Hadith On Reward For Deed: What is the reward for a good deed and bad? (English)
Ibn Abbas reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, Allah has recorded good and evil deeds and He made them clear. Whoever intends to perform a good deed but does not do it, Allah will record it as a complete good deed. If he intends to do it and does so, Allah Almighty will record it as ten good deeds, up to seven hundred times as much or even more. If he intends to do an evil deed and does not do it, Allah will record for him one complete good deed. If he does it, Allah will record for him a single evil deed.”
Source: Sahih Bukhari 6491, Sahih Muslim 131
Hadith On Reward For Deed: What is the reward for a good deed and bad? (Arabic)
عَنْ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَتَبَ الْحَسَنَاتِ وَالسَّيِّئَاتِ ثُمَّ بَيَّنَ ذَلِكَ فَمَنْ هَمَّ بِحَسَنَةٍ فَلَمْ يَعْمَلْهَا كَتَبَهَا اللَّهُ عِنْدَهُ حَسَنَةً كَامِلَةً وَإِنْ هَمَّ بِهَا فَعَمِلَهَا كَتَبَهَا اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ عِنْدَهُ عَشْرَ حَسَنَاتٍ إِلَى سَبْعِ مِائَةِ ضِعْفٍ إِلَى أَضْعَافٍ كَثِيرَةٍ وَإِنْ هَمَّ بِسَيِّئَةٍ فَلَمْ يَعْمَلْهَا كَتَبَهَا اللَّهُ عِنْدَهُ حَسَنَةً كَامِلَةً وَإِنْ هَمَّ بِهَا فَعَمِلَهَا كَتَبَهَا اللَّهُ سَيِّئَةً وَاحِدَةً
6491 صحيح البخاري كتاب الرقاق باب من هم بحسنة أو بسيئة
131 صحيح مسلم كتاب الإيمان باب إذا هم العبد بحسنة كتبت وإذا هم بسيئة لم تكتب
Commentary by Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen
Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen said… His 9Allah) saying: “Verily Allah has ordered that the good and the bad things be written down.” His writing down good and bad deeds encompasses two meanings: The first meaning: His writing both in the Lawh ul-Mahfuz (Preserved Tablet) because Allah – the Exalted – has written everything in it. Allah – the Mighty and Sublime says:
“ Verily, We have created all things with Qadar (divine preordainm ent)” (Al-Qamar: 49).
And He, the Exalted, says:
“And everything, small or big, is written down [in Lawh ulM ahfuz]” (Qamar: 53).
So, Allah – Glorious is He and Exalted – has written the evil and the good deeds in the Lawh ul-Mahfuz. When the servant performs them, Allah – the Exalted – records them according to His Wisdom, Justice, and Favor. So, these are two forms of writing:
- An Earlier Writing: No one knows it except Allah, the Mighty and Sublime. Each of us does not know what Allah has written down for him of good or evil until that thing occurs.
- A Later Writing: When the individual performs an action, it will be written for him according to (Allah’s) Wisdom, Justice, and Bounty.
What is the reward for a good deed?
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained how it is written. He explained that if a person desires a good deed but he is unable to do it, Allah – the Exalted – will record it as a complete good deed. An example of this is a man who resolved to perform the ablution in order to recite the Qur’an, but did not do that; he rather did something else. A complete good deed will be written for him for that.
Another example: A man resolved to give charity and even indicated the money he wanted to give out. However, he later withheld the money and did not give it as charity. A complete good deed will be written for him for that. Likewise, if he intended to perform two units of Prayer but later held back not performing it. A complete good deed will be written for him.
If someone says: Why will a good deed be recorded for him while he has not done it? The response is that: Allah’s bounty is vast; his resolve will be recorded as a good deed because the heart is full of contemplations, good or bad. Therefore, he resolves to do a good deed; it is good and it will be written for him.
But if he performs it, Allah will record it as ten good deeds to seven hundred and even greater multiples. This variation (in rewards) is based on the level of sincerity and conformity. The more a person is sincere towards Allah in his worship, the more the reward he earns. Likewise, the more he follows the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in his worship, the more the worship becomes perfect and the more the reward.
So, this variation is based on the level of sincerity and conformity with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the deed.
What is the reward for a bad deed?
As regards evil deeds, he said: But if he intends to do an evil act and has not done it, then Allah will write it down with Him as a completely good deed. For instance:
A man resolved to steal but remembered Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, was overwhelmed by the fear of Allah and then refrained from stealing. A complete good deed will be written for him because he refrained from a disobedient act for the sake of Allah.
So he will be rewarded for that, as is contained in another version of the hadeeth:
“because he refrained from it out of fear for me…” i.e., for my sake.
He had decided to commit a sin – for example, backbiting, but he remembered that it is forbidden and so, refrained from it for the sake of Allah; He will certainly be given a completely good deed.
But if he does an evil deed, it will only be written down for him as a single sin. Allah, the most high, says:
“Whoever brings a good deed shall have only the recompense of”
This hadeeth contains proof of the significance of intention, and that intention would bring the individual to the reward of the intended acts and also the action performed. If we intend good, we shall be rewarded, and if we act upon it, the rewards will be multiplied.
And if we intend an evil but choose not to do it out of the fear of Allah, it will still be recorded as a good deed, and if we do the intended evil, it will be recorded as one sin. This shows how Allah is vast in mercy and forgiveness.
We ask Allah to grant us success.
Read the related hadith on changing evil here
