This document provides a summary and commentary on several hadiths relating to intentions and actions. It discusses how Allah looks at hearts and deeds, the superiority of praying in congregation, intentions behind actions like fighting or making ablution, and how changing or carrying out intentions impacts how deeds are recorded. Changing intention from evil to good is recorded as a good deed, while changing from good to evil or executing an evil intention is recorded as a bad deed. Commentary provides context and interpretation of different views on how intentions are written.

1. Riyaad-us-Saliheen
Sincerity and Significance of Intentions and all Actions,
Apparent and Hidden
Taught by Br Wajdi Akkari
Commentary of Shaikh Ibn Uthaymeen
Lesson 2

2. Hadith
Related Ma'n ibn Yazeed ibn al Akhnas (may Allah be pleased with them). Ma'n, his
father, and his grandfather were Companions. He (Ma'n) said: Abee Yazeed (the father)
took out an amount of deenars' in order to donate them in charity. He placed them
with a man in the Mosque, I came and took them [from him], and then went [with the
deenars] to him (i.e., his father Abee Yazeed), He said: By Allah, I did not want that. I
therefore disputed with him and went to the Messenger of Allah ‫.'ﷺ‬ He said: For you
that which you intended 0 Yazeed, and for you that which you took 0 Ma'n.
[Al-Bukhari]

3. Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) narrated, the Messenger of Allah ‫ﷺ‬ said, “Allah does
not look at your bodies nor your images, rather he looks at your hearts and your deeds.”
[Muslim]
(The Hadith was initially found in Riyad-Us-Saliheen without the 'and your deeds' part at the end)
• Shaikh Albani – A very important addition as when you tell someone to not cut the beard or
imitate the kuffar they may use it as an excuse saying Allah does not look at their image but
their heart. With the addition of 'your deeds'; not shaving the beard is a good deed. Whoever
then does a deed according to the Sunnah, Allah will reward him, and whoever does something
against the Sunnah, it will not be accepted.
• Whoever introduces into this affair of ours that which is not of it, it will be rejected.
• We cannot imagine the soundness of the heart without the soundness of the deeds and we
cannot imagine the soundness of the deeds without the soundness of the heart. They are not
two separate things.
• Abu 'Abdullah al-Nu'man bin Bashir said the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬ said: ‘Beware, in the body there is a
flesh; if it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt, and
behold, it is the heart’. [Bukhari]
• Verily Allah is beautiful and he loves beauty
• Zuhud is not that you should not own anything, but that nothing should own you.
Hadith

4. It was narrated that Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari said: “The Prophet (‫)ﷺ‬ was asked about
a man who fights to prove his courage, or out of pride and honour for his close
relatives, or to show off. So he was asked Which one of these is in the cause of
Allah? The Messenger of Allah (‫)ﷺ‬ said: ‘Whoever fights so that the Word of Allah
may be supreme is the one who (is fighting) in the cause of Allah.’”
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Hadith

5. It has been related by Abu Bakrah Nufay'i ibn al-Haarith al-Thaqaafee (may Allah be
pleased with him), that the Prophet (‫)ﷺ‬ said: If two Muslims meet with their swords,
the killer and the one killed shall be [placed] in the fire. I said: 0 Messenger of Allah
‫,ﷺ‬ this is the killer [his affair is clear], what of the one killed? He ‫ﷺ‬ said: Indeed he
desired to kill his companion.
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
• This is due to his intention
• For example someone who intends to do a bad deed but is unable to commit it
due to some preventive means he will still receive the sin of the intent.
• However if he changes his mind before committing the sin, it is counted as a
good deed
Hadith

6. It has been related by Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The
Prophet ‫'ﷺ‬ said: The prayer of an individual in congregation is superior to his prayer in his
house or in his place of business by 27 times (some narrations report 20 or 25 times).
This relates to the Hadith: Abu Hurayrah said: A blind man came to the Prophet (‫)ﷺ‬ and
said, “O Messenger of Allah, I do not have anyone to lead me to the mosque,” and he asked
the Messenger of Allah (‫)ﷺ‬ to grant him a concession allowing him to pray in his house. He
granted him that concession, then when he turned to leave he called him back and said,
“Can you hear the call to prayer?” He said, “Yes.” He said, ‘Then answer it.”
When one [individual from amongst] you perfects his ablution, then proceeds towards the
Mosque, his motive [for doing so] only being to [perform] the prayer, desiring nothing
besides it. He shall not take a single step except he will be raised in degree by it, and a
misdeed shall be erased from him until he enters the Mosque. When he enters the Mosque,
he is deemed to be in prayer as long as the prayer detains him. The Angels send prayers
upon each one of you providing he remains in the place wherein he prayed, they say: 0 Allah
have mercy upon him, 0 Allah forgive him, 0 Allah accept his repentance. [They continue to
do so providing] he does not cause any inconvenience to another, and as long as he is in a
state of ablution.
[Agreed upon. This is the text of Muslim]
Hadith

7. • This is based upon a person’s Niyyah
• Prophet Muhammad (saw) said: “When one of you performs the wudhu and
does it well, then goes out heading to the masjid, let him not interlace his fingers,
for he is in a state of Salaah.”
[Abu Dawud Hadith]
Commentary

8. It has been related by Abu 'Abbaas 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbaas ibn 'Abdul Muttalib (may Allah be
pleased with them both) from the Messenger of Allah (‫,)ﷺ‬ concerning that which he narrated
from his Lord the Most Blessed, the Exalted, who said: Indeed Allah has written righteous
actions and evil actions. Then he (‫)ﷺ‬ clarified [each category]: Whosoever resolved to perform
a righteous action and did not do so, Allah the Blessed, the Exalted, shall record it as a single
good deed. If [the individual] resolved to perform a [righteous action], and then did so, Allah
shall record it as ten good deeds up to seven hundred, multiplied many times more, If [the
individual] resolved to perform an evil action and did not execute it (if it is a change of
intention), Allah shall record it as a single good deed. If [the individual] resolved to perform
[an evil action] and executed it, Allah shall record it as a single bad deed.
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
• This hadith is a manifestation of Allah’s mercy
• The Hadith beginning could be interpreted in two ways; the first one that they could be
written in the preserved tablet (Al-Lawh-ul Mahfudh) – Allah says “Indeed, all things We
created with predestination.” [54:49] “And everything, small and big is written (in Al-Lawh-
ul Mahfudh already beforehand)” [54:53]
• The other is that it is written in the book of deeds of the servant that will be presented for
him on the day of Judgement. And Allah will write that depending on Allah’s wisdom and
depending on what He sees fit due to His Justice and His Bounty
Hadith