The Categories of People Regarding the Abandonment of Sins, and Who Deserves Reward and Punishment

But is there a reward for abandoning sins? I mean, if a person abandons a sin, does he get a reward? If you say no, you are wrong; and if you say yes, you are wrong. We say that the one who abandons sins is in one of three states: either he abandons them because he is unable to commit them, despite doing the causes that lead to them; or he abandons them because they did not occur to his mind, so he did not commit them because they did not cross his mind; or he abandons them even though they are on his mind, but he abandons them for the sake of Allah the Exalted. As for the first state, where one abandons the sin because he is unable to commit it, despite doing the causes that lead to it, this has the ruling of the one who commits it. For example, a man brings a ladder to climb into a house to steal, but as he is coming to climb up, he hears a sound and looks around and sees people, so he leaves. What do we say? This has the ruling of the one who commits it, but with Allah. In this world, we do not cut off his hand, but with Allah, he has the ruling of the one who commits it. What is the evidence? The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): They said, "O Messenger of Allah, this is the killer, so what about the one who was killed?" How can he be killed and end up in the Fire? He said: He was eager and did the cause, meeting the other with the sword. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) ruled with the Fire because he was eager to kill his companion.
As for the one who abandons it because it did not occur to his mind, for example, a person who did not steal, did not commit unlawful sexual intercourse, and did not drink intoxicants because his self never urged him to do so on any day, what is the ruling? This person has nothing to his credit and nothing against him, because he did not commit a sin, nor did he draw near to Allah the Exalted with an intention, so he has nothing to his credit and nothing against him.
The third category is a man who contemplated the sin and perhaps did its causes, but he abandoned it for the sake of Allah the Exalted. When he remembered the greatness of Allah, he feared Allah the Exalted and was afraid of Him. What is his ruling? He has a reward for the abandonment, as came in the authentic hadith: He said: For My sake. So if you abandon it for Allah, you will be rewarded for that. If a person contemplated a sin and did the causes, but abandoned it not for Allah and not for the sake of the servants of Allah, does he sin or not? I mean, a man contemplated stealing and brought a ladder, and when he wanted to climb up, he returned to his self and said, "Why do you steal when Allah has made you rich and you have wealth and do not need to steal? And why do you want to steal?" So he abandoned it.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : It is not the sin of stealing, and he has no reward, but does he sin for doing the cause? He sins for doing the cause, that is the apparent view, even if he did not reach the goal. But it is said that this cause you did is like one who does the weight of a speck of good, it will be seen, and one who does the weight of a speck of evil, it will be seen.
The student: ...?

The Shaykh : He did not return [to the right path]. Now, the initial causes, he did not abandon them for Allah; rather, he abandoned them because he looked at the fact that he did not need to steal, so he abandoned it. We say, as for the stealing, you do not sin even if you intended it at first, because you did not commit it. But as for doing the causes, these causes are forbidden.
The student: He returned and abandoned the sin...?

The Shaykh : Yes, this means he abandoned it for the sake of people, not for Allah. So what do you say, does he sin or not?
The student: He does not sin, he brought the cause...

The Shaykh : This is a man who abandoned the sin for his honor, meaning he abandoned unlawful sexual intercourse despite its ease. He said that he is a noble man who does not like to be defiled with these base morals. What do you say?
The student: ...

The Shaykh : Yes, it does not contradict, but the question is: does he get a reward or not?
The student: He does not get a reward.

The Shaykh : As for abandoning unlawful sexual intercourse, it is apparent that he does not get a reward because he did not abandon it for Allah. But as for protecting his honor, he gets a reward, because a person should defend his honor. Even the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he said: In any case, it is not that he defended himself from the accusation, because that thing is far-fetched, but so that the accusation would not fall on those people and they would be destroyed. For this reason, he said: So it is apparent to me that a person who abandons something to preserve his honor and his reputation, he gets a reward for that because he protected himself. And in the hadith: I do not know about its authenticity, but a person is commanded to protect his honor without doubt, and to defend himself and remove the accusation from himself. So if this is his intention, he gets a reward, but he does not get the reward of the one who abandoned unlawful sexual intercourse for Allah, because there is a great difference between them.