Deeds are by Intentions

Assalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuh, Auzu Billahi Minashaytanir Rajeem. Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem, Wassalatu Wassalamu ala Rasulina Muhammadin Sayyidul Awwalin wal Akhirin, Madad Ya Rasulallah, Madad Ya Sadat As’habi RasuLillah, Madad Ya Mashayikhina, Dastur Mawlana Sheikh Abdullah Faiz Daghestani, Sheikh Nazim al-Haqqani. Madad. Tariqatunas sohba, wal khayru fil jamiyya.

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ says in Hadith Sharif, “Actions are but by intentions”. Your deeds are according to your intentions. Whoever intends for Allah ﷻ will be rewarded by Allah ﷻ. It is the first Hadith of Al-Arba’in An-Nawawiyah - the Forty Hadiths of An-Nawawi. It is from his Hadiths. Whoever had these forty Hadiths written is rewarded. And this was the first Hadith:, “Actions

are but by intentions, and each person will have but that which he intended.”

It was regarding Hijrah. Whoever intends Hijrah for Allah ﷻ, Allah ﷻ will give him its reward. There was a man who loved a woman, and he migrated in order to marry her. His intention could be for Allah ﷻ or something else. Whatever his intention is, his Hijrah will be according to it. It was an obligation to make Hijrah from Makkah to Madinah in old times. But the intention was also important. They had to make Hijrah for Allah ﷻ. If a man travelled for a woman, marriage or other worldly things, he made Hijrah for that; not for Allah ﷻ but for Dunyā.

Why are we telling this? Very often, people do things and say, “I did it for you, I did it for him”. When you do something, you should do it for Allah ﷻ. Allah ﷻ is eternal, whereas a servant is temporary. He may live for 5, 10, 20 or 100 years and then he will pass away. And if you say “I did it for you”, go and ask him for a reward then. But when you do it for the pleasure of Allah ﷻ, you won’t remind anyone that you did that favor for them. If you remind people of a favor you did for them, then your reward is not from Allah ﷻ. There won’t be any reward with that reminding. No reward, no Thawab, nothing. You don’t remind people of things that are done for Allah ﷻ. When you say “I did for this, I did for that”, everything you did is over, it will be reset. Even if you do a whole lot, just like you press on a button on a machine and it resets, it is the same. And when your deeds are for Allah ﷻ, Allah ﷻ will reward you. You will get the benefit for your deeds. If you do something to show off, to say “I did this and I did that”, everything you do will bring nothing but tiredness and waste of money. And you will put everything on reset.

Therefore, this is important. As we said, it is the first Hadith. When we started Madrasah, this was the first lesson in the first grade. Indeed, it is a very important thing. If people know it, they will know that they live for Allah ﷻ and that they should do everything for the pleasure of Allah ﷻ. If they do it for the approval and appreciation of others, it will have no value. It’s enough that Allah ﷻ knows. As they say, “Do goodness, for if a fish doesn’t see, the Creator sees it” [Turkish saying], “Cast your bread upon the water”, for Allah ﷻ is the one who created everything. Allah ﷻ is Al Khaliq, The Creator.

Muslims of the present time do everything for showing off. When a man eats something, he takes his picture and shows it to people. He does something else and shows it to people. What’s the world coming to? May Allah ﷻ improve us and give us all understanding.

Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq. Al-Fatiha.

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 4 September 2021/27 Muharram 1443 Fajr Prayer, Akbaba Dergah