Bi ismillahi rahmani raheem
assalamu alaikum
IMAM NAWAWI'S COMMENTARY ON THE HADITH:
"ACTIONS ARE ACCORDING TO INTENTIONS"
Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem
was-salaat was-salaam `alaa Rasul-illah wa 'alaa alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam
[1]
It is related from the Commander of the Believers Abu Hafs `Umar
ibn al-Khattab -- may God be well pleased with him -- that he
said: "I heard God's Messenger say :
"Actions are only according to intentions, and to
each only what he intended. Whoever emigrates towards God and His
Messenger, his emigration is towards God and His Messenger;
whoever emigrates for the attainment of a worldly goal or in order
to marry a woman, then his emigration is only towards what he
emigrated to."
The two imams of hadith: Abu `Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Isma`il ibn
Ibrahim ibn al-Mughira ibn Bardizbah al-Bukhari and Abu al-Husayn
Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj ibn Muslim al-Qushayri al-Nisaburi narrated
it in their two collections of sound hadith which are the
soundest of all hadith compilations.
The hadith indicates that the intention is a yardstick for making
one's actions sound. Only insofar as the intention is correct is
the action correct, and insofar as the intention is wrong is the
action wrong.
If an action takes place and an intention accompanies it, such
action is characterized by one of the following three states:
a) It is performed out of fear of God the Exalted: this is
the worship of slaves (`abid).
b) It is performed in the pursuit of the Garden of Paradise
and the pursuit of reward: this is the worship of traders
(tujjar).
c) It is performed out of shame before God and in order to
fulfill the duty of servanthood and give thanks while one sees
oneself remiss despite doing all this, fearing in his heart
because he does not know -- even then -- if his action is accepted
or not: this is the worship of free men (ahrar).
[This threefold definition of the states of the intention is
attributed to the early Sufi Ma`ruf al-Karkhi (d. 200/815) by
Shaykh `Abd al-Rahman al-Sufuri in his "Nuzhat al-Majalis,"
chapter on sincerity.]
God's Messenger alluded to the latter when `A'isha -- may God be
well pleased with her -- upon seeing him spend the night standing
in prayer until his feet were swollen, asked him: "O Messenger of
God, why do you place such a burden on yourself when God has
forgiven you all your sins past and those to come?" He replied:
"Should I not be a thankful servant?" (Muslim, "Munafiqun" #79,
Tirmidhi, "Salat" #197)
If it is asked: which is best, to worship with fear or to worship
with hope? It is answered: Ghazali said -- may God have mercy on
him: "To worship with hope is better because hope gives rise to
love, while fear gives rise to despair."
The above three stages or divisions are with respect to the
sincere. Know that sincerity may find in its way the bane of
pride. Whoever admires his works, his works have failed, and
similarly whoever waxes proud, his works have failed.
[Note: This is the characteristic of Iblis alluded to in this
saying related from the shaykh of my shaykh: "You may be able to
worship perfectly for thousands and millions of years. However,
if you think for one moment that your worship amounts to
something, you are the greatest disbeliever."]
The second state is (also) when one acts in the pursuit of both a
worldly benefit and the hereafter. It is the opinion of some of
the scholars that the works of such a person are not accepted.
Their proof for this is the divine report wherein God the exalted
says: "I am the most sufficient of partners. Whoever does an
action in which he associates with a partner other than Myself, I
have nothing to do with him." (Muslim "Zuhd" #46 and Ibn Maja,
"Zuhd" #45). This is the position of al-Harith al-Muhasibi* in
"Kitab al-ri`aya li huquq Allah" [Book of the Observance of God's
Rights] in which he says: "Sincerity is to seek God in obeying Him
without seeking other than Him."
*[Abu Abd Allah al-Harith Al-Muhasibi al-`Anazi [d. 243/857]:
An early Sufi of Baghdad who was the shaykh of al-Junayd. Nawawi
cites him frequently. It is established in the Shafi`i school
that "Upon the books of al-Harith ibn Asad [al-Muhasibi] on kalam,
fiqh, and hadith rest those among us who are mutakallim, faqih,
and sufi." See:
- Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, "Kitab Usul al-Din" p. 308;
- Taj al-Din al-Subki, "Tabaqat al-Shafi`iyya 2:275; and
- Jamal al-Din al-Isnawi, "Tabaqat al-Shafi`iyya"1:(#9)26-27.
The hafiz Abu Bakr ibn al-`Arabi said in his commentary on
Tirmidhi: "The greatest one who spoke about it [the root meanings
of the Permissible and the Forbidden] is our scholar and chief,
al-Harith ibn Asad (al-Muhasibi)." `Aridat al-Ahwadhi bi sharh
sahih al-Tirmidhi" 5:201.
[2]
Making display (riya') is of two kinds: the first is when one
seeks none other than the people in his obedience of God; the
second, when one seeks the people and the Lord of people at the
same time. Both kinds bring one's works to nothing. This
definition of riya' is conveyed by the hadith master Abu Nu`aym in
"Hilyat al-awliya'" [The Adornment of God's Friends] from some of
the Predecessors (salaf). Some scholars have adduced a proof for
this from God's saying: "The Compeller, the Sublime, Glory be to
God above that they associate!" (59:23). Just as He is greatly
above taking a wife or a son or a partner, so is He greatly above
accepting an action in which another besides Him is taken as a
partner. God the Exalted is greater than that, and He is All-
Glorious, and He is All-Sublime.
Al-Samarqandi* said: "All that one does for the sake of God the
Exalted is accepted, and all one does for the sake of people is
rejected." An illustration for this is the person who performs
the noon-prayer, for example, intending thereby to fulfill the
obligation imposed on him by God the Exalted, except that he makes
its integrals and suras long and he beautifies its appearance for
the sake of people: the root of the prayer is accepted, but its
length and beauty are not because he intended them for the sake of people.
*[Abu al-Layth Mudar Nasir ibn Muhammad al-Samarqandi (d.
373/983), a Sufi and jurist of the Hanafi school. He authored
among other works a "Tafsir" (Commentary on Qur'an), "Al-Nawazil,"
"Tanbih al-ghafilin" (A Warning to the Heedless), "Bustan al-
`arifin" (The Garden of the Gnostics, also the title of one of
Nawawi's last books), and a "Muqaddima fi al-salat" (Introduction
Regarding Prayer) which is probably the source for Nawawi's above
quotations.]
Shaykh `Izz al-Din ibn `Abd al-Salam* was asked about the person
who lengthens his prayer for the sake of people. He said: "I hope
this particular action of his does not fail if he attributed a
partner to God in the manner of his prayer. However, if it
happened at the root of his action -- that is, if he performed the
obligatory prayer both for the sake of God the Exalted and for the
sake of the people -- then his prayer is definitely not accepted
because he has ascribed a partner to God at the root of his
action."
*[`Abd al-`Aziz ibn `Abd al-Salam ibn Abu al-Qasim ibn al-Hasan
`Izz al-Din al-Sulami of Damascus, nicknamed the Sultan of
Scholars (577/1181-660/1262), Shafi`i jurist and Sufi, a
contemporary of Nawawi.]
Making display in one's actions can also be in the omission of an
action. Al-Fudayl ibn `Iyad* said: "To leave an action for the
sake of people is making display, and to perform an action for the
sake of people is attributing a partner to God. Sincerity is that
God exempt you from both." The meaning of his words -- may God
the Exalted have mercy on him -- is that whoever resolves to do an
act of worship and then leaves it for fear that people should see
it, he is making display because he left an action for the sake of
people. However, if he leaves it in order to pray it in seclusion
(khalwa): this is recommended, except if it is an obligatory
prayer or the obligatory poor-tax, or if he is a scholar whom
people take as an example. In such cases making one's worship
public is preferable.
*[Abu `Ali al-Fudayl ibn `Iyad of Samarqand (d. 187/803). An
early Sufi and sometime hadith scholar in Kufa who died in Mecca.
A student of Hasan al-Basri's successor `Abdul Wahid ibn Zayd,
both Kufan Soufis, and teacher of Ibrahim Adham.]
Like making display, ear-service also voids one's actions. This
consists in performing devotions in seclusion and then telling
people about it. The Prophet said :
"Whoever advertises himself, God will advertise him,
and whoever exhibits himself, God will exhibit him" (Bukhari,
"Riqaq" #36; Muslim, "Ahkam" 9, "Zuhd" #47-48, Tirmidhi, "Nikah"
#11, "Zuhd" #48; Ahmad 3:40, 5:45; Darimi, "Riqaq" #35). The
scholars said: "If he is a scholar whose example is followed and
he mentions this in order to stir the listeners to action, there
is no objection to it."
Al-Marzubani* said -- may God the Exalted have mercy on him: "The
worshipper needs four qualities for his prayer to be carried up:
a) presence of heart (hudur al-qalb);
b) full sight of the mind (shuhud al-`aql);
c) complete submission to the integrals of the prayer (khudu` al-arkan);
d) humility in the members of his body (khushu` al-jawarih).
Whoever prays without presence of heart is a worshipper at play,
and whoever prays without full presence of the mind is a heedless
worshipper, and whoever prays without complete submission of the
members is worshipping incorrectly, and whoever prays with the
above four priniples is a complete and loyal worshipper."
*[Muhammad ibn `Umran ibn Musa ibn Sa`id ibn `Ubayd Allah al-
Marzubani (296/909-384/994), hadith scholar, poet, philologist,
and literary historian.]
[3]
By saying "Actions are only according to intentions," the Prophet meant acts of
obedience at the exclusion of permitted actions that are neither
recommended nor disliked. Al-Harith al-Muhasibi said: "Sincerity
has no part in actions neither recommended nor disliked, because
they neither imply nor lead to drawing near to God." For example
constructions which do not serve a particular need, but are for
the sake of frivolity. However, if they serve a need such as
mosques, bridges, and forts, then they are recommended.
Al-Muhasibi continued: "There is no sincerity in a forbidden
action nor in a disliked one, as in the case of someone who looks
at something which is forbidden for him to look at, claiming that
he only looks in order to reflect upon God's handiwork." An
example is the person who gazes at a beardless young man: there is
no sincerity in such a thing, nay there is no drawing near to God
in it whatsoever.
Al-Muhasibi continued: "Truthfulness (sidq) as an attribute of a
servant of God, means evenness in the private and the public
person, in visible and hidden behavior. Truthfulness is realized
after the realization of all the stations (maqamat) and states
(ahwal). Even sincerity (ikhlas) is in need of truthfulness,
whereas truthfulness needs nothing, because although real
sincerity is to seek Allah through obedience, one might seek God
by praying and yet be heedless and absent in his heart while
praying. Truthfulness, then, is to seek God Almighty by
worshipping with complete presence of heart before Him. For every
truthful one (sadiq) is sincere (mukhlis), while not every sincere
one is truthful. That is the meaning of connection (ittisal) and
disconnection (infisal): the truthful one has disconnected himself
from all that is other-than-God (ma siwa Allah) and he has
fastened himself to presence-before-God (al-hudur billah). That
is also the meaning of renunciation (takhalli) of all that is
other-than-God and self-adornment (tahalli) with keeping present
in front of God, the Glorified, the Exalted."
By his word "actions" it is possible that the Prophet meant the soundness of actions, or the
correctness of actions, or the acceptance of actions by God, or
the perfection of actions. The latter is the sense adopted by
Imam Abu Hanifa -- may God the Exalted have mercy on him.
Whatever is by way of eliminating something is not counted as one
such action. For example: to remove filth from oneself, to resist
force, to reject faults, to convey gifts, and other than that.
The soundness of these actions is not dependent upon correcting
one's intention; however, their reward is dependent upon the
intention of drawing near to God. Thus whoever feeds his animal
intending thereby obedience to God's order, he is rewarded,
whereas if by feeding it he intends only to preserve his income,
there is no reward: al-Qarafi* mentioned it. Excepted from the
latter case is the mount of the fighter in the way of God if he
bridled it for that intention; if it drinks at a time he does not
intend to give it drink, he will still obtain reward for it, as
mentioned in Bukhari's "Sahih" ("Jihad" #45). Similarly in
interacting with one's wife, closing the door, and extinguishing
the lamps before sleep: if one intends by these acts obedience to
God's order he will be rewarded, and if he intends something else,
he will not.
*[Ahmad ibn Idris al-Sanhaji al-Qarafi (626/1228-684/1285), an
exact contemporary of Nawawi and like him an Ash`ari jurist and
hadith scholar.]
[4]
Know that the word "intention" (niyya) lexically means "purpose,
aim, meaning" (qasd). One says: "May God intend good for you,"
which means "May He mean good for you." Legally intention means
to aim to do something and proceed to do it. If one aims to do
something and then delays doing it, it is only a decision (`azm).
Intention was made a legal category in order to distinguish acts
of habit from acts of worship and in order to distinguish the
standing of one act of worship from that of another. An
illustration of the former distinction is the act of sitting in a
mosque: its purpose could be rest according to habit, or it could
be worship with the intention of seclusion-and-devotion (i`tikaf).
The distinguishing factor here between habit and worship is
intention.
The Prophet pointed
to this distinction in meaning when he was asked about a man who
fights in order to be seen, another who fights in self-defense,
and another who fights out of bravery: which of these is fighting
in the way of the Exalted God? He said: "Whoever fights in order
that God's word prevail, he is fighting in the way of God the
Exalted" (Bukhari, "`Ilm" #45, "Jihad" #15, Muslim, "Tawhid" #28,
"Imara" #150-151, Tirmidhi, "Fada'il al-jihad" #15, Ibn Majah,
"Jihad" #13, Ahmad 4:392, 398, 402, 417).
An illustration of the latter distinction -- that is in the
standing of one act of worship as opposed to another -- is someone
who prays four cycles of prayer (rak`a): he could mean their
enactment as a fulfillment of the obligatory Noon Prayer, and he
could mean their enactment as a fulfillment of the voluntary Sunna
Prayer. What distinguishes between the two is the intention. It
is the same with manumission. One may mean expiation by it and
one may mean other than that, such as the fulfillment of a vow and
so forth. Again what distinguishes between them is the intention.
The Prophet's saying :
"to each only what he intended" is proof that proxy is not allowed
in acts of worship nor is appointing a representative to formulate
the same intention as oneself. The exception to this is in the
distribution of the poor-tax (zakat) and the slaughtering of a
sacrifice: it is permissible to appoint a proxy in both of these,
for all of the intention, the slaughtering, and the distribution,
even if one is able to make one's own intention. This is not
permissible in the matter of pilgrimage and the repayment of a
debt when one is able to make one's own intention.
Acts (other than worship) which can have but one interpretation do
not stand in need of an intention; those that can have two (or
more) do. For example, one who owes two thousand of which one
thousand cover something given as a security (rahn); if, when he
pays one thousand, he says: "Let this be the one thousand for
which I gave a security," he is right. If he does not formulate
such an intention during payment he can do so afterwards to
whatever end he desires. Our school (Shafi`i) does not recognize
the soundness of an intention made after the fact except in such a case.
On the Prophet's saying :
"Whoever emigrates towards God and His Messenger, his emigration
is towards God and His Messenger; whoever emigrates for the
attainment of a worldly goal or in order to marry a woman, then
his emigration is only towards what he emigrated to":
The original meaning of emigration (muhajara) is flight and
abandonment. The name "hijra" has several meanings:
1. The exodus of the Companions -- may God be well pleased with
them -- from Mecca to Abyssinia at the time the idolaters were
persecuting God's Messenger . They escaped persecution and sought safety with the Negus.
Bayhaqi said: "This hijra took place five years after the
beginning of the Messenge."
2. The second meaning of hijra is the exodus from Mecca ot Madina.
This took place thirteen years after the beginning of the Message.
It was an obligation for every Muslim in Mecca to emigrate towards
God's Messenger in
Madina at that time.
A number of scholars said that the emigration was obligatory from
Mecca to Madina in absolute terms. In reality it was not
obligatory in absolute terms for there was nothing special about
Madina. The only obligation was to emigrate towards God's
Messenger himself .
[5]
Ibn al-`Arabi* said: "The scholars -- may God be pleased with them
-- divide peregrination (al-dhahab fi al-ard) into two kinds: the
flight from something and the pursuit of something. The former is
divided into six parts:
*[Al-Qadi Abu Bakr ibn al-`Arabi al-Andalusi (d. 543/1138), Maliki
jurist and hadith master.]
- "Exiting the Abode of War to enter the Abode of Islam. This
kind of emigration endures until the Day of the Rising. The kind
of emigration that ceased with the Conquest of Mecca and to which
the Prophet referred
by saying:"There is no hijra after the Conquest" is travel
towards God's Messenger wherever he was (Bukhari, "Manaqib al-
ansar" #45, "Jihad" #1-2; Tirmidhi, "Siyar" #32; Ahmad 1:226, 266,
355, 469, 2:215, 3:22, 468, 5:187).
- "Exiting the land of innovation. Ibn al-Qasim* said: "I heard
Malik say: "It is not legally permissible for anyone to reside in
a land in which the early generations (salaf) are reviled.""
*[Abu `Abd Allah `Abd al-Rahman Ibn al-Qasim al-`Utaqi (d.
191/806), Imam Malik's foremost disciple.]
- "Exitig a land in which forbidden matters are predominant; to
pursue what is permissible is an absolute duty upon every Muslim.
- "Escaping bodily harm: it is a favor from God the Exalted
whereby he grants a certain exemption. Therefore if someone fears
for himself in a given place, God the Exalted has given him
permission to exit from it and take flight in order to save
himself from such peril. The first to practice such emigration is
Abraham -- Peace be upon him -- when he said: "Lo! I am a fugitive
unto my Lord" (29:26). God the Exalted said with regard to Moses:
"So he escaped from thence, fearing, vigilant" (28:21).
- "Exiting out of fear of the disease prevalent in unhealthy
regions towards a land untouched by it. The Prophet allowed this for the Banu `Arin
tribesmen who found the air of Madina unwholeseome, and he
permitted them to go out to the countryside.*
*The air of Madina was by no means unwholesome of itself, since
the Prophet said that even the earth of Madina contains
healing, but only relative to these particular people. They
turned out to be renegades and criminals according to the hadith:
1. Abu Qilaba said, Anas related to me..., some people
came to the Prophet and they spoke to him saying: "The climate
of this land [Madina] does not suit us." The Prophet said,
"There are camels belonging to us, and they are to be taken out to
the pasture. So take them out and drink of their "alban" (milk)
and "abwl" (urine/colostrum?)."
So they took them and set out
and drank of their "abwal" and "alban", and having recovered, they
attacked the shepherd..."
(Bukhari, Tafsir of 5:33; English vol.
6:107)
2. Anas b. Malik reported that some people of the tribe of
`Ukl or `Arina came to Allah's Messenger
at Medina, and they found
its climate uncongenial. So Allah's Messenger said to them:
If you so like, you may go to the camels of
Sadaqa and drink of their "alban" and "abwal". They did so and
were all right. Then they fell upon the shepherds... (Muslim,
Qasama 2:9-11; cf. English vol. 3:893-894)
3. The hadith (in all
its other versions) is also related by Abu Dawud,
Tirmidhi, Nisa'i, and Ibn Maja. See also Ibn Sa`d, "Tabaqat"
2(1):67-68 an the books of Qur'anic commentary for 5:33 cf.
Tabari, "Tafsir" (Cairo 1957 ed.) 10:244 f. So it is only right
that they found the air of Madina uncongenial, as the Prophet
said in another hadith:
"Madina is like a pair of bellows, it
expels impurities and all that does not belong to it."
(Bukhari, "Ahkam" among the ahadith on bay`a [fealty])
- "Exiting out of fear of harm in one's property, since the
inviolability a Muslim's property is like the inviolability of his blood.
"As for the latter kind of peregrination -- the pursuit of
something -- it is divided into ten parts; the first nine being
the pursuit of religion and the last the pursuit of worldly goals:
- "Travel for admonitory or didactic purposes. God the Exalted
said: "Have they not travelled in the land and seen the nature of
the consequence of those who were before them?" (12:109) Dhu al-
Qarnayn* circumambulated the world in his quest to see its wonders.
*Usually identified as Alexander the Great.
- "Travel for the pilgrmage.
- "Travel for jihad.
- "Travel for livelihood.
- "Travel for trade and gain over and above the basic necessities
of life. It is allowed in view of the saying of the Exalted: "It
is no sin for you that ye seek the bounty of your Lord" (2:198).
- "The pursuit of learning.
- "Going to see exalted sites. The Prophet said : "Let no travel be undertaken except to
three mosques." (Bukhari, "Salat fi masjid Makka" #1-2, "Jaza' al-
sayd" #26, "Sawm" #67; Abu Dawud, "Manasik" #94; Tirmidhi,
"Mawaqit" #126; Ibn Majah, "Iqama" #196; Ahmad 2:501, 3:7, 34-35)
- "Going to frontier ports in order to take up a military post there.
- "Visiting one's brothers-in-God the Exalted. The Prophet said :
"A man visited one of
his brothers in a certain village. God sent forth an angel to
meet him on the way. The angel said: "What do you seek by
travelling?" He replied: "I wish to see a brother of mine in this
village." The angel said: "Do you owe him a favor which you are
repaying him?" He replied: "No, I only love him for the sake of
God the Exalted." The angel said: "I am God's Messenger sent to
you to tell you that God loves you just as you love your brother."
Muslim and others related it. (Muslim, "Birr" 338; Ahmad 2:292,
408, 462, 508, 5:35)
- "The pursuit of worldly goals." (End of Ibn `Arabi's citation)
[6]
Other meanings to which the word hijra applies:
3. The emigration of the tribes towards God's Messenger in order to learn their
real obligations and then return to their people and teach them.
4. The emigration of the Meccans who entere Islam and came to the
Prophet then returned
to their people.
5. Emigration from the lands of disbelief to the lands of Islam.
It is not permitted for a Muslim to reside in the Abode of
Disbelief. Al-Mawardi* said: "If he comes to have family and
relatives around him and he is able to display his religion, then
it is no longer permissible for him to emigrate, because the place
where he lives has become the Abode of Islam."
*[`Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Habib Abu al-Hasan al-Basri al-Mawardi
(364/974-450/1058). One of the great Ash`ari imams of the Shafi`i
school, head of the judiciary in Baghdad at the time of the pious
Abbasid Caliph Abu Ja`far `Abd Allah al-Qa'im bi Amr Allah (on the
latter see al-Damir, "Hayat al-hayawan al-kubra" 1:94-95), "[he]
published major works in Islamic jurisprudence, Koranic exegesis,
principles of law, and literature, of which his work on the
caliphal system of Islamic government "al-Ahkam al-sultaniyya wa
al-wilayat al-diniyya" [The rules of power and positions of
religious authority] is still among the most professional
available." (Nuh Keller, "Reliance of the Traveller" p. 1030)]
6. A Muslim's emigration from his (Muslim) brother for longer than
three days without legitimate reason. It is reprehensible during
the three days and forbidden after that unless caused by
necessity. The story is told of a man who left his brother for
more than three days. The latter wrote him these verses:
Sir, I need complain to you of a certain injustice.
You will find out its nature if you ask Ibn Abi Khaythama.*
From his grandfather he narrates what al-Dahhak narrates from `Ikrima,**
From Ibn `Abbas, from al-Mustafa
Our Prophet sent with all-encompassing mercy:
"Verily the close friend's aloofness from his friend
Beyond three days our Lord forbade!"
*[Ahmad ibn Zuhayr ibn Harb ibn Abi Khaythama (185/801-279/892) a
jurist and hadith scholar of the school of Ahmad ibn Hanbal.]
**[`Ikrima (d. 105/723), early hadith master who died in Madina.
He reported hadith from `A'isha and Ibn `Abbas, whose commentary
on Qur'an he transmitted. See Nawawi' "Tahdhib" 431-432, Ibn
Sa`d, "Tabaqat" 5:212, `Abd al-Rahman Ibn Abu Hatim al-Razi, "al-
Jarh wa al-ta`dil" 3:2:9, M.M. `Azami, "Studies in Early Literature" 66, 77.]
7. A husband's emigration from his wife when her recalcitrance is
ascertained. God the Exalted said: "Banish them to beds apart"
(4:34). Of the same nature is the emigration away from habitual
sinners: not staying in the same place with them, not speaking to
them, not responding to their greeting, and not initiating it.
8. Emigration away from all that God forbade, and this is the most
comprehensive emigration.*
*[See Shaykh Hisham Kabbani's talk "Migrating to Good Manners."]
On the Prophet's saying: "Whoever emigrates towards God and His
Messenger" -- that is, in his intention and proceeding-- his
emigration is towards God and His Messenger " -- that is, in the
eyes of the Law -- "whoever emigrates for the attainment of a
worldly goal etc.": It is related that a man emigrated from Mecca
to Madina not because of a desire to obtain the merit of the hijra
but in order to marry a woman named Umm Qays. He was nicknamed
"Umm Qays's Emigrant."
It may be said: "Marriage is one of the requirements of the Law,
why then is it here considered a worldly pursuit?" The answer is:
ostensibly he did not emigrate for her, but only for the hijra
towards the Prophet .
Since what he hid was different from what he showed, he deserved
rebuke and blame. An analogy for this is in the person who puts
on an outward show of going on pilgrimage but his real goal is
trade, or again the person who seems to travel for the sake of
learning, when in reality he is lusting after a position of
leadership or a governorship.
It follows from the Prophet's saying "then his emigration is only
towards what he emigrated to" that there is no reward for one who,
in his pilgrimage, undertakes trade and social visits. However,
it is necessary to interpret the hadith to mean this only when the
motivating factor for one's pilgrimage is trade. If one's motive
is the pilgrimage, then he obtains reward, trade being subordinate
to it. However, his reward is defective insofar as he did other
than the pilgrimage he set out to do. If his motive is both trade
and the pilgrimage, it is possible that he will obtain reward as
his emigration was not entirely devoted to the world; and the
contrary is also possible (i.e. he will not obtain reward) because
he has mixed work for the hereafter with work for the world.
However, the hadith determines the legal ruling concerning reward
on the basis of unmitigated purpose. Therefore, whoever has a
double purpose, it does not hold true of him that his pursuit was
only a worldly goal. And God the Glorified, the Exalted, knows
best.
[1996-03-03]
GF Haddad �
------------- Rasul Allah (sallah llahu alaihi wa sallam) said: "Whoever knows himself, knows his Lord" and whoever knows his Lord has been given His gnosis and nearness.
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