Dream Bold, Act with Niyyah: Your Breakthrough Starts from Within

Date: April, 2025

Childhood dreams

Ever since I was a child, I’ve had big dreams like being the first girl to find a real pearl underwater or ending world hunger. But as we grow older, we’re told to be “realistic.” I disagree with the premise. I’m not referring to the word “realistic,” but I do disagree with the idea that it means basically “shrinking” our dreams to not stand out or shrinking to what’s socially acceptable.

For most people, these dreams tend to disappear between the responsibilities and worries of life, but for me, it was the opposite, and here’s why I like it. It’s true that you’ll get a lot of looks from people, either looks saying “poor thing, reality will crush her, she’s so naive”, or looks in awe saying “This little girl has so much life in her, I miss that part about myself”. Not all people think like I do, or like you might also do, and not everyone can bother to try to understand you and me, and that’s okay. Everyone can have their own opinions, but what matters is that you do not let them take away your dreams or shrink them in a way that shapes you into something you do not wish to become.

Dream boldly and most importantly, act with Niyyah (intention).

What Niyyah We Should Have

Well, as a Muslim, the answer is clear. Behind every action should be an intention of pleasing Allah swt or at least not displeasing Him. Remember that if you have Allah swt in your heart and mind always, you’ve won. As humans, we fall weak to our desires and temptations which is why our hearts will falter from time to time but if you remember Allah (swt) through the hard times, your heart will find ease. {It is He who sent down tranquility (sakinah) into the hearts of the believers,…} (48:4).

Our actions are judged based on the intentions we have which is why asking yourself “Why” before every action you do is a recipe to success. As we know success can mean different things to a lot of people but for us success ultimately means pleasing allah and entering Jannah (Paradise) by His mercy.

Why We Give Up

I honestly think it’s much deeper than just trying too many times and then giving up on that dream. To me, it appears to be a lack of trust in God mixed with low self-esteem. This does not apply to everyone, of course. I believe if you want something badly, you have already asked Allah swt for it. If not, you might not want it as much as you think. Here’s why. You may or may not know, as mentioned in the hadith, that God accepts all prayers in one of three ways.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:

“Whenever a Muslim supplicates to Allah with a prayer that is not sinful or that does not break family ties, Allah grants him one of three things: either He will answer his prayer, or He will store it up for him as a reward in the Hereafter, or He will avert from him an equal amount of harm.” The companions asked, “O Messenger of Allah, then we should ask for more?” He replied: “Allah is more generous.” (Sahih Muslim)

So your dua will inevitably be accepted one way or another, you have to have faith in God, though. Faith in the fact that He is the most merciful, most compassionate, most kind, most generous, and so on.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “I am as My servant thinks I am.” (Sahih Bukhari)

So see Allah swt’s beautiful attributes of most compassionate, Kind, and others, and remember that while you’re asking Him for what you want. Keep in mind that whatever you want should ideally have a good intention behind it.

Manifesting in Islam

No it’s not magic or superstition. Manifesting could mean thinking something into existence. In Islam we have our own way of manifesting things into reality. It combines Tawakkul (Trust in Allah), Intentions, Dua {“And your Lord says, ‘Call upon Me; I will respond to you.”} (40:60), Thinking Positively of Allah swt, Gratitude and patience, and Effort and Action.

“If you are grateful, I will surely increase your favor upon you.”
(Qur’an 14:7)

I believe that worldly matters amplify who you already are as a person. If you are grateful and give back while poor, you will be more grateful and more generous while rich.

Social Media and The Noise

We often see celebrities and millionaires in videos titled like “How I became a millionaire at 20 years old”. You might think two things to yourself when reading that. Either something like “Wow, they’re so lucky, my life kinda sucks”, or something like “This is so inspiring, thank you God for giving me this life and a chance to do better than I did yesterday, I will become a millionaire and feed the hungry and poor like I had dreamed”. In a world where it’s difficult to avoid social media, you need to adapt your mindset to a growth mindset. When seeing something like this, first ask yourself if you would want that and why. Then ask yourself another question. Would Allah swt be pleased with that, or how do I turn it into something that pleases Allah swt?

For example, in today’s time, getting rich has become the ultimate dream with the intent of feeling “free”. Imagine what a change of intention would do. If we were to change the intention of “feeling free” to the intention of “A world free of poverty, hunger, and suffering”.

Be The Change, Don't Wait for It

Have you ever heard the phrase “Be the change you want to see in the world”? I agree. Fact is if you keep complaining about how the world sucks it won’t change, it will make it more negative and hard to live in for you and others. Instead, help those people that you wanted to help, smile at your neighbor instead of expecting a smile from him, and forgive those people you wanted to forgive. Stop living like there’s a tomorrow, there might not be. Ask yourself what’s worth putting your energy into and what’s not. If you have a dream, chase it boldly and say I will instead of I wish. I’m rooting for you!

If you have anything to share, whether it’s personal, informative, educational, or entertaining, feel free to write it down in the comments so others can see. Have a great day!