Making the intention for prayer in Arabic

Question

If a person, for example in the Fajr prayer, makes the intention in Arabic like this: [ar]نَوَيْتُ أَنْ أُصَلِّيَ لِلَّهِ تَعَالَى رَكْعَتَيْ صَلَاةِ الْفَجْرِ فَرْضَ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى مُتَوَجِّهًا إِلَى جِهَةِ الْكَعْبَةِ الشَّرِيفَةِ، اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ[/ar] “I intend to pray for Allah Most High two rak‘as of the Fajr prayer, the fard [enjoined] by Allah Most High, facing toward the noble Ka‘ba, Allahu akbar” — will a prayer performed with this intention be valid or not?

Answer

The intention is the name for the heart’s resolve: whatever a person has decided in his heart to do — that is the intention; and it is precisely this that has been decided in the heart. If he says it with the tongue as something mustahabb, no defect enters the prayer through this; and if, without saying it with the tongue, he contents himself with only the intention decided in…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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