The Ruling on Intending to Commit a Sin and Then Abandoning It

Machine translationRead the Arabic original

Question:
May Allah reward you. Ali from Sudan says: I intended to do something bad, then I left it and did not do it. Am I sinful for that?

Answer:
The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

Allah ordered (the appointed angels over you) that the good and the bad deeds be written, and He then showed (the way) how (to write). If somebody intends to do a good deed and he does not do it, then Allah will write for him a full good deed (in his account with Him); and if he intends to do a good deed and actually did it, then Allah will write for him (in his account) with Him (its reward equal) from ten to seven hundred times to many more times

إن الله كتب الحسنات والسيئات ثم بين ذلك فمن هم بحسنة فلم يعملها كتبها الله له عنده حسنة كاملة، فإن هو هم بها فعملها كتبها الله عنده عشر حسنات إلى سبعمائة ضعف إلى أضعاف كثيرة

Sahih al-Bukhari 6491

and if somebody intended to do a bad deed and he does not do it, then Allah will write a full good deed (in his account) with Him, and if he intended to do it (a bad deed) and actually did it, then Allah will write one bad deed (in his account) .

ومن هم بسيئة فلم يعملها كتبها الله له عنده حسنة كاملة، فإن هو هم بها فعملها كتبها الله له سيئة واحدة

Sahih al-Bukhari 6491

, and this is only for the one who abandoned it for the sake of Allah. As for the one who abandoned the sinful act out of fear of people or because he was unable to do it, he does not enter into this reward. If you abandoned doing it out of fear of Allah, that is better for you. But if you abandoned it for any other reason, you must repent to Allah. Yes.

Source قناة «إذاعة القرآن الكريم»، نور على الدرب مع معالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان ح7540 — youtube.com (5:28)

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

Flag this fatwa