Fatima Altalib My 76 year old neighbour Anna sits opposite me on the couch in her living room. I balance a china plate that once belonged to her mother on my knee as I nibble on a rusk. She looks me in the eye and says, “life is a journey towards God. There will be potholes on the road, but if you turn to God He will always lift you out of the potholes.”
Imagine this upcoming year is the last year of your journey. What would you do in your last year of life? Intentions are powerful tools that help us live life to the fullest so that we are ready to meet Allah. Here are five intentions to consider making before the new year begins. Once the intention is formed firmly in your heart, it is easier to fulfil them. Hence, I’ve included some tips to help you carry out your intentions straight away. After all, there’s no guarantee that we will live until tomorrow yet alone until next year. So let’s get started!
Intention 1: Make The Intention To Draw Closer To Allah
Every fibre of our being has been created to worship Allah SWT. Every heartbeat, every breath, every step we take has a purpose: to bring us closer to our Creator. In order to fulfil this purpose, it is essential that we renew our intention to please Allah in everything we do. Whether we want to improve our personal spiritual acts of worship such as prayer or we want to work on our contribution to the wider community, it is important to remember our final objective: the pleasure of Allah.
Your intention to draw closer to Allah will be your lifeline during the year ahead. Renewing this intention will help lift you up when you fall into that inevitable pothole on your journey. It’ll bring you energy, hope, barakah, and meaning into everything you do. Make this the crown intention of your heart and you will never lose spirit. Make this intention the backbone intention of all the other intentions that you make and you will achieve SO much more in BOTH worlds. Allah reminds us in the Qur'an:
“There are some who say, “Our Lord! Grant us ˹Your bounties˺ in this world,” but they will have no share in the Hereafter. Yet there are others who say, “Our Lord! Grant us the good of this world and the Hereafter, and protect us from the torment of the Fire.” (Qur'an, 2:200-201)
Make the intention to please Allah through building a better world in the Dunya, for Allah has prepared the BEST world for those who He is pleased with in the Aakhira.
How To Fulfil Intention 1:
Allow this intention to manifest in at least three ways:
- Work on your spiritual acts of worship:
For example, your khushoo’ in your salah, your tadabbur (reflection of Quran), remembering Allah with dhikr throughout the day, etc.
2. Work on your character (discussed more in Intention 2):
our spiritual acts of worship should grant you the strength to persevere, to problem solve, to make decisions with wisdom, to live more mindfully, to forgive others, to be more patient and understanding, etc.
3. Work on your contribution:
Ask yourself every day: “How have I been a giver today?” “What is my contribution to humanity?” “What real-life problems am I working towards solving?” “Which person in need can I support today?” Giving to others is one of the best ways to get close to Allah and receive His mercy.
Intention 2: Make The Intention To Strengthen Your Character
Make the intention to learn more about yourself in order to strengthen your character. Allah created us all differently with a unique combination of strengths and weaknesses. Some of us are generous but find it difficult to forgive others. Some of us struggle to give others and have a more holding nature but are very considerate. Some of us might be considerate but find it hard to be neat and organised. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Certain character traits within you can be more dominant than others. It is our responsibility to use the positive character traits within us to make this world a better place. It is also our responsibility to work on building and strengthening the character traits that we find harder to have.
The Prophet Muhammad SAW was sent to us to perfect our character. As the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad SAW, we must strive to work on improving our character every day. Humanity should know us as being the kindest, most generous, most patient, most responsible, most considerate, most honest, most creative, most progressive nation in the world. Why? Because we are the nation of the BEST man ever created and are the BEST Ummah Allah has made. Take this responsibility seriously by making a firm intention to strengthen your character.
How To Fulfil Intention 2:
- List down all the positive character traits you want to adopt and implement in your life.
For example, forgiving, neat and organised, empathetic, good listener, humble, more helpful, honest, etc.
2. Highlight the character traits you believe you already have in one colour.
Think about all the examples in your past when you’ve applied that character trait. For example, if you consider yourself a very helpful person perhaps you assisted someone to pack their belongings when they were moving. Or if you consider yourself a positive person, perhaps you’re someone who smiles regularly and always tries to encourage others.
3. Highlight the character traits you think you need to work hard to work on because they don’t come as naturally to you in another colour.
Think of practices you can do in the upcoming year that will help you to implement these character traits that you struggle with. For example, if you’re not very neat and organised, you may plan to observe someone who is very neat and ask them for some tips. You might also decide to designate one place for each of your belongings and try to put the belonging back in its place as soon as you’re done using it and find someone to help hold you accountable as you adjust to the new habit.
Intention 3: Make The Intention To Honour Your Family
ِAllah tells us: “Give to close relatives their due, as well as the poor and ˹needy˺ travelers. And do not spend wastefully” (Qur'an, 17:26).
Do you notice how Allah orders us to give to our families before the poor or needy travelers? That shows how important it is to prioritise taking care of our closest of kin and then our wider community. We don’t neglect the poor and the needy but at the same time, we make sure that there is no poor or needy within our close circle.
Furthermore, the Messenger of Allah, peace, and blessings be upon him, said, “The best of you are the best to their families, and I am the best to my family. (Sunan al-Tirmidhī 3895). Make the intention to shower your family with love and care. Make the intention to consider their needs, to prioritise them in your weekly plan, and to remind them to always be their best by showing them the best example.
How To Fulfil Intention 3:
- Express your love for them
Spend quality time with them, give them gifts, grant them financial support if they need it, ease their burdens through acts of service, express your love through words of affection, hug them, smile at them, pray for them, pray with them, encourage them.
2. Be There For Them When They Need You
I’ll give you a real life example to show you what I mean by this. I have a cousin whose driving license test was two weeks away and his driving instructor bailed on him. When I heard of his predicament, I spoke to my driving instructor and asked if he could accommodate my cousin. Thankfully, my driving instructor was very willing to. However, when he called my cousin, my cousin was still uncertain. I sensed that it might be a financial issue that had made my cousin hesitant so I spoke to another family member of mine about it. That family member then offered to pay for all his driving lessons until his test date. It’s a simple gesture but one that will serve my cousin for the rest of his life as driving is a life skill he’ll most certainly need.
3. Be The Bigger Person
Relationships are hard work. They take a lot of patience, understanding, effort, and forgiveness. Relationships with your closest of kin are no exception. You may have family members who just don’t put the effort you do into the relationship. Even worse, you may have family members who you feel have wronged you in some way. Find the healing you need from the hurt they might have caused you. However, if you can, try not to hold the bitterness within you. You can’t change your family members and what they do. However, you can control your own response to the situation. Focus on what you can do to be the bigger person and be the best family member you can possibly be regardless of how your other family members are. You will be held accountable for how YOU treat your family, not for how they choose to treat you. Moreover, Allah will reward you greatly for your patience.
Intention 4: Make The Intention To Work WITH Your Weaknesses
None of us are perfect. We all have weaknesses. The best way to deal with them is to learn what weaknesses we do have. Make the intention to learn more about your weaknesses. Monitor your behaviour and evaluate yourself regularly. The reality is, whatever weaknesses you do have, chances are, you won’t get rid of them any time soon. In fact, many of them may remain with you until the day you die. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t proactive steps you can take to deal with them. Make the intention to learn how to deal and work with your weaknesses.
How To Fulfil Intention 4:
- Identify your weaknesses
Reflect on yourself and think about what your weaknesses are. Ask those who are close and trustworthy to you to share their insight on what your weaknesses might be.
2. Learn to manage your weaknesses
After understanding your weaknesses, it is possible to regulate and manage them and learn how to work with them. For example, take someone who is naturally a holding and stingy person. If he or she analyses their behaviour, they will come to realise and accept this weakness as a part of their nature. However, they want to be more giving because giving others has great rewards in Islam. Therefore, in order to work with their weakness, they sign up for monthly donations with a charitable organisation whereby money is automatically deducted from their account every month so that they don’t even have to think about it and the pinch they feel when “losing” money.
3. Learn to forgive yourself
You should always be your own biggest supporter and cheerleader. Yes, it is important to hold yourself accountable. However, at the same time, you need to forgive yourself when you make a mistake and embrace the beautifully imperfect human that you are because we are all imperfect. Allah is the only One free of all imperfections. Allah understands the mankind that He created and through His infinite mercy chooses to forgive us. So we should forgive ourselves too.
Intention 5: Make The Intention To Reduce Toxic Things
I intentionally use the word “reduce'' and not “get rid of” because reducing toxic things is a lot more realistic, especially at the beginning of making a change. There are certain habits or things you consume and expose yourself to that are more harmful than enriching. Like a silent killer, they slowly drain your energy sources, harden your heart and distract you from your true life purpose. While ideally, you should cut these things out completely wherever possible, a lot of these toxic things have become a major part of our daily lives. The best thing to do if you can’t cut it out completely is to start limiting them.
How To Fulfil Intention 5:
- Make a list of all the toxic things you want to reduce in your life and put it in a place where you can regularly remind yourself to cut down on them.
This is the personal list I made. Feel free to make one that matches your values and lifestyle:
- Mainstream movies and TV series
- Youtube trap
- Empty novels
- Mainstream music
- Junk food and sugar
- Waking up and sleeping late
- Making excuses and not taking responsibility for my actions and mistakes
- Giving up and not believing in myself
- Hating myself
- Negative people and people who don’t put any effort into the relationship
- Empty, non-beneficial Instagram and social media accounts
Conclusion
Write these five intentions down and put them in a place you can read them every morning and every evening. Read them before you plan your day and week. Notice how much more mindful you become. Renew your intentions throughout the year and watch how they transform your life for the better. Wishing you a year filled with barakah, success, and Allah’s light.
What are you looking forward to in the new Gregorian year? Comment below!
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References:
https://www.abuaminaelias.com/dailyhadithonline/2012/05/28/best-of-you-best-family/
Nur Syahirah
Fatima Altalib