A series of moral, doctrinal, and social statements from the esteemed religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Shirazi, may his shadow remain (Words of Wisdom, episode number 14)
"Sincere Intentions and a Pure Heart"
In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
The great hadith scholars have narrated a noble tradition from the Noble Messenger of God, Prophet Muhammad Mustafa (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), in their authentic books regarding the approach of the blessed month of Ramadan. This hadith contains many profound points on self-purification, seeking forgiveness, and the proper etiquette of fasting. One of the statements in this elevated tradition begins as follows:
“So ask your Lord with sincere intentions and pure hearts.”
The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) presents this as a prerequisite for supplications and expressing one's needs before the Almighty—especially during the blessed month of Ramadan.
In truth, supplication and presenting our needs to God is not only about asking for help and seeking from the Divine, but it is also a means for spiritual elevation and reaching higher levels of spirituality and divine knowledge. In this light, du‘a is a tool through which the elements of spirituality and piety are gradually cultivated in the servants of God.
Two essential conditions for supplication and seeking from the Almighty are: a sincere intention and a pure heart. Each of these is worthy of deeper discussion and detailed reflection. This brief writing does not allow for a full exploration, so we will limit ourselves to highlighting the practical value of these two noble moral traits, especially as seen in the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family).
The Holy Qur’an also repeatedly draws attention to these two important elements.
A pure heart is one that is free from malice, envy, spiritual ailments, and moral impurities. This theme is given great importance in the language of the Qur’an. As with many other matters, the Qur’an presents the Noble Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family) as the perfect model for emulation and inspiration in this regard.
In the life of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), there are numerous stories in which the purity of his heart is clearly visible. Reflecting on these stories and striving for a sincere intention and a purified heart is a direct form of emulating the Infallibles (peace be upon them), especially the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family).
In what follows, we will reflect on some pages of the Prophet’s shining and yet deeply challenging life, where the purity of his heart and the sincerity of his intentions are beautifully and unmistakably evident.
On the Threshold of Prophethood
The beginning of the Prophet’s (peace be upon him and his family) mission was approaching, and the time for his divine appointment had come. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was commanded by God to proclaim his message.
During the pilgrimage season, the idolaters (mushrikeen) would come to visit their idols, which were housed in the Sacred Mosque (Masjid al-Haram). Some of the idols were placed inside the Ka‘bah itself, others were hung on its walls, and many were installed within the mosque's surrounding area. Each idol was affiliated with a certain tribe or clan. Some families even created personal idols, and some individuals had their own exclusive idols. These people would come to venerate their idols during the Hajj season and at other times of the year.
It was in this environment that the Prophet of God (peace be upon him and his family) was appointed by the Almighty to deliver his divine message. Naturally, denouncing idol worship and inviting the idolaters to the worship of the One God was no simple task—especially considering the deep-rooted fanaticism they held toward their idols. This mission posed serious dangers for the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), as history later confirmed.
The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) officially began his mission by ascending Mount Safa, which overlooks the Sacred Mosque. In the presence of the idolaters gathered there, he called out:
"O people! Say, ‘There is no god but Allah,’ and you will be successful."
The first part of this proclamation was a direct rejection of the worship of all other deities—it was a call to abandon the worship of anything besides Allah. It meant exclusive devotion to the One True God, the Blessed and Exalted. This was not something the idolaters could easily accept.
Despite the difficulty of hearing such a statement, the idolaters at first paid little attention and did not respond with hostility.
The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) then descended from Mount Safa and walked toward Mount Marwah. There, once again, he stood atop the mount and proclaimed:
"O people! Say, ‘There is no god but Allah,’ and you will be successful."
This time, the idolaters could no longer tolerate his words. The ground of Mecca was mostly covered in rocks and pebbles, as it still is in some unpaved areas to this day. Men and women, young and old, each picked up a stone or a handful of pebbles and began throwing them at the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family).
The Prophet turned his back to them to reduce the harm caused by the flying stones. Even so, the idolaters pursued him and continued to stone him.
The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), as narrated in various traditions and historical reports, possessed a strong and robust physique. Nevertheless, the intensity of the stones thrown at him, as mentioned in primary sources, was so severe that his entire body—from head to toe—became bloodied. Naturally, these blows caused serious harm to his blessed body, to the extent that blood was flowing profusely.
The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) continued to endure this brutal stoning until he was finally out of sight of the idolaters. Despite his physical strength, the damage was so extensive that after some time, due to the heavy blood loss, weakness overtook him, and he collapsed to the ground in a secluded corner among the mountains.
Imam Ali (peace be upon him), who at that time was no more than ten years old, came to the Prophet’s (peace be upon him and his family) home. Along with Lady Khadijah (may God’s eternal pleasure be upon her), they took some water and bread and set out into the mountains and valleys in search of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). Eventually, they found him lying unconscious and wounded in a remote place, having lost a significant amount of blood.
O Allah, My People...!
Witnessing this scene was very difficult for the angels. As narrated, they pleaded to Almighty God, saying: "O Lord, this servant of Yours is the most noble of Your creation. Is it right for him to be treated in such a way?" They asked for permission to send a calamity upon the idolaters. However, God Almighty instructed them to first ask the Prophet himself and to act according to whatever he said.
The narration states that the angel in charge of the mountains was the first to come to the Prophet ﷺ and said: “I am the angel assigned to the mountains. God has placed these mountains under my control. If you permit, I will bring the mountains together”—meaning, I will cause an earthquake—“so that all these idolaters will be crushed and destroyed.” It’s worth mentioning that the city of Mecca is a mountainous region, surrounded by hills. The Sacred Mosque (Masjid al-Haram) itself is encircled by a ring of mountains, with only two main entry passages (known as Aqabah). If we imagine a 360-degree circle around the Kaaba, about 300 degrees of it is covered by mountains, and the rest are the paths that lead into Mecca. The angel intended to cause a quake to collapse the mountains onto the idolaters of Mecca—but the Prophet ﷺ refused.
Likewise, the angel in charge of the wind, the angel of the earth, and other angels descended one by one to seek the Prophet’s permission to punish the idolaters, but he never gave it. Instead, the Prophet ﷺ turned to God Almighty and said, “O Allah, forgive my people, for they do not know.”
Despite his painful condition, injured and bleeding from the idolaters’ attacks, and naturally afflicted in body and soul, the Prophet ﷺ never cursed his people. Rather than asking God to punish them, he prayed for their guidance. Indeed, God created both humankind and jinn for the sole purpose of worshipping Him. As the Qur'an says:
“And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.” (Qur'an 51:56)
The idolaters, entrenched in the worship of lifeless and powerless idols, responded to the Prophet’s sincere invitation to worship the One God with stones and aggression. Yet this moment so clearly testifies to the Prophet’s pure heart and sincere intention to guide and enlighten the people. Only a heart overflowing with purity and honesty could, in such pain and grief, harbor no resentment and instead wish goodness and guidance upon his enemies.
Indeed, it may have been this very prayer—born of sincerity and a purified heart—that became the cause of guidance for many of those idolaters. Later on, many of them, who had once stood firmly against the Prophet ﷺ and had responded to his call with violence, abandoned idol worship and came to believe in the One God. Some even became among the righteous believers. All of this was the fruit of the Prophet’s heartfelt prayer to God in his hour of suffering and sorrow:
“O Allah, guide my people, for they do not know.”
In the Path of the Messenger ﷺ
Ultimately, everything must be learned from the Prophet ﷺ. Based on the divine command to follow him, he is our role model and guide in all matters. We must strive to cultivate within ourselves, through effort and willpower, the noble traits of the Prophet ﷺ—among them, a pure heart and sincere intention, which are among the most important conditions for the acceptance of prayer. These are qualities we must nurture in ourselves by emulating the Prophet ﷺ.
In a sermon delivered at the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan, the Prophet ﷺ advised that whatever you ask from your Lord—the One who nurtures you—should come from a sincere intention and a pure heart.
A rhetorical point discussed in the science of eloquence is worth noting here. The collective form used in speech often refers to individuals within that group, not necessarily all at once. For example, if it is said, "The people of a city sold their homes," it does not mean they all gathered and sold their houses at the same time, but rather, over time, each person individually sold their home. Similarly, in the hadith “Ask Allah, your Lord, with sincere intentions and pure hearts,” this collective expression is directed at each individual—it does not mean everyone automatically possesses these qualities. Rather, it means that whenever anyone raises their hands in supplication to God Almighty, it is best that their prayer stems from a sincere intention and a pure, untainted heart. These are the necessary conditions for the acceptance of prayers.
Naturally, these two traits—sincere intention and a pure heart—are not things that can be bought or sold, nor are they easily acquired. They can only be attained through firm resolve and determined effort. To achieve them, one must take the noble Messenger of God ﷺ as a model. Everyone faces many challenges in their personal, social, and family life. Political, economic, and social issues may create resentment in our hearts toward those responsible for our hardships. All these things can taint the heart and, if repeated, produce a bitter and cheerless soul that is no longer receptive to prayer or connection with God Almighty.
Therefore, we must pay close attention to our hearts and emotions, and not allow any grudges or resentments to take root. Though this may seem difficult, with persistence and by taking the Prophet ﷺ as a role model—especially in times of hardship—it becomes achievable.
Furthermore, although the Prophet’s words were spoken at the beginning of Ramadan and may outwardly pertain to supplications and acts of worship specific to this month, as scholars have noted, the subject is not exclusive to Ramadan. Sincerity of intention and purity of heart are universal prerequisites for prayer and seeking needs from the Divine Presence. They are not confined to any time or place. In both times of joy and distress, in sickness or in health, in wealth or poverty, a person is never independent of prayer and divine assistance. Therefore, these two qualities must be continuously developed so that the doors of supplication and its acceptance remain ever open.
As we mentioned, although difficult, achieving this is not impossible. With firm determination and consistent effort, one can gradually attain it. Surely, purifying one’s intention and heart brings abundant blessings into a person's life—one of which is the ease of conversing with God and the fulfillment of one’s needs.
May we all, by the blessing of the Prophet ﷺ and his pure household (peace and blessings be upon them), be granted the success to attain sincere intentions and pure hearts.
And peace and blessings of God be upon Muhammad and his pure family.
