Actions are by intentions

Arabic

إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ، وَإِنَّمَا لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى، فَمَنْ كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ فَهِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ، وَمَنْ كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ لِدُنْيَا يُصِيبُهَا أَوِ امْرَأَةٍ يَنْكِحُهَا فَهِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى مَا هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِ.

Translation

Actions are only by intentions, and every person shall have only that which he intended. So whoever's migration was to Allah and His Messenger, his migration is to Allah and His Messenger; and whoever's migration was for worldly gain or a woman to marry, his migration is to whatever he migrated for.

Narrator

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb

Source

Bukhārī 1 · Muslim 1907

Commentary

Nawawī opens with this hadith deliberately — scholars say it is a third of knowledge, because every outward act is weighed by its inward motive. Two people perform the same ṣalāh: one seeks Allah, the other seeks to be seen. Only the first is worship.