On the authority of Ibn Abbas (RadhiyAllahu ‘anhuma), from the Messenger of Allah (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam), from what he has related from his Lord is:
“Verily Allah has written down the good deeds and the evil deeds”, and then explained it [by saying]: “Whosoever intended to perform a good deed, but did not do it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. And if he intended to perform it and did perform it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds up to seven hundred fold, up to many times multiplied. And if he intended to perform an evil deed, but did not do it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. And if he intended it [i.e., the evil deed] and then performed it, then Allah writes it down as one evil deed.”
[Reported by Bukhari & Muslim]
Brief Commentary
- This hadith encourages people to have great hope in the grace of Allah, and realise His great justice
- It encourages to do good deeds and be observant of Allah and points to Allah’s great blessings and generosity and also points to Allah’s immense ability to do what He wants
- Although the hadith literally says “Allah has written”, it actually means Allah has recorded. Some say it refers to the sacred tablet
- People are of four types when it comes to good deeds and sins:
- Someone who thought about doing a good deed but didn’t do it
- Someone who thought about doing a good deed and did it
- Someone who thought about doing a sin but didn’t do it
- Someone who thought about doing a sin and did it
- Types of thought:
- هاجس: Fleeting thought which passes very quickly. This carries no consequences in the shari’ah, whether it was for a good deed or a sin
- خاطر: Similar to هاجس, but with some consideration given to it. This takes the same ruling as هاجس above
- حديث النفس: Contemplating when or how to do the action. This carries the same ruling as هاجس above, though scholars differed on it. The prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said, “Allah has overlooked for my nation what their souls contemplate over, so long as they do not act on it or speak of it” [Reported by Bukhari & Muslim]
- هم: Intends to do the action and takes initial steps in doing so, though with some hesitation. This is what is being referred to in this hadith
- عزيمة: You are 100% sure you want to do it, and what is stopping you is an external impediment e.g. someone forcing you not to do it, or you are unable to do it anymore. This too is what is being referred to in this hadith with regards to good deeds only. For sins, the hadith seems to only be referring to هم above
- Some scholars say that for you to be rewarded for your intention, there must be an impediment stopping you from carrying out the action, but others say by merely intending to do so and not doing so without an impediment, you will still be rewarded. Ibn Hajar said, “This is because intending to do good is a reason for carrying out the action, and intending to do good is good because it is from the actions of the heart”
- Levels when it comes to receiving rewards just for intentions:
- You are prevented by an external impediment: Reward is very great
- You didn’t do it without any external influences stopping you so e.g. you were lazy. You will still be rewarded by the will of Allah, but the reward isn’t as great as the one above
- You change intention to a bad one. You are in sin for doing the bad intention, and no reward for initial good intention.
- Allah loves for us to do righteous deeds such that He rewards us just for intending to do them
- Allah said, “with Him” which is an indication of its nobility
- Allah said “complete” to remove any misconceptions that the reward will not be complete
- Any deed we do is automatically multiplied by ten. It depends on other factors for further multiplication
- Reasons for multiplication of deeds:
- Being a good Muslim and having a high status with Allah
- Sincerity
- Nature of the action e.g. for every step taken to the Masjid are many rewards
- One deed needed more than other e.g. if we are in a time where mujahideen are needed more than scholars, then doing jihad is greater, and vice versa
- Multiple benefits e.g. It benefits more people
- Presence of the heart e.g. the one who is more concentrating in his Salah will get more rewards
- Being rewarded for leaving a sin is only for the one who leaves it for the sake of Allah so it is not general as with good deeds
- Ibn Rajab said, “If he intended to do a sin and he didn’t do it out of fear of the people or out of showing of in front of them then he is punished for leaving it for this intention. This is because prioritising the fear of the creation over the fear of Allah is haram. Similarly, intending to show off in front of the people is haram, and when it is connected to leaving a sin for their sake then he is punished for leaving this sin”
- Al-Fudayl said, “Leaving an action for the sake of the people is showing off, and doing it for their sake is shirk”
- If he seeks to do it, but is presented by an external impediment, then he is sinful as the prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said about the two Muslims who fight each other, “The killer and the killed are in Hellfire”[Reported by Bukhari & Muslim] as they intended to kill each other
- Ibn Rajab said, “As for the one who seeks to do the sin but fate stood in his way, then scholars mentioned he will be punished for it, due to the hadith of the prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) when he said, “Allah has overlooked for my nation what their souls contemplate over, so long as they do not act on it or speak of it” [Reported by Bukhari & Muslim]. And whoever seeks to do the sin but is unable to, has acted on it
- By saying sins are not multiplied, it doesn’t mean they are of the same magnitude
- Reasons for the increase of magnitude of sins:
- Sanctity of time or place
- Nobility of the person, and their level of knowledge of Allah and closeness to Him. The more closer and knowledgeable they are with Allah, then the greater the magnification of the sin
- Looking down upon the sin
- Publicly announcing the sin
- When factors that encourage us to sin are weak
- Feeling good about it, as this is rebellion against Allah
- How is it therefore that a person goes to hellfire after understanding this hadith?
- This hadith should act as an encouragement as Allah has made the path to Jannah very easy for us
- It makes us realise the mercy of Allah is so great that we shouldn’t miss the opportunity to be good
- Ibn Mas’ud used to say, “Woe unto the one whose ones (sins) overcome his tens (good deeds)”
Benefits and Action points:
- Be observant of Allah’s watching over you
- In terms of good actions, both هم and عزيمة are considered, but in terms of sins, only هم is considered
- Train yourself to always think about and intend to do good deeds
- Allah will aid you if we want to do good deeds
- What prevents you from developing further and changing to the better is not having high aspirations and wanting to do good, so change this and have high aspirations
- Try to increase in the reasons for multiplication of deeds so that your deed is multiplied even further e.g. be more sincere, try to benefit others, make sure your hear is present
- Ensure you leave sins for the sake of Allah and not for the sake of the people
- Leaving out an action is an action, so ensure your leaving of actions is solely for Allah so that it is not considered as riyaa’, which is a minor shirk
- Avoid all of the reasons for magnification of sins
- Praise Allah for decreeing the contents of this hadith
Hadith Commentary 
Ibn Rajab said, “As for the one who seeks to do the sin but fate stood in his way, then scholars mentioned he will be punished for it, due to the hadith of the prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) when he said, “Allah has overlooked for my nation what their souls contemplate over, so long as they do not act on it or speak of it” [Reported by Bukhari & Muslim]. And whoever seeks to do the sin but is unable to, has acted on it. Did you make a mistake in regards to he will be punished? Common sense says that based on the hadith you will not be punished for thoughts as long as you never acted upon them or speak of it?
JazakAllah khair. There was no error in the statement of Ibn Rajab. Maybe I didn’t explain it clearly. What he is saying, is that based on the hadith, the person who is punished is the one who thinks of doing something and acts upon his thought i.e. he tries/succeeds in doing the sin. Therefore a person who intends to do a sin and “tries” to do it but is unable to do it due to external reasons e.g. can’t afford alcohol, someone physically stops him from doing the sin etc. Then this person is punished because he falls under the part of the hadith that says “acts upon his thought” as the person did try to do the sin and only due to an external impediment, he was prevented from doing so.
The hadith doesn’t say, “so long as he doesn’t commit the sin”, the hadith says, “so long as he doesn’t act upon it”
In “Benefits And Action Points” the second point says that only هم is considered for sins. Did I understand correctly? Only هم is considered and not only عزيمة?
Yes. For good deeds, whether you have a هم or a عزيمة and you don’t do the good action, then you are rewarded for your intention.
Whereas when it comes to sins, if you have هم to do it and you don’t do it then you are rewarded for that. But if you have a عزيمة to do it but you don’t do it then you are not rewarded because to have عزيمة means to take the necessary steps to carry out the action and if you don’t do the action then this means you didn’t do it because of an external impediment therefore you don’t get a reward. If you didn’t do it for a different reason i.e. you changed your mind and you didn’t want to sin, then this means your عزيمة has been relegated to a lesser level and therefore you are rewarded.
I hope thats clear, otherwise please let me know
This is beautiful jazak Allah Khayr!
Thanks. Very thoughtful
Thank for encourage us