The ruling on one who does good and forgets the intention
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh:
No, no, no, he gets his reward.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah command you to do well. If a person does good and its benefit extends, but he did not intend to seek reward and did not know that this good would spread, will he be recorded as having done good?
The Shaykh:
If he completed it with intention, there is nothing on him. If he completed it with intention, the devil is not involved.
The questioner:
But he intended to seek reward.
The Shaykh:
Actions are by intentions. If it is completed with intention, it does not become a righteous deed.
No, no, no, he gets his reward.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah command you to do well. If a person does good and its benefit extends, but he did not intend to seek reward and did not know that this good would spread, will he be recorded as having done good?
The Shaykh:
If he completed it with intention, there is nothing on him. If he completed it with intention, the devil is not involved.
The questioner:
But he intended to seek reward.
The Shaykh:
Actions are by intentions. If it is completed with intention, it does not become a righteous deed.
Source
التعليق على رياض الصالحين، تابع الإخلاص وإحضار النية : الأحاديث : [ 8 - 10 ] — islamhouse.com (6:08)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.