LikeThe Great Hanafi Scholar Zay Ad Din ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad famously known as Ibn Nujaym, which was the name of one of his grandfathers in his Scholarly work “Al Asbah wan Nazaa’ir”, a book dedicated on the maxims (Qawaa’id) of Fiqh, mentions the second maxim in the book “Actions are judged by their end results” (Al Umooru bi Maqasidiha) and thereafter discusses rulings that come under this giant Qaa’idah. The Chapter is quite long, so I will just pick some Masaa’il to show how significant our intentions are in relation to our actions. Many of us have heard lectures given on this topic, yet when one see’s the legal effects of his/her intention the matter becomes real clear:
1) A person who is not in contact with a person over 3 days, if his intention was to abondon him/her then his action is Haraam due to the Prophetic Hadith in Muslim and the Muwatta prohibiting this, If this is not his intention, then his action is ok.
2) A women who avoids beutification and scenting herself 3 days after the death of someone other than her husband, if this is done with the intention of mourning then this is prohibited due to the Prophetic Hadith prohibiting the mourning of anyone above 3 days except for a womens husband as related by Bukhari. If this is not her intention then her action is ok.
3) A person who is in Salah, and hears news that pleases him and with the intention of Shukr to Allah says “Al Hamdu Lillah” then his salah is invalidated (This is a Hanafi ruling by the way, and even the Ahnaaf differ over this, but the main theme still applies)
4) A person who finds a lost item, if he pickes it up with the intention of taking the right course to return it to its rightful owener, he is rewarded, and if his intention is to take it for himself, he is a sinner and a Thief!!
If our Intention has the power to change an action from Mustahab to Haram, from a valid action to an invalid action does it not make sense to give some thought to it?
“And remind (people) for indeed remeberance benefits the believers” (Surah Dhariyah Verse 55)
Asalamu Alaykum,
Indeed it does……..
Asalamu alaykum,
Barakallhu fek. This was very beneficial.
SDW
asalaamu alaykum,
i am afraid i am confused and don’t understand. the maxim above is:
“Actions are judged by their end results”
i took this to mean that acctions are judge by the final outcome rather than ones intention. for example:
some one could have the purest intention yet if a series of events leads the ultimate outcome to cause haram or be haram then this is what the action will be judged upon, i.e. it will be haram even though the intent in the very beginning was pure.
however the examples shown demonstrate quite the opesit. i’m not really sure why i don’t get it.
may allah forgive me my short comings.
Salaam
Sorry, I think the shortcoming is on my behalf, its a bad translation of the maxim. Basically
“Aumoor” is the plural of “Amr” meaning a matter
“Maqaasid” is the plural of “Maqsid”. The root verb is “Qa-sa-da” meaning to intend something. The Shar’i meaning as Qadi Baydawi explains is intention/will to do something seeking the countenance of Allah and in obdeince to his commands. Hence the relation of this principle to intentions.
The examples that i have quoted off from Al Ashbaah suit this meaningl. However. I also heard on a lecture of Shaykh Bin Bayyah that Imam Malik is reknowned to have been singled out (Tafarrud) with the effects of intention on the actions, thus he went as far as to say that if somebody says to his wife “Make me a cup of tea” and he intends divorce then that will take place!. What are also discussed under this principle are the principles of reward and punishment, so someone who is not drinking alcohol because its not there and he is not actively resisting like a person might do if he is in a place serving alcohol will not be rewarded for this, whereas the latter will be as his abstention has an intention behind it and thus becomes part of his actions.
What you are also saying is true to an extent. since we find in the Sunnah the Prophet (P) saying that had it not been for the people, he would have rebuilt the Ka’bah the way Ibrahim (P) built it. So here, we also get the understanding that the principle also is associated to doing a cost-benefit analysis before doing mubah actions. Imam Suyuti also mentions in his book also called “Al Ashbaah Wan Nadhaa’ir” that the origin of this principle is the hadith of the prophet “Actions are judged by what they intended – Innamal A’maalu Bin Niyaat”. Regarding to the person who has the purest of intentions, and does some actions, assuming that they are mubah per se, then even though it might lead to an undersirable outcome, from what I have studied, those Mubah actions will not become haram retrospectively. So She/he wont be punished in the hereafter for it. Yes, that person will learn from this the value of doing a cost – benefit analysis before he does something (and simply pure intentions dont result in the desired outcome)
Actions that are Haram (meaning actually haram, so it must have a definitive explicit textual ruling) cannot be justified on the basis of this principle.
Hope this helps
Peace
Sorry Just to add…
Regarding that decision of the Prophet and there are other examples, what becomes clear is that something that is preferable and good per se, if that leads to strife and more problems, then leaving that is better. Hence the ruling of whether a rebellion should take place against an unjust ruler depends upon the likelihood of a successful outcome. If scholars come to the agreement that a rebellion will be successful and a just rule can replace him, then the rebellion will be permissable. If they find out later that it was a bad decision, and that the rebellion was unsuccessful, then they will not be sinful, but rather rewareded for their efforts, obviously life is not as simple but just to make the point clear.
Peace…
asalaamu alaykum,
thank you very much for the above clarifications. i think some yung people are confused about the example used regarding alcohol. i mean some people put themselves in situations soly to create difficulty even though they may be weak. for example some one may on purpose seek to be in an environment where alcohol is common just in order to resist. i have herd some shayukh say that one shouldn’t even see alcohol. anyhow that is just a passing musing, i think i understand now al hamdulilah.
may allah reward you
Asalam Aleikum
Jzkheri for the reminder.
May Allah swt reward you.