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Intention Vs Action
Why do my intentions (directed towards God and everything related to Him) “also” require action? Doesn’t He know everything? Why do I have to pray to gain His pleasure/love/peace? Why can’t I just improve myself in what im feeling and that should be enough for Him?
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11 Replies
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Intention Vs Action
updated 3 years, 6 months ago
2 Members
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11
Replies
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Let me see if I understand the first part of your question correctly. When you make an intention, it means that you want to do something. Are you suggesting that you just want to intend to do something but never actually do it? Would that not be fooling your own self?
As for the prayers, it’s not for the benefit of God, but that of our own selves. Salat is just an established way of the prophets to make dua to God. I hope the following video will shed some light. If it’s not clear, please don’t hesitate to ask a follow-up question.
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What I mean to say is, why is it not enough to make my inner self purified and polished in terms of my relationship with God? This process will then continue as I progress in the knowledge of His book. Shouldn’t this be enough when it comes to God? Creation requires action sure, and my inside will manifest in my dealings with creation in general.
But with God, why do I have to perform action? Shouldn’t my relationship with Him based purely on my thoughts, feelings etc in other words my inner self that only He knows and that too better than me?
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Is it because my actions are a Hujjat for my own self, as to how sincere my intentions are?
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So you are indeed self purifying your inner self, but as humans we are created with a natural disposition to worship a higher being. It is very evident from the history of humanity that even when we do not receive the guidance of prophets, or we deviate from any such guidance, we end up inventing our own worship rituals. As humans we have an innate need to see the proof of our beliefs in our own actions. Through prophets, God has only regulated certain rituals to fulfill that need in the most effective and beneficial ways.
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I ask because of these two ayahs in the Quran that appreciate the two aspects of Namaz; inner and outer.
Surah Maarij, verse 23.
23. And are constant in their Prayer.
(al-Ma‘ārij, 70 : 23)
Surah Muminoon, verse 2.
(23:2) those who, in their Prayers, humble themselves.
Is it that only by being constant/regular in your prayers lead you to be humble. And by my regularity and outer aspects will I myself be able to judge where I stand in terms of khushu (humility) before Allah and gage my level of faith?
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And this also connects to my other question regarding Allah’s directive to Prophet (pbuh) to stand in prayer most of the night in order to prepare himself for the tough circumstances he had to face during the day.
How does prayer strengthen one basically?
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Upon reflection and introspection, I understood this as follows; There are two aspects of my self and two realms of my existence. The inner (باطنی) and the outer (خارجی).
The ilm part relates to the inner. This inner is where my thought process is taking place, my philosophical side is being nourished and polished as the process of reflection and tadabbur progresses. And this is an umbrella term for each of the ‘hidden’ aspects of my personality. This is also where my intentions are nurtured.
Now, if Im ready to implement or already implementing those intentions/thoughts into action, would it serve as a proof for the truth in them. How truthful were my intentions.
So among all the other benefits, could we say that one of the wisdom behind this intention and action علم و عمل (in terms of God) also serves as a measuring tool for my own self to gage where I stand in terms of faith. For e.g namaz. How much punctual i am, how humble I am etc all of this helps me to check my own faith and keep reviewing it constantly?
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Yes, if from the within you believe that you should offer namaz and you should be punctual about it, then honestly judging your own actions regularly against your beliefs should tell you whether you’re on the right track. That’s where the concept of self accountability comes in.
When we practice self accountability (honestly judging what we did right and what we did wrong) on a regular basis (Ghamidi sahab and various other learned people recommend every night when we go to bed), then we start a cycle of continuous self improvement. When we find that we did something right, we allow ourselves to feel good about it and resolve to continue on that path. When we figure that we made a mistake, we repent, try to fix the problem if the opportunity still exists, and resolve to be better the next time around. It is such accountability that results in self discipline, and that’s exactly what taqwa really is.
This is a life long journey. From my own personal experience, I can tell you that it’s very difficult but tremendously helpful – not only in the matters of religion, but even our worldly lives.
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Edited to add a bit more clarity.
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And this is the answer and explanation to the question that gets most of the people begging for an answer; Why do we worship God? A simple answer has always been there – God doesn’t need our worship, its for our own selves.
I think this Hujjat part talked above briefly is an important explanation to why we need it for ourselves (worship to God). Especially when it comes to the ‘Acts’ of worship specifically.
To gage our own faith. For us to constantly review our level of Iman. That what is going on in my inner self – my thoughts, my philosophical side that progresses with knowledge, my intentions (each of these related to God). Do they hold weight in real as much as I ‘think’ they do? And translating these into action are a way for ME to check and gage.
Second, what will follow by translating this ilm into amal would be ‘personality development’ which is again something we want for ourselves. To become pure slaves of Allah.
What is also worth consideration is how these two; Both Ilm and Amal benefit and uplift eachother to and fro. Your ilm is purified, your amal will in return be better and enhanced. The more your amal enhnaces, the more your ilmi side is nourished and upgraded.
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I agree. That’s definitely a great way to look at it.
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