What is the ruling in the Shari'ah regarding combining intentions between a voluntary act and a voluntary act, and between a voluntary act and an obligatory act?

The questioner : What is the ruling in the Shari'ah regarding combining intentions between a voluntary act and a voluntary act, and between an obligatory act and a voluntary act?

The Shaykh : Between a voluntary act and a voluntary act, and an obligatory act and a voluntary act?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : There is no doubt in our view that both matters are permissible, meaning that one may combine the intention of a voluntary act with the intention of an obligatory act, but not the other way around; one may not combine the intention of an obligatory act with the intention of a voluntary act. The correct approach is the reverse: one intends to perform a specific obligatory act, then intends a voluntary act alongside that first intention. This is permissible, and it is even more permissible to combine the intention of a voluntary act with the intention of another voluntary act. For example, a man or woman who owes a day of fasting from Ramadan and wishes to fast one of the days he owes may intend to make that day a Monday or a Thursday. Why? Because he knows that fasting on Monday and Thursday is a voluntary act with a special virtue well known in authentic hadiths. However, he is not currently in the position of combining two intentions and two actions, meaning giving one action to the intention of the obligatory act and another action to the intention of the voluntary act. That is, he does not want to fast on Monday and Tuesday, or Wednesday and Thursday, making the first day, for example, an obligatory act and the second a voluntary act. He does not want to do this because he is a common person, and it is sufficient for him to fulfill what Allah has made obligatory upon him, following the example of that Bedouin who came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and asked him what Allah had made obligatory upon him. The Prophet mentioned to him five prayers in every day and night, fasting one month in every year, which is Ramadan. The Bedouin asked him, "Is there anything else upon me?" He said: So, when this man heard from the Messenger (peace be upon him) what Allah had made obligatory upon him of the pillars, he said, "By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I will not add to them nor subtract from them. I will not add to them from voluntary acts, nor subtract from them from obligatory acts. Rather, I will strive with all my effort to perform what Allah has made obligatory upon me completely, without adding anything to them as voluntary acts." So what did the Messenger (peace be upon him) testify for him? He said: He (peace be upon him) said, "If he is truthful," because keeping a promise is something many people do not fulfill. But the man made a promise, so he (peace be upon him) said, "He will enter Paradise if he keeps his promise." Therefore, if a man owes a day of Ramadan due to illness or travel, or a woman is menstruating, for example, but he asked this question at some point or heard the answer to it, and he wishes to make his day of making up the fast a Monday or a Thursday, that is permissible for him. First, this is better than the one who does not intend the intention of the voluntary act, even if he fasts on a Monday or fasts on a Thursday to make up what he owes, and did not intend, nor did it cross his mind, to make his fast of making up that day on one of the two virtuous days. In that case, he is only recorded with the reward of making up what he owes from Ramadan. Whereas the other one, if he adds the intention of the voluntary act to the intention of making up the fast on this day, but it is one day that does not accommodate fasting two days, or he will fast one day, that is why we said to combine the intention of the voluntary act with the intention of the obligatory act, because the obligatory act takes precedence over the voluntary act. So we can say, as we have said in many gatherings in answer to such a question, here in this example, and the examples are numerous and very numerous, and we do not enumerate the examples to save time. In this issue, making up a day of Ramadan has three scenarios in our view. We start with the highest, then the middle, then the lowest. We say: A man owes a day of Ramadan, he gives a specific day for this making up, then he fasts on a Monday or Thursday with the intention of the voluntary act. This is recorded for him as double rewards, double rewards, because the action, performing the worship, accepts the multiplication of reward from Allah, as a favor from Him and mercy, as came in the authentic hadith that Allah the Exalted says to His angels: So, when he only intends, one good deed is recorded for him, but if he does it, ten good deeds are recorded for him, and more. The one who made up a day of Ramadan is recorded with at least ten good deeds, then he added to that fasting on a Monday or Thursday, and ten more good deeds are recorded for him, at least. This is the highest scenario. The middle scenario is what we mentioned just now: he wants to fast one day, so let him fast this day with two intentions: the first intention is the intention of the obligatory act, and the other is the intention of the voluntary act for the virtue of the time and the day, which is Monday and Thursday. This is the middle scenario. The lowest is when the good intention that is recorded for him as one good deed does not cross his mind. This concludes the answer to the previous question.