Intention-Action Relation in Hadith Collections/al-Musannafat

The issue of how important and necessary intention is for the exercise of the religious services is a fact known by all Muslims. Especially when the books of fiqh are reviewed, it is seen that the influence of intention is tried to be determined for almost every prayer with reference to evidences. As to haj, the influence of intention is emphasized for almost every ritual. However, in course of hadith readings, we realized that this topic is dealt in hadith books and especially in collection/al-musannafat types in a way that hardly matches up with the books of fiqh. The intention as a word has appeared neither in narratives nor in the chapter titles of the collections/al-musannafat, except for some prayers, in a detailed and emphasized way as they are in the books of fiqh. The issues of salah and ablution appear as the most obvious examples of this situation. There is no evidence that the Prophet ordered making intention for neither ablution nor salah to his Companions. In this article, it will be tried to identify the present situation of the subject based on both hadiths and chapter titles of the collections/al-musannafat, specific to ablution, salah, fasting, haj and alms prayers