What is the authenticity of the hadith (The intention of a person is better than his deed)? And is there a difference in reward between one who intends and acts and one who intends but does not act?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The student : May we interrupt the brother's hadith if you permit?
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The student : I have a question about the hadith. Some of them say it is not authentic, and some say it is authentic through its chains, and it has fourteen chains.
The Shaykh : My knowledge is that the hadith is weak and not authentic; as for it having the chains you mentioned, this is the first time I have heard of it.
The student : He mentioned it and stated that al-Bayhaqi mentioned this.
The Shaykh : Ten chains?
The student : Fourteen, and thereforeThe Shaykh : Hammad al-Ansari said that it is a recent matter in this research, and I was surprised by his authentication of this hadith.
The Shaykh : What I know up to this hour is that the hadith is weak. Al-Hafiz al-Iraqi weakened it in his famous book on tracing the hadiths of al-Ahyah, *Al-Mughni 'an Haml al-Asfar fi al-Asfar min Takhrij Ma fi al-Ahyah min al-Akhabar*. It is a weak hadith, and the chains I have come across are extremely weak, so I do not know of any of the early scholars who strengthened it.
The student : Is the meaning correct?
The Shaykh : No, I do not believe it is in its absolute sense. How can its meaning be correct? Because, as you know, in the authentic hadith: "If one of you intends..." No, the hadith says Allah said to His angels:. So the intention does not accept multiplication; rather, the deed accompanied by a sincere, righteous intention is what accepts multiplication to whatever Allah wills. Please proceed.
The student : The hadith; does this meaning fall under this?
The Shaykh : No, this does not indicate what you are going toward. What I understand from the hadith is that they are equal in reward in terms of intention, not in terms of the deed. Because this one who intended but did not act, did not act. And it is not hidden from you, as the last hadith you mentioned indicates, that a person who gives charity of a qirsh is written for him ten good deeds, another a hundred, and so on. Do you see if this difference in multiplying the reward is due to the difference of the workers in what they are rewarded for? Is the one who intends to do the deed of so-and-so also subject to the multiplication of reward related to what that worker was rewarded for?
The student : Yes, if the means are not available to him; but if the means are available to him, his intention remains...
The Shaykh : No, I think I could not express what is in my heart. You did a good deed and ten were written for you because you did it. The professor here did the same deed as you, and a hundred was written for him instead of ten, that one seven hundred, that one to many multiples. I intended your deed and I wish I had the means to do like your deed, and another person wished for what that one who was written seven hundred did. Is the reward for me and that one the same or different? Considering that he wants what you did, and I do not know what the reward you will receive is estimated to be. Did I make my intention clear to you?
The student : Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : And therefore, the meaning of the hadith is that he is rewarded for his intention, and not rewarded with a multiplied reward of the same multiplication that the worker received.
The student : What about the station of martyrdom in this hadith?
The Shaykh : This hadith is in al-Bukhari.
The student : ...So is there a reference here that supports the meaning that the intention of a person is other than the deed, the meaning of the hadith?
The Shaykh : My master, it supports that the believer is rewarded for his intention; but that his intention is better than his deed, that is another matter.
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The student : I have a question about the hadith
The intention of a person is better than his deed
نية المرء خير من عملهThe Shaykh : My knowledge is that the hadith is weak and not authentic; as for it having the chains you mentioned, this is the first time I have heard of it.
The student : He mentioned it and stated that al-Bayhaqi mentioned this.
The Shaykh : Ten chains?
The student : Fourteen, and thereforeThe Shaykh : Hammad al-Ansari said that it is a recent matter in this research, and I was surprised by his authentication of this hadith.
The Shaykh : What I know up to this hour is that the hadith is weak. Al-Hafiz al-Iraqi weakened it in his famous book on tracing the hadiths of al-Ahyah, *Al-Mughni 'an Haml al-Asfar fi al-Asfar min Takhrij Ma fi al-Ahyah min al-Akhabar*. It is a weak hadith, and the chains I have come across are extremely weak, so I do not know of any of the early scholars who strengthened it.
The student : Is the meaning correct?
The Shaykh : No, I do not believe it is in its absolute sense. How can its meaning be correct? Because, as you know, in the authentic hadith: "If one of you intends..." No, the hadith says Allah said to His angels:
If My servant intends a deed and does not do it, write for him one good deed. And if he does it, write for him ten good deeds, to a hundred good deeds, to seven hundred, to many multiples. And Allah multiplies for whom He wills.
إذا هم عبدي بعمل فلم يعمله فاكتبوا له حسنة وإذا عمله فاكتبوا عشر حسنات إلى مئة حسنة إلى سبع مئة إلى أضعاف كثيرة والله يضاعف لمن يشاءThe student : The hadith
A man to whom Allah gave... He says, "If only Allah had given me wealth, I would have done with it as so-and-so did." And so on in knowledge, they are equal in reward.
رجل آتاه الله ... . يقول لو أن الله آتاني مالا لعملت به كما عمل فلان ، وهكذا في العلم فهما في الأجر سواءThe Shaykh : No, this does not indicate what you are going toward. What I understand from the hadith is that they are equal in reward in terms of intention, not in terms of the deed. Because this one who intended but did not act, did not act. And it is not hidden from you, as the last hadith you mentioned indicates, that a person who gives charity of a qirsh is written for him ten good deeds, another a hundred, and so on. Do you see if this difference in multiplying the reward is due to the difference of the workers in what they are rewarded for? Is the one who intends to do the deed of so-and-so also subject to the multiplication of reward related to what that worker was rewarded for?
The student : Yes, if the means are not available to him; but if the means are available to him, his intention remains...
The Shaykh : No, I think I could not express what is in my heart. You did a good deed and ten were written for you because you did it. The professor here did the same deed as you, and a hundred was written for him instead of ten, that one seven hundred, that one to many multiples. I intended your deed and I wish I had the means to do like your deed, and another person wished for what that one who was written seven hundred did. Is the reward for me and that one the same or different? Considering that he wants what you did, and I do not know what the reward you will receive is estimated to be. Did I make my intention clear to you?
The student : Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : And therefore, the meaning of the hadith is that he is rewarded for his intention, and not rewarded with a multiplied reward of the same multiplication that the worker received.
The student : What about the station of martyrdom in this hadith
Indeed, in Madinah there are people...
إن في المدينة أقواما ...The Shaykh : This hadith is in al-Bukhari.
The student : ...So is there a reference here that supports the meaning that the intention of a person is other than the deed, the meaning of the hadith?
The Shaykh : My master, it supports that the believer is rewarded for his intention; but that his intention is better than his deed, that is another matter.
Source
www.al-albany.com
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