Purity of Intention as Antidote to Hidden Favoritism

Rabia's famous statement—'I love God with a love that is pure devotion'—reflects her relentless examination of intention. Why am I doing this? For whom? What am I hoping will come back to me? This practice of intention-checking is extraordinarily useful for addressing favoritism because it often hides in noble motives. You mentor someone because you 'see potential' (when really they remind you of yourself). You allocate resources to a project because it's 'important' (when really it benefits your favored team). You defend someone's reputation because you 'believe in them' (when really you're invested in their success more than others'). The cost of not examining intention is that favoritism becomes invisible, even righteous-seeming. You can practice favoritism while genuinely believing you're being fair. Rabia's discipline asks: regularly, radically examine your decisions. Who gets your time, your advocacy, your benefit of the doubt? Why? Are you willing to give the same to others, or do you have reasons why they're different? This isn't about achieving perfect objectivity—impossible—but about consciousness. Communities that normalize this practice of intention-examination become less susceptible to unconscious bias and hidden favoritism.