. J '-Ɵ  (cont.)

After mentioning all the assumptions mentioned above, he writes, According to the majority opinion, the hadith is to be understood at face value and in its general sense. It does not mean by intention good deeds only. Instead, it is in reference to the praiseworthy intention and the blameworthy intention as well as the praiseworthy or blameworthy deed. This is why he [the Prophet (peace be upon him)] said to complete it, "Whose emigration was to Allah and His Messenger. .. " He mentioned the praiseworthy intention of emigration to Allah and His Messenger. The blameworthy intention is the emigration for a woman or wealth. That is why he mentioned them in detail after a general, unspecified reference. He said, "All actions are but by intention and for everyone is what he intended," then he explained that by his statement, "Whose emigration was ... "3 It seems, Allah knows best, that one must stick as closely as possible to the literal meaning of any statement of the Quran and sunnah unless there is overriding evidence to do otherwise. In this case, the way that could be done is to understand the word, "deeds," to be in reference to every conscious, intentional act that a person performs. Thus, the only acts that are excluded are those that are done in a completely involuntary sense or by coercion. In that case, there is no need for any additional taqdeer. Every voluntary act is accompanied by an intention, as is clear by the definition given for "intention". Therefore, the correct translation for this phrase, and Allah knows best, is that every conscious act has an intention behind it as its driving force that brought it about. The intention could be praiseworthy or blameworthy. This view is supported by ibn Rajah commentary on this hadith. He wrote, There is a difference of opinion concerning the taqdeer of "All actions are but by intention." Many of the later scholars assert that the taqdeer (assumed missing word) is "sound", "considered" or "accepted" deeds are accompanied with intention. As for those that do not require intention, such as eating, drinking ... they are not in need of intention and, hence, 1 Al-Ashqar, Muqaasid, p. 64. 2 See al-Ashqar, Muqaasid, p. 65. 3 lbn Taimiyah, Sharh, p. 16. 1 1 1 Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi they exclude them from being part of the deeds mentioned here. Others say: The words "actions" is to be left according to its general nature, without any particularization. Some of them say that this is the opinion of the majority, as if they mean the majority of the earlier scholars. This can be found in the speech of ibn Jareer al-Tabari, Abu Taalib al-Makki and other early scholars. This is the apparent approach oflmam Ahmad ... According to this opinion, they understand the hadith to mean: deeds occur or come about due to intention. So this is an informative statement indicating that conscious-voluntary acts do not occur except from the intention of the doer. It is the cause for the action and its existence. 1 The intention could be an essential component of the act to be accepted by Allah or not. However, the second sentence captures this other very important aspect related to the concept of intention. "Every man shall have but that which he intended." In this statement there is once again the presence of exclusiveness. The word innamaa has been repeated. In addition, in the Arabic construct of these words of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the predicate precedes the subject. This also indicates exclusiveness. Some scholars, including al-Qurtubi, consider this statement as simply emphasizing the previous statement. He states that the first sentence has been emphasized by the second statement to demonstrate the importance of ikhlaas (acting solely for the sake of Allah) and to warn people against riyaa (acting just to be seen). However, this view does not seem tenable because the two statements are saying different things. Another basic principle of language and Islamic legal theory is that a statement adds meaning, not just emphasis, unless there is proof to show otherwise. Concerning these two sentences, ibn Uthaimeen wrote, The scholars differ about these two sentences. Some scholars say that they have one meaning, the second just emphasizes the first. However, this is not correct and that is because the general ruling in speech is one of giving new information and not stress. If one ponders over these two sentences one will see that the differences between them are great. The first sentence is the cause and the second is the consequence. The first one is a cause in which the Prophet 1 Ibn Rajah, Jaami, vol. I , pp. 64-65. 1 12 Hadith #1 : All Actions are but by Intentions . . . (peace be upon him) makes it clear that every action must have an intention behind it. Every deed performed by a human while he is rational and acting voluntarily must have an intention.