20160805 - First Khutba - Intentions - Imam Nadeem Bashir

Khutbah: The Power of Intention

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, we seek His help, and we seek His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him. And whosoever He misguides, none can guide him. And we bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. He is alone and has no partner. And we bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

Allah, the Exalted, said in the Glorious Qur'an, after I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan:

"O people, fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul, and created from it its mate. And He spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah, to whom you ask for mercy and forgiveness. Indeed, Allah is ever watching over you."

"O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims."

"O you who have believed, fear Allah and say the right word. It will amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great triumph."

"Indeed the truest of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad ﷺ. The worst of matters are newly-invented ones; every newly-invented matter is an innovation, every innovation is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire."

Amma ba'd.

Respected brothers and sisters, all praises for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who has given us everything. And everything that we have, everything we had, and whatever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give us in the future, everything is from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And we praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and we thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for giving us the greatest gift of all — the gift of لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ — the gift of Islam. And we send our blessings upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And we pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that we receive his intercession on the Day of Judgment. Ameen, Ya Rabbil Alameen.

The Human Being — The Greatest Creation

My brothers and sisters, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has created the human being, as well as the angels, and He has created the jinns, and everything that we know of and we don't know of. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given the human being something that no one else has. He has given the human being the aqal, and He has given the human being an intellect.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the Qur'an that even though you have been created differently:

"We have certainly created man in the best of stature." The human being is the greatest creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Yet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes us aware of the fact that if we do not conduct ourselves in the way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala expects us to conduct ourselves, then we drop to such a level that we become worse than animals.

"And We have certainly created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind. They have hearts with which they do not understand, they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. Those are like livestock; rather, they are more astray. It is they who are the heedless."

When these people who have a heart do not begin to comprehend, and they don't begin to apply their intellect — this God-given gift — they have eyes but they don't use their eyes for the right reason, they have ears but they cannot hear. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says those people have become like animals. In fact He says they have become worse than animals. And then He says these are the people who are in a state of heedlessness.

So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us an intellect. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the very first revelation of the Qur'an, He says to the Prophet ﷺ:

"Read in the name of your Lord who created — created man from a clinging substance. Read, and your Lord is the most Generous — Who taught by the pen — taught man that which he knew not."

In these ayat Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us that He has given us knowledge. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us how we can achieve knowledge. And He has given us once again this intellect. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, by using this intellect, we are able to achieve more than what the average human being is able to achieve. We can do more, and we will not drop to the level of the animals.

The Importance of Intention (Niyyah)

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Qur'an and also in the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ, we find the Prophet ﷺ talking about the importance of intention — and why intention is so important. And while there are so many khutbahs that take place, where we talk about so many other matters, we never talk about intention.

The example of intention given by the scholars is like that person who puts a seed into the ground. And while they put this seed into the ground — and this seed in the ground is surrounded by so many layers of soil — this person who puts the seed into the ground provides fertilizers in order to ensure that this seed is able to sprout into a healthy plant. And as time elapses, this person provides water, he provides sunlight. And as this seed begins to sprout and it emerges, the root of this seed begins to become firm into the ground.

The reason this example is given by the scholars is they say that the intention is very similar. Initially it's only an intention within the heart. But as long as this intention is in the right place, as long as the person has the right intention, this intention becomes strong and firm roots inside the heart of a person. And then no matter what happens, a person's intention is in the right place.

I'm not talking about today in my khutbah about what intention we should have — are we doing something for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, are we doing something to show someone else, or to provide satisfaction for someone else? I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about today in my khutbah about the power of intention. Why we should make intentions. And why we should really pay a lot of attention to our intention before we do anything.

The First Hadith of Sahih al-Bukhari

In the very famous book Sahih al-Bukhari — a book that every Muslim refers to as a sacred Islamic text and source — the very first hadith in this great book of hadith is the hadith of Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, where he says that he heard Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam saying:

"Indeed, actions are by intentions, and every person will have only what they intended for." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1907)

This hadith is so important that people like Imam al-Shafi'i rahmatullahi alayhi say that this hadith is one third of our deen. Scholars like Imam Abu Dawud rahmatullahi alayhi say that if you were to compile our entire deen and summarize it into four hadiths of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, one of those hadiths is this hadith narrated by Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. Why? Because intention is so important within our deen.

Every single thing that we do, if we are doing it habitually, we will never see any benefit. But if I apply my intention, and I think, and I apply my intellect — why am I doing this? — we will see the benefit.

Coming to the Masjid with the Right Intention

We come to the masjid every single day. Why am I coming to the masjid every single day? If it becomes habitual — that it's the time of Fajr, it's the time of Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha, I'm going to the masjid, why? Because I'm supposed to go to the masjid — this becomes habitually done. We are coming to the masjid habitually; we're not coming to the masjid with the right intention.

Rather, the intention of a person should be, when they are coming to the masjid: I'm going to the masjid because first of all Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala orders me and advises me that I should be going to the masjid. I'm going to the masjid because the Prophet ﷺ says that those people who go to the masjid, this is a manifestation of their iman. I'm going to the masjid and I will pray salat with jama'ah, because the help of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala comes upon the jama'ah. I'm going to the masjid and I'm going to pray so that I can come closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I'm praying my salat so that I can have my sins forgiven. I'm praying my salat so that I can stay away from what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Qur'an — الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ — I can stay away from committing sins. That is why I'm coming to the masjid. That is why I'm praying my salat.

Now if I'm coming to the masjid and I'm not coming with this intention, we will come to the masjid, we will pray, we will leave, and we may not see any benefit. But if I come to the masjid with this frame of mind, with this thought process, I guarantee you, you will see the benefit in your salat.

Teaching Our Children Qur'an with the Right Intention

When I teach my kids Qur'an, why am I teaching my kids Qur'an? We may have gone to a Qur'an graduation. There may have been a child or a student in the community who finished their memorization of the Qur'an. And there was a huge function and a huge celebration taking place. And we went to that celebration and we saw that this child of such and such person is being honored, is being respected, is being acknowledged for his or her efforts. And the first thing that comes to many of our minds is: you know what, I want my child to be honored in that way. I want my child to be acknowledged and recognized. So therefore I'm going to make my child a hafidh. I'm going to make my daughter a hafidha.

If that is the intention, once again I take you back to the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ — if that is your intention, that is all that you will get. Your child will be respected. Your child will be dignified. You will be dignified. But when you are making your child a hafidh or a hafidha, or you enroll them in the Qur'an classes here at the masjid, your intention should be that I want my child to come close to the Qur'an. I want my child's nature and their character to become like the Qur'an — as when it was asked to Aisha radiyallahu ta'ala anha: "Who was Rasulullah ﷺ? Can you explain to me who was Rasulullah ﷺ?" She replied in the most amazing way. She said that his character was the Qur'an. That is the intention that we should have when we are teaching our kids Qur'an.

Getting Married with the Right Intention

When it comes to the basic things of life — when a person is about to get married — why am I getting married? Am I getting married because this is just part of life? Am I getting married because this is my way of staying away from sins? Yes, this is true, without a doubt. But this should be the intention, and there is nothing wrong to have this in mind. But we should also have the intention that I'm getting married because I am fulfilling one of the sunnahs of Rasulullah ﷺ. I'm doing this because the Prophet ﷺ did it. I'm doing this because the Prophet ﷺ has expressed the importance of getting married. This is why I'm getting married. I'm not getting married so I can only fulfill my human earthly desires, but there is much more to marriage.

Now if I get married — and if you all get married, if anyone gets married — with this right frame of mind, that I'm getting married so that I can help my spouse come close to Allah, she can help me come close to Allah — once again, whatever you intend for is what you will get. If this is our intention, then insha'Allah Allah will help us to help our spouse come close to Allah. But if the intention is only so that I can fulfill my desires, that is all that we will get from any marriage.

The Scholar Who Applied Intention to Opening a Door

So the reason I'm mentioning this is because whenever we do anything, we have to really apply our intention. A scholar was once sitting, and he was teaching his students. And someone knocked on the door. And he told one of his students: I want you to go open the door and see what that person needs. That student got up, as instructed by the teacher, and he opened the door, and he had a brief conversation with the person at the door, and he closed the door. And he came back and he sat down.

The teacher asked: who was at the door, and what did they need? And that student replied: he just had a question, and so I replied to him, and he left. The teacher asked the student: what was your intention when you opened the door? The student said: I did not have any intention. I simply opened the door because there was a knock on the door.

The teacher said: I had the intention. If I was to go and open that door and reply and answer that person knocking on the door, my intention was that if that person needed help, I was ready to help that person. If that person needed money, I was willing to give him some money. If that person needed to be guided and he needed directions to some place, I was willing to give him directions. And the teacher went on and said: even when someone knocks at the door and you go to help that person, don't simply just open the door, but try to apply your intention at that time. What exactly is your intention when opening that door?

Now many of us may think that just opening the door is something so simple, but the act of this scholar, and this sheikh, while teaching his students, is very profound. His vision, and the way he's thinking here, is not only simply opening the door, but he's applying so much intention, and he's applying so much thought into simply opening a door. And that's what I want you to all think about.

Going to Work with the Right Intention

Every single thing that we do today — simply when I go to work, why am I going to work? Am I going to work just to earn money? And yes, that is true. I'm going so that I can earn a living, so I can provide a roof over my family, I can provide food for my family. But that's not the only intention that we should have. When I'm going to work, I'm doing it so that I can provide a halal rizq and halal sustenance for my family. I'm doing it because the Prophet ﷺ has taught us that as men we should go and work hard and provide for our family, because this is what pleases Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If that's the intention, insha'Allah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will put barakah in our rizq, insha'Allah.

So I want you all to think about this from now on — that every single thing that we do, we have to apply our intention.

Three Benefits of Applying Intention

Benefit One: Our Actions Become Meaningful

Now if I apply my intention, there are three things that happen. Number one is that every single thing that we do becomes meaningful. Going back to the example of salat — if I'm praying with the right intention, with the right frame of mind, my salat will become more meaningful. If I'm reading Qur'an with the right intention, my reading of the Qur'an becomes more meaningful. I may be sitting down in the masjid and I'm saying subhanAllah, alhamdulillah, Allahu akbar. But if I'm not applying the right intention, then it will only remain as subhanAllah, alhamdulillah, and Allahu akbar, and it will have no effect upon us. So the very first reason why we need to apply intention is so that we can make our ibadah meaningful.

Benefit Two: Allah Puts Barakah in Our Life — The Example of Imam al-Nawawi

Number two is that when we apply intention to anything, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala puts barakah in our life. And I want to give you the example of Imam al-Nawawi rahmatullahi alayh — of course we all know that he's a scholar, the person who compiled the great and famous book Riyad al-Saliheen.

It is said about him that when he was a young child, he grew up in a family where his father was the owner of a grocery store. And while he was growing up, very naturally speaking, as every father wants their child to follow their footsteps, Imam al-Nawawi rahmatullahi alayh as he was growing up, his father gave him certain responsibilities inside his store. While Imam al-Nawawi rahmatullahi alayh did not want to get engaged with the store — he wanted to acquire knowledge — his father had encouraged him to stay at the store and take up certain responsibilities.

Ulema and scholars say that as they would cross this place — they would pass through a place called Nawah, where Imam al-Nawawi rahmatullahi alayh came from — they would say that in the evening, when we would cross the city and walk through the streets, we would see this child who would become Imam al-Nawawi sitting on the side of the street. And all the other children of his age would be playing around. They would always try to grab him and engage him in their play and entertainment. But it is said that Imam al-Nawawi rahmatullahi alayh never engaged himself in that play. Every child can play — there is nothing wrong with that — but Imam al-Nawawi rahmatullahi alayh had a different frame of mind. He wanted to achieve something different in life.

And so when he grew up and reached a certain age, his father saw his dedication when it came to religious studies. And he told his son: you know what, I don't want to hold you back anymore. If you wish to pursue your studies, to pursue your religious studies, I don't want to hold you back — you are free to go.

Imam al-Nawawi rahmatullahi alayh went on and he studied from great shuyukh of his time. And there came a time during his own life where the student became the teacher — where his own teachers began to learn from Imam al-Nawawi rahmatullahi alayh. Initially, while he was a student, people were learning from him. He became the teacher; he began to teach so many people. And he passed away.

Now, before I mention at what age he passed away — he has written so many books, he made great contributions to our deen. And for a person who made such great contributions to our deen, you would assume that he passed away probably in his 60s or 70s. But he passed away at the age of 43. At such a young age, he was able to contribute so much to our deen, so much to the subject of hadith, so much to the sciences of hadith.

The reason why he was able to do this, the ulema say, is because his intention was correct from day one. His intention was to come close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. His intention was: I want to learn so that I can provide my knowledge for others. And because of this power of intention that he had, he never lived a long life, but the contributions that he made to our deen — many people who passed away in their 60s, 70s, and 80s are not able to make that much of a contribution to their deen and to our deen. So the power of intention is strong. And that's why, once again, we should apply our intention to every single thing.

Benefit Three: Intention Removes Obstacles — The People of the Cave

The last benefit of making a strong intention is that it removes obstacles. There is a famous hadith we find in Bukhari and in Muslim, also found in Riyad al-Saliheen, about three people who went into a cave, and there was a huge boulder that came and blocked the entrance of the cave.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2272; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2743)

Three people came forward, each one saying that they did things for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. One person came and said: I showed honor and respect to my parents, and if I did this for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then please remove this obstacle. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala removed that obstacle.

The next person came and said: I stayed away from committing zina with someone who was in need — I could have taken advantage of that person, but I stayed away for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this boulder slightly moved.

And the third person said: O Allah, I gave someone their rights. A person who had worked for me in the past had not taken their salary — I used their salary to make great investments, and I achieved a lot through those investments. After many years that person came back and asked for their rights. And I could have simply just turned them away and said: you have nothing here, I don't have anything that belongs to you. But I did not do that. When that person came back to me after many years, I gave that person their due rights. And everything that I had invested with their money and their resources — everything that I had achieved through that money which they had not taken — I gave them every single thing. I never held anything back for myself. And he says: O Allah, if I did this for Your sake, please remove this obstacle.

And this obstacle was removed, and all three people were able to leave this cave, and they were able to save themselves.

The power of intention, once again — it removes obstacles from our life. We may not realize this, but starting today, if you apply the power of intention to every single thing that we do, I guarantee you, you will see the benefit. Because this is not me who is saying this. This is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who is saying this. This is Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who is saying this. And we need to have that firm belief in the words of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and in the words of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

I pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He gives us the ability to act upon what's been said and heard, and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us the ability to apply our intention, to focus on our intention, before we do anything in life.

Second Khutbah

Ameen, Ya Rabbil Alameen.

Aqim al-salah.