Home » Hanafi Fiqh » Qibla.com » Intentions 

Intentions 

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

How does one make intention for a prayer where a Mufasir Muqtadi prays behind a Muqim Imam?

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Walaikum assalam,

1. In the intention what counts is the determination you had in the heart. As such, if you had the resolve and determination to pray the given prayer , you had a valid intention . If you are a follower, then you should also have the resolve to pray as a follower. It is usually inconceivable that a Muslim pray without such an intention.

Now, the intention has two parts, and a place, as seen in its definition:

“The Intention is to resolve to perform an act of worship, and to draw closer to Allah, at the beginning of the action.” (Ibn Abidin, quoting the Talwih, a reference in Hanafi usul al-fiqh)

Explanation:

(a) “to resolve to perform an act of worship,” relates to the validity of the action.

(b) “to draw closer to Allah,” relates to the reward

(c) “at the beginning of the action,” relates to the proper time of the intention: an intention made after the beginning of the act is not of consequence. However, it is valid for the intention to be either present right when the action is being initiated, which is best, or before this but without it being separated by anything that negates the matter at hand; walking, doing dhikr, etc, are not a problem but speech and eating are, for example.

So if only (a) is present, the action is legally valid, but has little reward. The second part of the intention, (b), is needed for reward.

Wassalam,

Faraz

This answer was indexed from Qibla.com, which used to have a repository of Islamic Q&A answered by various scholars. The website is no longer in existence. It has now been transformed into a learning portal with paid Islamic course offering under the brand of Kiflayn.

Read answers with similar topics: