Asalamu alaikum. What if someone has a mixed intention when doing an act of worship. For example they do do dhikr intending Allah but at the same time they subtly want to impress people. Is there any reward at all?
Wa alaikum salaam
Imam al-Ghazali says, "If the sole reason for doing an action is other than Allah the action is not accepted. However, if the initial reason for start the action was for the sake of Allah, however, secondary motives entered thereafter and were not cast away, the reward is diminished to the extent of the ulterior motive.
For example, if a person normally would not prayer however because there are people around they choose to pray; such that had there been no people they would not have prayed. That is the first situation above. An example of the second situation is that a person would pray whether there was anyone to see but because people were watching they improved the quality of the prayer.
Hope this helps
Imam al-Ghazali says, "If the sole reason for doing an action is other than Allah the action is not accepted. However, if the initial reason for start the action was for the sake of Allah, however, secondary motives entered thereafter and were not cast away, the reward is diminished to the extent of the ulterior motive.
For example, if a person normally would not prayer however because there are people around they choose to pray; such that had there been no people they would not have prayed. That is the first situation above. An example of the second situation is that a person would pray whether there was anyone to see but because people were watching they improved the quality of the prayer.
Hope this helps
MA-sha-Allah thank you for the clear and comprehensive answer.