In our first post on the subject of intention in Islam we discussed the “Hadith of Intention”: which is stated in its short form as:
“Verily actions are by intention and for every person is what he intended.”
The word translated as “intention”, is niyyah. It’s important that we understand clearly what that term means in the context used in the hadith.
Here are three comments on the subject:
1. From: http://ahya.tripod.com/niyah.html we have a straightforward linguistic comment:
Linguistically, An-Niyyah means ‘intention.’ Therefore one’s Niyyah (intention) is ‘to do something’. An-Niyyah is also used to describe the direction or the place that one intends to go to, or the meaning that one intends to deliver. It is also used to describe the heart’s intending an action or planning to do an action.
In Islamic terminology, there is NO special meaning for the word “An-Niyyah”
Giving a special meaning to the word An-Niyyah in the Islamic Terminology has no proof. An-Niyyah is one’s intention of the heart to perform an action. And this the exact meaning that the Arab’s (sic) usually mean by this word.
(emphasis in source)
2. From: https://arabictreasures.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/intention
“Niyyah is the Arabic word for intention, and it is derived from the letters nūn, wāw and yā. From the same root we find the word nawāh, meaning, amongst many other things, date pit, fruit kernel and core. From this we understand that the intention belongs to the innermost core of the human being and that intentions are more important than actions.
The word niyyah is also related to the word nawa meaning remoteness and distance. One way of understanding the relation between these two words is that intentions reach remote distances. Our body is limited in time and space, but our intentions aren’t. We can intend to do things that we can’t possibly do because of our limitations as human beings, but we might get rewarded or punished according to our intentions.
The mere intention to kill makes you a murderer, because intentions travel far distances to destinations unvisited by the body. The good thing is that the same can be said about intentions to do good things. If you intend to give money to the poor if you only had money, you will be rewarded, even if you don’t get any money and thus can’t give anything.”
(emphasis added by me)
3. And from: http://www.islamicity.org/8618/knowledge-and-niyyah-intention/
So, what is intention? It is a notion that springs from within us and which consolidates in our hearts, emerging from our bodies as action. If it is formed with authentic knowledge, it is blessed. If ill will mingles with it, it is cursed. Thus it is here, with intention, where true value resides.
What is important here is that it is not the act in and of itself that is blessed or cursed, but the niyyah with which it is purposed in accordance with one’s knowledge, the word knowledge here being shorthand for the ‘ilm Allah has bequeathed to us in recited and un-recited revelation…
Allah says: But there is no sin reckoned against you wherein you err as to this. Rather, [you are accountable] only for what your hearts premeditate. And ever is Allah all-forgiving, mercy-giving (Surat Al-Ahzab, 33:5).
But the most unheralded virtue of the good intention (under girded by revealed knowledge) is this: Allah forever binds it to its good deed, whether or not that deed succeeds. When the good intention is made to fulfill the letter and the spirit of worship, it wins for its intender the Heavenly reward attached to its act even if the occasion to carry out that good deed disappears beneath the haze of some unforeseen, impeding cause.
But never, ever can an evil act be legitimized by a good intention.
My Note: The question raised here is, of course, the matter of what is considered evil. The following comment which is found in the continuation of this same source, makes it clear that an act that causes harm to another is not necessarily evil.
It is this truth of intention and action that Al-Khidr, Moses’ erstwhile teacher, knew, and that Moses did not …from (SuratAl-Kahf, 18:65).This underscores (1) the imperative of ‘ilm, or revealed knowledge as the basis for our intentions and the actions tied to them, and (2) that deeds in and of themselves are, in fact, neutral, and that it is intention that ensouls them.
(emphasis added by me)
The latter point made above deserves even greater emphasis, so I’ll repeat it:
“…deeds in and of themselves are, in fact, neutral…it is intention that ensouls them.”
I have not found any sources that approach the translation or interpretation of niyyah differently in any significant way from those presented above.
In terms of our specific concern, which is the ethics of action that affects others, the key points seem to me to be these:
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Intention is the essential criterion on which an individual is judged, not action, nor outcome.
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The correctness of intention has its reference point solely in the belief system of the individual acting, and
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The person(s) affected by an action are essentially considered potential, but not essential, means to the accomplishment of the actor’s ends. Their desires or belief systems are incidental to the actor’s intention.
Distinguishing what is evil from what is not evil is critical to understanding this issue.
We saw in the statement above that an “evil act” can never be “legitimized by a good intention”.
Only if the question “what is evil” is answered with reference to a value system in which those affected by the action have equal value and rights to those of the actor, can that statement be interpreted as mitigating the wholly self-referential nature of the other comments cited above.
If the measure of an action’s appropriateness is whether it is taken by the actor for an intention that is considered correct only in the actor’s own belief system; that is, without reference to the beliefs, desires, or agreement of those affected, then there is room for great damage and injustice.
©Charles R. Lightner