Motivations & Intentions

Peace, one and all…

Ya Allah!  You alone grant ability and You alone judge effort.  So grant me the ability to worship You sincerely, for Your sake alone, without thought of reward or punishment.  And, my Lord, forgive my faults and mistakes.  O Merciful One!

Welcome again to my little corner of the virtual world.  As you’ve no doubt discovered by now, this blog is dedicated to the exploration and study of Islam, as both an external religion and as an inner spiritual path.  Islam lays great emphasis on the motivations which lie behind our behaviour.  As such, this page aims to talk briefly about my aims and intentions in writing and maintaining this blog.

The Prophet (God’s peace and blessings be upon him) says, regarding intention:

“Actions are (judged) by motives (niyyah), so each man will have what he intended. Thus, he whose migration (hijrah) was to Allah and His Messenger, his migration is to Allah and His Messenger; but he whose migration was for some worldly thing he might gain, or for a wife he might marry, his migration is to that for which he migrated.”

This hadith underlines the critical importance of intention (or niyaa in Arabic).  All deeds are thus judged by their underlying motivations and not their surface appearance. 

Given this, I feel it is therefore important for me to clarify my intentions here.  Essentially, my purpose here (at least as far as I am consciously aware) is to share the teachings of Islam, and my own thoughts and opinions, with the wider world, for the sake of God alone.

The Prophet (God’s peace and blessings be upon him) also made the following remark:

‘He who believes in God and the Last Day, let him speak words of goodness or else remain silent’.

He (God’s peace and blessings be upon him) also said:

‘The speech of the son of Adam will be counted against him, not for him, except for enjoining good, forbidding evil, and remembering God’.

Given these words of warning, I aim to focus on exploring and sharing the positive side of Islam, as I live and experience it myself (and God knows, there’s enough distortion of Islam around).  I also intend, with God’s help and support, to challenge injustice and misrepresentations as far as I am able.

I do not intend this blog to be a commentary on current affairs (as usually understood), except where I feel it important.  This is for a number of reasons.  Firstly, there are many who can do this job better than I feel I can (see the Commentary links).  Secondly, I feel that the most pressing issue facing Muslims (and indeed the whole of humanity) today is the need to rebuild a connection with the Divine.  We are living in one of the most spiritually disconnected times in human history and this blog aims to show the veritable truth of Islam: God is calling each and every one of us; to Him and to our true selves (labbayk Allahumma labbayk).  Thirdly, and this is a related point, many Muslims today are unaware of their rich spiritual heritage.  It is a tradition of deep and profound insight into the meaning of life.  I hope to share some of this heritage with the wider world.

Allah Ta’ala says in the Quran:

‘And remind, for reminding profits the believers’ (51:55)

I will, being human, fall short of the mark: I seek God’s forgiveness for my sins.  God’s help is to be sought and a Mighty Aid is He.

Ma’as salama,
Abdur Rahman