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Niyya (intention in deeds)

النية في الأعمال

The purpose and will behind an act; Ibn Rajab notes that intention has two senses in scholars' usage: distinguishing acts of worship from one another and from habits — the sense dominant in the jurists' books — and distinguishing the aim intended by the act, whether for God alone or for other than Him — the sense dominant among the early generations and companion to sincerity; al-Shafi'i is reported to have called the hadith 'actions are but by intentions' a third of knowledge entering seventy chapters of jurisprudence, and al-Bukhari opened his Sahih with it.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Global / Diaspora
Review
Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it

CreedSpirituality and SufismWorship and the pillars

The long-form text for this entry has not been written yet. The facts and connections below come from the museum's data.

Opinions on the question

The question: Do 'actions' in the hadith of intentions mean all voluntary acts or only religious acts requiring intention, and is intention a condition of validity or of completeness?

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference

'Actions' means religious acts that require intention; the hadith is understood as: actions are valid, regarded or accepted through intentions

Ibn Rajab reports that many later scholars construe the hadith as: actions are valid, regarded or accepted through intentions, so that what needs no intention — habits such as eating, drinking and dress, or returning trusts and deposits — is excluded from its general wording.

Held by: Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali

Basis: Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam — Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali pp. 34–35, commentary on hadith 1

More opinions (1)

Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference

'Actions' retains its general sense with nothing excluded: the hadith states that voluntary acts do not occur without purpose, and that the doer's share of his deed is his intention

Ibn Rajab notes that others kept 'actions' general and that some attributed this to the majority; it occurs in the words of Ibn Jarir al-Tabari and Abu Talib al-Makki and other early scholars, and is the apparent position of Imam Ahmad. The construal is then: actions occur and come about through intentions, and 'each person has only what he intended' states the law's ruling that the doer's reward or punishment follows his intention.

Held by: Ibn Rajab al-HanbaliAhmad ibn Hanbal

Basis: Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam — Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali pp. 34–36, commentary on hadith 1

Connections

Based on
Arba'un 1 — Actions are but by intentionsArba'un 25 — the wealthy have taken all the reward
Basis for
Charity (sadaqa)

People and things also explored

Charity (sadaqa)Arba'un 25 — the wealthy have taken all the rewardAbu Dharr al-GhifariArba'un 26 — charity is due on every jointUmar ibn al-KhattabIhsan (excellence in worship)Islam (the religion and the term)Istiqama (steadfast uprightness)

Sources

  • Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam — Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Niyya (intention in deeds)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/niyya/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.

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Wing

Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Charity (sadaqa)

Charity in the usage of the Forty hadiths 25 and 26 is wider than alms of money: the poor Companions supposed there was no charity without wealth, until the Prophet directed them to charities within their power — glorification, magnification, praise, the declaration of unity, commanding right and forbidding wrong, removing harm from the road, aiding the weak, guiding the blind, making the deaf and mute understand, pointing out needs, running to the distressed, and 'in the intercourse of one of you is alms' — all of it a charity from a man upon himself; Hudhayfa's hadith in Muslim runs 'every act of kindness is charity' and Abu Masud's in the two Sahihs 'a man's spending on his family is charity'; in Abu Hurayra's hadith a charity is due on every sulama — joint or small hollow bone, three hundred and sixty joints in one version — each day the sun rises, and two mid-morning rak'as suffice for all of them in the Abu Dharr and Burayda routes; for Ibn Rajab the apparent sense is that a permissible act such as intercourse earns reward by an intention like seeking a righteous child or self-restraint, and al-Nawawi draws from it that permissible things become acts of obedience through sincere intentions.