Purifying Intention and Daily Worship

Actions are but by their intentions, and every person receives according to what they intended. The same outward deed may be worship or vanity depending on the niyyah beneath it; intention is the soul of the act, and without it the body of the deed is lifeless.

Sincerity (ikhlas) is to act for God alone, unmixed with the wish to be seen or praised. Imam Ali (a) said the value of an action is according to the sincerity within it; a small deed done purely outweighs a great one done for show. Performing worship to be seen — riya' — the Prophet (s) called the hidden shirk.

Among Shaytan's subtlest tricks is the beautification of sin — dressing a wrong as a right, or spoiling a good deed with self-admiration after it is done. The remedy is the constant renewal of intention: setting it before the act, guarding it during, and humbling oneself after, returning every good to God's enabling.

Purifying intention is lifelong labour, for the self loves to be noticed. But its reward is immense: deeds made sincere are accepted and multiplied, and the sincere (al-mukhlasin) are the very ones over whom Shaytan confessed before God that he holds no power (15:40).