The Seed of Intention
يَـٰبُنَىَّ إِنَّهَآ إِن تَكُ مِثْقَالَ حَبَّةٍ مِّنْ خَرْدَلٍ فَتَكُن فِى صَخْرَةٍ أَوْ فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ أَوْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ يَأْتِ بِهَا ٱللَّهُ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَطِيفٌ خَبِيرٌ
“O my dear son, even if it were the weight of a mustard seed, hidden in a rock or in the heavens or the earth, Allah will bring it forth. Indeed, Allah is Subtle and All-Aware.”
Surah Luqman 31:16
This verse holds immense power. We cannot measure life by human time, by what the eye sees, or by cause and effect. Life is more grand.
Prophet Luqman was teaching his son a wisdom, that no matter how small or unseen a deed or intention is, God will see it, honour it, and bring it forth. He was teaching him not to act for the eyes of people, but to set intentions with the heart, to act with ‘ikhlas’, meaning with sincerity and purity for God alone. This awareness brings humility, sincerity, and responsibility. It plants unshakable faith, the kind that doesn’t rush for results but trusts what’s growing in silence.
The beauty of God, ‘Al-Laṭīf’, the ‘Kind’, and ‘Al-Khabīr’, the ‘All-Aware’, is that He honors every heartbeat, every whisper, every thought. You may feel your intention is hidden or unnoticed, but as the verse says, even if it is as small as a mustard seed hidden inside a rock, it will come forth.
Understand your power, a seed looks tiny, almost worthless if you saw it on the street, but that same seed can grow into a forest. Honor your seeds, they are seen by the Divine. A sacred secret until their time comes.
Our life is not just a performance. It is a secret prayer. Do not underestimate the invisible. What is unseen to the eye may be most precious to the Divine.
“We must understand that every destiny is a mirror of the soul, and every soul has woven its destiny thread by thread”
Rudolf Steiner
Today, take a moment to write down your intentions.
No matter how small or impossible they seem, give them form on paper.
What lays in the depths of your heart is yearning to be known
Once you set your intention, God allows the universe to work with you, and you will be surprised by what unfolds. Allah Al-Baṣīr (The All-Seeing) sees even the mustard seed within you.
“Growing up in the church, one of my favorite Bible parables was about the mustard seed: If you have faith, even if it’s as little as a mustard seed, you can move mountains. Anything is possible. As a child, listening from my seat in church, this brought me so much comfort- just as it did when I was struggling as a reporter in Baltimore and as it still does today. The mustard seed is such a tiny speck of a thing. I am emboldened by the belief that all I need is a mustard seed of faith and no matter what, I am going to be all right.”
The Path Made Clear – Oprah Winfrey
“Deeds that seemed unimportant at the time would prove to have been momentous; a tiny act of selfishness and unkindness or, conversely, an unconsidered act of generosity would become the measure of a human life”
Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time – Karen Armstrong
“It is important to remember that just as our words are our thoughts verbalized, so our deeds are our beliefs actualized. No action, no matter how small, is insignificant – how we treat someone defines how we treat everyone, including ourselves. If we disrespect another, we disrespect ourselves. If we are mistrustful of others, we are distrustful of ourselves. If we are cruel to another, we will be cruel to ourselves. If we can’t appreciate those around us, we won’t appreciate ourselves. With every person we engage, in everything we do, we must be kinder than expected, more generous than anticipated, more positive than we thought possible. Every moment in front of another human being is an opportunity to express our highest values and to influence someone with our humanity. We can make the world better, one person at a time.”
The Secret Letters of the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari – Robin Sharma
