Intention is an integral element for the validity of every act of worship, including prayer and fasting. It is intention that distinguishes an act of worship from a custom or mechanical habit. Therefore, we can never overestimate the role of intention.

Having said this, however, I must also point out, the question arises whether there is need to do it every night. A person who is waking up for suhur is already doing it to prepare himself for fasting. Therefore, some eminent scholars have ruled, it is not essential to make the intention to fast every night in Ramadan; rather it is sufficient to make the intention to fast the whole month of Ramadan. I would endorse this view as there is no textual evidence to require us to formulate the niyyah on a daily basis in Ramadan.