Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Walaikum assalam
[See attached answers.]
In short, if one determines to sin, and sets one’s heart to it, it is sinful even if one does not end up committing the actual sin, as the scholars have explained.
It is mentioned in al-Bazzaziyya [a leading Hanafi reference for legal verdicts] that,
“If one inclined towards committing sin, this is not sinful, unless one fixed one’s determination on doing so. If one determined to do, one sins, but not the [complete] sin of the actual action…” [Ibn Nujaym, al-Ashbah wa’l Nadha’ir]
This is deduced from various primary texts of the Qur’an and Sunna, including:
Ibn Abbas (Allah be pleased with them) reports that our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him & give him peace) reported from Allah Most High that,
“Verily, Allah has written the good and the bad, and then explained it. So whoever inclines to perform a good deed but does not perform it, Allah writes it for him as a complete good deed. Then, if he inclined towards it and actually performs it, Allah writes it for him as ten good deeds to seven hundred times, to many times over. And if he inclines towards a bad deed but does not perform it, Allah writes it for him as a complete good deed. If he inclined towards it and then performed it, Allah writes it as one bad deed.” [Bukhari, 6010 & Muslim, 187]
And Allah alone gives success
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani
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