The Book of Intentions by Habib Muhammad “Sa`d” ibn `Alawi al-`Aydarus (and translated by Mohamad Mbaye) presents an array of intentions drawn from the Prophetic Sunnah and the practice of the Pious Predecessors [salaf]. It illustrates, in a concise and practical manner, the meaning of the Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ ‘Verily actions are only according to intentions and every man shall have according to what he intended. Whosoever makes migrates [hijra] for God and His Messenger ﷺ, then his migration is to God and His Envoy, and whosoever makes migration to achieve some worldly benefit or to take a woman in marriage, then his migration is to that for which he made migration.’
The Pious Predecessors used to say, ‘Whosoever opens the door of a virtuous intention, Allah will open seventy doors of the doors of success [tawfiq] for him.’ This saying encapsulates the tacit prayer of this book: that one’s intention may become a vehicle to tawfiq and a gateway to many more virtuous intentions. Few works gift such an insight into the multitude of opportunities to realize and harness the latent blessings within the intention.