Sincerity and Intention
This subtopic gathers questions on sincerity, intention and riya, doing a good deed so people notice and praise it. It also holds presence of heart and its hardness, and renewing the intention in worship and daily deeds.
Questions readers ask here:
- I fear nothing in the world, why is that? Has the heart died?
- Is the spouses' mention to each other of their good deeds considered a form of showing off?
- When is a servant's deed accepted, and what conditions make a righteous deed accepted by Allah?
- Is a suitor's mention that he has memorized the Quran to his fiancée's father considered showing off?
Showing off asked as a question of creed belongs mainly under Oneness of God.
69 questions
What is the solution for someone whose mind wanders during prayer and who feels death approaching while prostrating?
Is it possible to renew the intention of counting the period of military service as jihad and ribat (guarding the frontiers) for the sake of Allah after its completion, and will Allah accept this belated intention to be placed on the scale of good deeds?
Does correcting the intention after performing a righteous deed with an impure intention restore the reward for that deed, or has the reward ceased with the completion of the deed?
Will a person be rewarded for listening to a religious lesson without prior intention, and then intend to seek reward for it afterwards?
What is the reason for the lack of khushu' (devotion/humility) in prayer and acts of worship despite commitment and abstaining from prohibitions?
Does Allah accept deeds without a detailed intention before each deed if a person's general intention is for everything in their life to be for Allah, based on His saying, the Most High: "Say, 'Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds'"?
What is the ruling on one who abandons the Duha prayer for fear of showing off after being visited by someone?
Is a person's announcement of what they have accomplished in reading the Holy Quran considered a form of the forbidden showing off (riya')?
How can a student revise his lessons without feeling the whispers of showing off (riyaa'), and how can he purify his intention for Allah Almighty in his work?
Is my striving to memorize the Qur'an and acquire knowledge generally, motivated by competition and envy (ghibtah), considered a form of showing off (riya') that deprives me of reward, and how can I achieve sincerity in my intention?
How can one achieve devoutness (khushu‘) in prayer and experience its sweetness, and is the prayer of one who prays in congregation with his family accepted due to the effects of medication?
Is a person rewarded for a deed if he performs it with an intention other than the intention upon which the reward is based, as in reciting Surat Al-Ikhlas ten times and its reward being the building of a house in Paradise? So, is someone who recites it in his prayers for several years, without knowing of this reward, rewarded for it?
What should a mother do if her daughter places her toys in front of her on the prayer rug?
Are some acts, such as going to congregational prayers with the intention of showing consistency to friends, or raising the volume of the Qur’an in the car to inform people of its virtue and manifest Islam, considered showing off (riya’)?
How can one who performs the night vigil prayer be considered a hypocrite or a dissimulator, whose deeds are thereby invalidated, knowing that the night vigil prayer is one of the secret acts of worship, which is considered contrary to hypocrisy and dissimulation?
How can one reconcile the Hadith, "Deeds are only by intentions, and every person will have what they intended," with the Hadith, "Indeed, Allah has overlooked for my Ummah (community) that which they speak to themselves about, as long as they do not vocalize it or act upon it"?
Is prayer accepted if one is not humble during it, and is it true that a person will be struck by his prayer on the Day of Resurrection if he was not humble during it?
How does the believer know that his prayer (salat) and supplication (du'a) have been accepted by Allah, and what is the ruling on the lack of devotion (khushu') in prayer due to work circumstances or physical pain, and is he required to have the intention to wipe over the socks when putting them on after ablution?
Should a Muslim verbalize the intention when performing acts of worship?
Why is doing good deeds misunderstood when I do them, which forces me to be silent?
How can one overcome the whispers of Satan and focus on prayer and overcome excessive absentmindedness in it?
What is the meaning of niyyah (intention), and is there a way to acquire it, and is its place in the heart, and must it be preserved through acts of obedience?
Whoever was in a period of his life where he feigned, is he required to make up those prayers?
How can one pray with complete devotion, and does reciting the Quran during prayer without tartil and tajwid contribute to satanic whispering? And is a worshipper's thinking, while standing, about the Day of Judgment and imagining himself prostrating before God considered a deviation from devotion?