Question
How to make intention for individual integrals (arkan) of prayer? I suffer from a lot of waswasa (baseless misgivings). I mostly learned how to pray from The Reliance of the Traveller. Section f8.27 plus talk about how to perform each part of the prayer. I saw the conditions of each rukn like prostration/bowing/rising, including intending nothing but that action. But the names of the actions mentioned are in English. Is intending in the heart, ‘I intend to go into ruku’/sujud/jalsa/i’tidal’ before each action sufficient being in Arabic? Is intending qawmah instead of i’tidal valid
Answer
Assalamu alaykum,
Thank you for your question.
There is no need to have an intention for each integral as you mention. When you read in The Reliance of the Traveller that one should not intend anything else, you are already fulfilling that intention by performing that integral to pray. If you are going into sajda, as part of your prayer, and not, for example, to pick up a tissue from the ground, then your intention is fine and there is no need to intend anything integral to integral. Rather focus on your Lord, Most High, praise Him and be grateful.
May Allah give you the best of this world and the next.
[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria, for two years, where she studied aqidah, fiqh, tajweed, Tafseer, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Master’s in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan, where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She recently moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.