Elementary Education and Motivation in Islam: Perspectives of Med ...

Intention (Niyya)

Niyya is sometimes used almost synonymously with irda in classical Arabo-Islamic terminology. It occupies an important place in many legal, theological, and philosophical works in Islam because it is the pillar of action and one of the foundations of faith.

Niyya is derived from naw—yanw,meaning qad in the Arabic language.⁶⁴ It is said that ‘niyya comes from al-naw [distance]; as if the one who desires something is seeking that which he cannot reach with his limbs and actions due to its distance’.⁶⁵ According to Zarabozo, there is nothing to suggest that the linguistic and Islamic meanings of niyya (intention) differ.⁶⁶

The jurists of Islam generally stated that niyya ‘means qad in the Arabic language and, in Islamic jurisprudence, it is intending something coupled with its execution’.⁶⁷ The intention, as mentioned by Ibn azm (d. 456/1064), is ‘the secret and spirit of servitude’ and ‘its status in regards to action is like the soul with respect to the body’.⁶⁸ Al-Nawaw stated, ‘Niyya is qad, which is the heart's resolve (‘azmat al-qalb)’, and al-Karmn (386/996–411/1021) wrote, ‘The heart's resolve is additional to qad’.⁶⁹

Ibn al-Qayyim defined intention as the knowledge of what one is doing and the purpose behind the action. He argued that the intelligent, voluntary actor does not do anything without first conceptualising it and wanting it, as the intention is linked to a person's thoughts and reasons for acting.⁷⁰ Following al-Ghazzl, al-Bayw (d. 685/1286) and al-Suy (849/1445–911/1505) have defined niyya as ‘the impulse of the heart towards that which a person deems to be in accord with what he wants’.⁷¹

According to Ibn Taymiyya, the scholars of Islam generally agree that intention is expressed by the heart or conscience, not the tongue.⁷² For instance, al-Ghazzl wrote: