What is the meaning of the hadith: “Whoever intends to do a good deed but does not do it, one good deed is recorded for him”?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner: In a hadith whose meaning was unclear to us.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: It is the hadith of intention: “Whoever intends to do a good deed...”
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: So I said: The implication of the intention is that the good deed is recorded for him even if he does not do it. And if the non-performance means anything, I mean, I intended to give a poor man a lira, I was sincere and truthful in my intention, then... that lira did not come to hand and I was lazy, stingy, lazy, whatever it was, and I did not give it to him; so is a good deed recorded for me?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: Some of the group understood that no.
The Shaykh: What is their difficulty?
Another questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: Why would they understand it that way?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner: When we enter the mosque, we intend to pray the two rak'ahs of greeting the mosque, even though... on the contrary, that also... with experience, we prayed only two rak'ahs, so do we have the reward of the previous intentions?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Yes?
The Shaykh: Of course, you have the reward of the intentions, but you have the reward of two rak'ahs, not the condition of the reward of six rak'ahs.
Another questioner: You have the reward of two rak'ahs, and the intention is a good deed.
The questioner: By the intentions?
The Shaykh : Yes, that is right.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: It is the hadith of intention: “Whoever intends to do a good deed...”
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: So I said: The implication of the intention is that the good deed is recorded for him even if he does not do it. And if the non-performance means anything, I mean, I intended to give a poor man a lira, I was sincere and truthful in my intention, then... that lira did not come to hand and I was lazy, stingy, lazy, whatever it was, and I did not give it to him; so is a good deed recorded for me?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner: Some of the group understood that no.
The Shaykh: What is their difficulty?
Another questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: Why would they understand it that way?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner: When we enter the mosque, we intend to pray the two rak'ahs of greeting the mosque, even though... on the contrary, that also... with experience, we prayed only two rak'ahs, so do we have the reward of the previous intentions?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Yes?
The Shaykh: Of course, you have the reward of the intentions, but you have the reward of two rak'ahs, not the condition of the reward of six rak'ahs.
Another questioner: You have the reward of two rak'ahs, and the intention is a good deed.
The questioner: By the intentions?
The Shaykh : Yes, that is right.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.