ACTIONS AND INTENTIONS

It is narrated on the authority of Umar ibn al-Khattab (RadhiAllahu Anhu) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) say: “All actions are judged by motives, and each person will be rewarded according to their intention. Thus, he whose migration was to Allah and His Messenger, his migration is to Allah and His Messenger; but he whose migration was for some worldly thing he might gain, or for a wife he might marry, his migration is to that for which he migrated.” [Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim] Background This hadeeth is indeed one of the greatest and most important of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon him, as it sets one of the most important principles in the religion of Islam, specifically in regards to the acceptance one’s religion and deeds by Allah, and generally to all other normal every day activity in which a person involves himself. This principle is that in order for any action to be accepted and thus rewarded by Allah, it must be done purely for his sake. This concept is often called “sincerity to Allah”, but the most exact meaning would be “purity of intention”.
At one of the stages of the life of the Prophet, Allah ordered all the Muslims to migrate from Mecca to the newborn Islamic state of Medina. In this hadeeth, the Prophet (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) gave an example of two types of people in regards to this religious service of migration: