[Ruling on Combining the Intention of Commitment to Leading Prayer with the Intention of Prayer]

Answer (and by Allah is success): The question contains two matters that should be clarified:
1. The intention regarding the preliminaries of the prayer—namely: leaving one’s house, arriving at the mosque at the start of the time for prayer, and committing oneself to that.
2. Then comes the intention for the prayer itself, which is made at the takbīrat al-iḥrām.
As for the intention concerning the preliminaries, it is not harmed by mixing it with another intention—such as intending to go out for the prayer, to please the worshipers, and to ward off blame, censure, and suspicion.
But as for the intention of the prayer itself, which occurs at the opening takbīr, nothing should be mixed with it.
We say this because leaving the house, going to the mosque, and committing to do so are not independent acts of worship; they are preliminaries to an act of worship. They are described as “worship” by reason of leading to the prayer; thus, their intention is not harmed by being accompanied by another motive. So it is permissible that you intend your going out for the prayer and to drive away dogs, to answer someone’s call, to settle a debt or to collect it, to discipline your children, and so on.
And it is permissible to attend the mosque for the prayer and to see someone who will be there, to inquire about something, to deliver a message, or to look for a child, friend, or guest, and the like.
There is no doubt that both the imām and the worshipers who are constant in praying in congregation acquire energy, drive, and heightened concern for attending the mosque and praying at the appointed times. Without the mutual commitment of the imām and the worshipers to attend the congregational prayer, such energy, concern, and constancy in attendance would not arise; rather, each person would pray whenever it happened to be easy, at any part of the time.
And even if a believer’s increased energy for the prayer and his commitment to attend stem partly from regard for the worshipers, he nevertheless finds ease in his heart because he recognizes the virtue of praying in congregation at the start of the time, and he keeps his intention in the prayer itself pure—untainted by any worldly motive.
- Keeping oneself away from doing—or omitting—what people blame a person for, whether small or great, is required by the Law; the proof is what Allah, Exalted is He, and His Messenger (may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) commanded regarding covering one’s own faults and those of others, and the many reports forbidding the pursuit of the private matters of Muslims.
- A believer is not required to hate praise and commendation for his steadfastness in congregational prayers and his commitment to piety and worship—because human nature is built upon loving praise, finding it pleasant, and feeling one’s chest expand with it, and upon disliking blame, shrinking from it, and feeling anger and constriction when hearing it. It has been related that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace—was pleased to hear praise of him from poets.
- Because of the place that praise and commendation hold in human souls—how they find repose, expansion, and joy in them—Allah made it a kind of hastened reward in this world for His friends and elect ones, saying: “And We granted them among later generations a goodly mention.” [Maryam:50] And Abraham—peace be upon him—asked Allah for this reward, as Allah relates: “And grant me a reputation of honor among later generations.” [Ash-Shuʿarāʾ:84]
The true danger, however, is that love of praise and commendation becomes the motive and driver for a person’s act of worship—or that the motive is something other than obedience to Allah. Or that two motives jointly drive him: love of praise and obedience to Allah, or some other aim and obedience to Allah—this is what is prohibited.
Allah, Exalted is He, said—condemning a people—“and they love to be praised for what they did not do.” [Āl ʿImrān:188] One may understand—if only distantly—from this verse that a person’s liking praise for his good deeds carries no blame, nor is there any sin in it.
Therefore, when a believer performs an act of worship moved by obedience to Allah and compliance with His command, then there is no harm if—afterwards—he likes to be praised and commended for it; human nature cannot be rid of that. The danger lies only where the act of worship is performed driven by love of praise and commendation.
Source : Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.1