When one does a tâ’at, it will be accepted whether one knows or not that one is doing it for Allah’s sake. If a person does a tâ’at knowing that he does it for Allah’s sake, it is called Qurbet. While doing an action which is qurbet, one does not have to intend so that rewards will be given. The tâ’at in which it is necessary to intend for Allah’s sake so that rewards are given is called ’Ibâdat (worshipping).
The abdast (ritual ablution) that is performed without an intention is not an act of worshipping, but it is qurbet. However, one has cleaned oneself and can perform namâz. It is understood that every act of worship is qurbet and tâ’at. Reading the Qur’ân al-kerîm, donating property as a waqf, emancipating a slave, giving alms, making a wudu’, and the like, since an intention is not necessary in order to receive blessings, are tâ’at and qurbet. Yet they are not acts of worship.
While doing an action which is tâ’at or qurbet, if one intends for Allah’s sake, one has done an act of worship. However, they are not commanded as acts of worship. It is not qurbet, but it is tâ’at to learn such branches of knowledge as physics, chemistry, biology and astronomy, which help men to know Allah. Unbelievers comprehend Allah’s existence, not while learning them, but after learning them. It is a sin to perform any tâ’at with a bad intention. Beautiful thoughts increase the reward of a tâ’at. For example, it is a tâ’at to be in a mosque. It will be more rewarding if one intends to visit the House of Allah, thinking that the mosque is the House of Allah. Also, if one intends to wait for the next prayer or stays inside the mosque to prevent one’s eyes and ears from committing sins or goes into seclusion to think about the next world or to mention Allah’s Name in a mosque or perform amr-i ma’ruf and nahy-i munkar by teachingpeople about Allah’s commandments and prohibitions or to listen to preachers or to strive to feel embarrassment before Allah, one will receive different rewards for each act, depending on one’s intention. Every tâ’at has various intentions and rewards. Ibni ’Âbidîn ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ explains these while explaining how to send a proxy to Mecca for pilgrimage.
Every mubâh is a tâ’at when done with goodwill. It is a sin when done with ill will. If a person uses perfumes, dresses well and smartly in order to enjoy worldly benefits, to make a show, to boast, to cherish himself or to hunt girls and women, he will be sinful. He won’t be tormented for his intention to enjoy worldly advantages, yet it will cause the blessings of the next world to decrease. He will be tormented for his other intentions. If this person dresses smartly and uses perfumes because it is a sunnat, if he intends to pay reverence to a mosque and not to hurt the Muslims who sit by him in the mosque, to be clean, to be healthy, to protect Islam’s dignity and honour, he receives different rewards for each of these intentions of his. Some scholars say that one shouldn’t forget to make an intention for every mubâh action, even before eating, drinking, sleeping and going to the watercloset. One should be careful about one’s intention when beginning a mubâh action. If one’s intention is good, one should do that act. If the intention is not only for Allâhu ta’âlâ, one shouldn’t do it. It is declared in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “Allâhu ta’âlâ does not look at your beautiful faces or possessions; He looks at your hearts and deeds.” That is, Allâhu ta’âlâ doesn’t give anybody rewards or gifts in consideration of his new, clean clothes, good deeds, possessions and rank. He gives him rewards or torments because of his thoughts, or the intention behind his actions.
Then, the thing which is of the highest necessity, which is the most important fard for every Muslim, is to learn îmân, the fards and the harâms. There is no Islam unless these are learned. Îmân cannot be maintained, the debts to Allah and to human beings cannot be paid, intentions and morals cannot be corrected and purified unless the basic principles of Islam are learned. Unless correctly intended, no fard will be accepted. It was declared in a hadîth in ad-Durr-ul-Mukhtâr: “Learning or teaching knowledge for one hour is more blessed than worshipping until morning.” The author of the book Hadarât-ul-quds states on the ninety-ninth page: “I studied the books Bukhârî, Mishkât, Hidâya and Sherh-imawâqif under Imâm-i-Rabbânî’s supervision. He would encourage young people to acquire knowledge. ‘Knowledge first, and tasawwuf next,’ he would say. Noticing my shirking from knowledge and taking pleasure from tarîqat, he pitied me and advised me, ‘Read books! Acquire knowledge! An ignorant man of tasawwuf will be a plaything in the hands of the devil,’ [that is, he will fall into disesteem.]”
It is called ’Ibâdat (worship) to do the fards and sunnats and to avoid the harâms and makrûhs, that is, to observe the rules of Islam in order to attain Allâhu ta’âlâ’s love and receive thawâb (rewards). There is no worship without an intention. In other words, it is necessary first to have îmân and then to learn and observe the rules of Islam in order to follow Rasûlullah (Hadrat Muhammad).
To have îmân means to begin following him (Rasûlullah) and to enter through the door of happiness. Allâhu ta’âlâ sent him to invite all the people of the world to happiness and declared in the twenty-eighth âyat of Sûrat-us-Saba’: “O my beloved Prophet! ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ I send you to humanity so that you should give the good news of the endless bliss to all the people in the world and to guide them along this way to happiness.”
For example, a short midday sleep of a person who adapts himself to him is much more valuable than spending many nights worshipping without following him. It was his honourable habit to perform Qaylûla, that is to sleep for a while before noon. Also, not fasting on the feast day, but eating and drinking because his Sharî’at commands it, is more valuable than years of fasting that doesn’t exist in his Sharî’at. A small amount given to the poor according to his Sharî’at, which is called zakât, is better than giving a pile of gold coins as big as a mountain with one’s own wish. After performing a morning prayer in jamâ’at, Hadrat ’Umar, the Amîrul-mu’minîn, looked at the jamâ’at and, seeing that one of the regulars was absent, he asked where he was. His companions said, “He prays until morning at nights. Maybe he fell asleep.” The Amîr-ul-mu’minîn said, “I wish he had slept all the night and performed the morning prayer in congregation; it would have been better.” Those who have deviated from the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya blunt their nafs by subjecting themselves to inconveniences and by striving hard. Yet, this is worthless and low because they don’t do it compatibly with the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya. The benefit for these efforts of theirs, if there is any, consists in a few worldly advantages. Then, in fact, this world is worthless; therefore, what could be the value of a part of it? These people are like dustmen; dustmen work harder and become more tired than anybody else, but their wages are lower than anybody else’s. As for those who adapt themselves to the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya, they are like jewellers, who deal with fine jewels and precious diamonds. They do a little work, but their earnings are great. Sometimes an hour’s work provides them a hundred thousand years’ earning. The reason for this is that an action compatible with the Ahkâm-iislâmiyya is accepted and liked by Allâhu ta’âlâ; He loves it.
[He declares in many places of the Qur’ân al-kerîm that this is so. For example, He declares in the thirty-first âyat of Sûrat-u Âli ’Imrân: “O my beloved Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’! Tell them, ‘If you love Allâhu ta’âlâ and if you want Allâhu ta’âlâ to love you in turn, adapt yourselves to me! Allâhu ta’âlâ loves those who adapt themselves to me’.”]
Allâhu ta’âlâ does not like any of the things that are incompatible with the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya. Is it possible that rewards will be given for the things that are disliked? Maybe they will bring about punishment.
Source: Endless Bliss (Se’âdet-i Ebediyye) by Hüseyn Hilmi Işık, Nineteenth Edition, Hakikat Kitabevi, 20014
