Intention occurs within the heart, yet its legal role in worship can form part of the manner of action. Practical rulings cannot be defined as bodily movements alone.
Questions about the intention required for fasting, its timing and its conditions are questions of practical law. Belief in Allah or affirming prophethood, however, are primary creedal subjects rather than simply details in the mechanics of worship.
The same term can appear in different disciplines under different descriptions. We should therefore ask what the inquiry principally concerns: the reality of belief or the legal performance of an act.