo