Intention

Making verbal niyyah before salaah

Q: My question is related to making the verbal niyyah before salah. Is it a bida'h? I have gone through a lot of articles regarding this matter. Some people say that it is bida'h. Some say that it is okay to say it verbally whereas some say that it is not from the sunnah, that our prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) did not use to do this. He would rather make intention in the heart and start the salaah with Allah Akbar. I am confused with it and don't want to fall in doing something wrong. So if you can guide me to the right path Insha Allah. I also want to know if the intention is to be made in the heart only then what are things that should be said in the heart.

Intention for Salaah

Q: I understand it is a condition of the prayer when following an imam to intend to be linked to the imam. I also understand that the intention should be such that if a person was asked regarding his prayer, he should respond immediately without having to think-otherwise his prayer is invalid. I spend several minutes trying to make the intention for prayer, for example, to intend to read Fard of Isha Behind the imam. Despite this even after a few minutes of trying to make the intention, if one was to ask me what prayer I was praying I am able to respond immediately without thinking Fard of Isha. However, I have think very briefly remind myself I am praying behind the imam. And this happens almost every time even after five minutes of intention making. I am getting depressed over this because apparantly it makes my prayer invalid. Please can you help me?

Intention for Salaah

Q: For Fardh and Wajib Salaahs:

  1. Is it necessary to state the number of rakaats you are praying? i.e I am praying 3 rakaats maghrib, 2 rakaat fajr etc
  2. Is it sufficient to just state the salaah i.e I am praying Fajr ,Maghrib etc?