❖ What is the Ruling on Uttering the Intention (Niyyah) Verbally? ❖
Source: Fatāwā Ameenpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Ameenpuri
✿ Question:
What is the ruling regarding making the intention (niyyah) verbally for prayer?
✿ Answer:
The place of intention (niyyah) is the heart. Pronouncing the words of intention with the tongue is not established from the Sunnah.
◈ Statement of Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr (رحمه الله) (774H):
لم ينقل أحد بسند صحيح ولا حسن بل ولا ضعيف أنه عليه السلام كان يتلفظ بنية الصلاة .
Translation:
No ḥadīth scholar has transmitted—neither with a ṣaḥīḥ, ḥasan, nor even a ḍaʿīf chain—that the Prophet ﷺ ever uttered the intention of prayer verbally.
(Kitāb al-Aḥkām al-Kabīr 2/281)
✅ Conclusion:
Uttering the intention verbally is not from the Sunnah. The correct practice is to form the intention in the heart alone, as this was the way of the Prophet ﷺ.
