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Fatwa CenterFasting with dual intention (to lose weight)
Question
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaah. Can I fast with the dual intention of a) seeking the pleasure of Allaah and His reward and b) to lose weight? Would that be a type of shirk (polytheism), and is it against the principle of ikhlaas (pure sincerity)? Please clarify this matter with corroborating evidences. May Allaah reward you.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Fasting with the intention of seeking the pleasure of Allaah and losing weight is not against ikhlaas (sincerity). Rather, this is permissible without any harm, but fasting with the sole intention of seeking the pleasure of Allaah is greater in reward.
Sharh Al-Iqnaa’ (a Hanbali book) reads, “If a person, along with becoming pure from minor or major impurity, intends to cool himself or clean his body ... then this does not affect the intention, like the one who intends to digest food by fasting, or to see a remote country and the like with the intention of Hajj; it does decrease the reward, however.”
Based on the above, you should know that a dual intention is not against ikhlaas but that it decreases the reward.
For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 84950.
Allaah knows best.
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