nawawiDay.arabicText

nawawiDay.englishTranslation

— Ibn ‘Abbās (RA) (Bukhari & Muslim)

nawawiDay.commentary

Allah's accounting is overwhelmingly merciful. Even an unfulfilled good intention earns reward — and an unfulfilled evil intention is itself a good deed.

nawawiDay.extendedExplanation

Allah’s ledger is overwhelmingly merciful. An intended-but-unperformed good = one full good deed. A performed good = ten to seven hundred and beyond. An intended-but-resisted evil = one full good deed (the resistance itself). A performed evil = exactly one evil deed.

Ibn Rajab calls this the most encouraging hadith in the book: even before you act, your intention to do good is rewarded. And even your moments of struggling against temptation — when you almost sinned but pulled back for Allah’s sake — are written as good deeds.

nawawiDay.fromScholars

"If a man intended an evil but left it for Allah’s sake, Allah writes it as a complete good deed. The intention to leave a sin for Allah is itself a great act of worship."

— Ibn Rajab · Jāmi‘ al-‘Ulūm wa al-Ḥikam

"‘Seven hundred and beyond’ — the multiplication depends on the sincerity of the heart, the difficulty of the act, the time and place, and the benefit to others."

— Ibn ‘Uthaymīn

nawawiDay.fiqhRulings

  • •Intention to perform a good — without ability or opportunity — is rewarded as one good deed.
  • •Performing the good — minimum tenfold reward; up to 700+ depending on sincerity, time, place, beneficiaries.
  • •Intention to do evil, then leaving it for Allah’s sake — written as a good deed.
  • •Intention to do evil, then leaving it for inability or fear of consequences — neither rewarded nor punished.
  • •Performing the evil — recorded as exactly one evil deed (no multiplication).

nawawiDay.quranCrossRefs

6:160‘Whoever brings a good deed — for him is ten times its like; whoever brings an evil — he is recompensed only with its like.’
2:261‘The example of those who spend in the way of Allah is like a grain producing seven ears, in each ear a hundred grains…’

nawawiDay.keyVocab

هَمَّhamma

intended / resolved

حَسَنَةً كَامِلَةًḥasanah kāmilah

a complete good deed

أَضْعَافٍ كَثِيرَةٍaḍ‘āf kathīrah

many multiples

nawawiDay.todaysReflection

Sit with the asymmetry. Allah is more eager to reward than to punish.

nawawiDay.keyBenefits

  • 1Hope is built into the very accounting system.
  • 2Intentions matter even when not realised.

nawawiDay.warnings

  • ⚠‘Intended evil and left it’ is rewarded ONLY when the leaving is for Allah’s sake — not for fear of getting caught.
  • ⚠Do not exploit the mercy by intending evil and abandoning it for ulterior reasons — Allah knows the reason for leaving.

nawawiDay.relatedHadiths

Bukhari & Muslim — Original wording

Nawawi 1 — Actions are by intentions

nawawiDay.memorisation