to him, whereupon Allah Most High revealed the verse:

‘Establish prayer at both ends of the day and in the early hours of the night. Indeed, good deeds do away with misdeeds.’

The man asked, ‘Is this for me?’ He replied, ‘It is for whoever among my community acts upon it.’”

A man such as this, and others like him, will generally entertain thoughts of something more serious than that, as the Prophet said:

“The heart wishes and desires, and the private parts either confirm this or belie it.”

Yet his inward intention to kiss was firm, so, having the ability, he acted upon it and kissed her. His intention to have intercourse, however, may not have been firm; alternatively, it may have been firm, but he lacked the ability. What seems more likely concerning the man about whom the verse was revealed is that he was able to do so but did not.

Thus, the distinction drawn by Ahmad and others between an inclination arising from passing thoughts and one involving persistent resolve provides the basis for the answer. If nothing prevents a person from acting except inability, he will necessarily undertake whatever preliminary acts lie within his power. If he commits the act while determined to return to it whenever he can, he is persisting in sin. Hence Ibn al-Mubārak said: “The persistent sinner is someone who drinks wine today, then does not drink it for a month—or, in another narration, for thirty years—yet intends to drink it whenever he is able.”

A person may also be persisting in sin when he resolves to commit an act at one time but not another, such as someone who resolves to refrain from sins during Ramadan but not at other times. Such a person has not repented in an unqualified sense. He does, however, refrain from the act during Ramadan, and he is rewarded if he refrains for Allah’s sake, out of reverence for Allah’s sacred ordinances and to avoid what He has forbidden during that time. Nevertheless, he is not among those who repent and thereby receive complete forgiveness, nor is his persistence in sin absolute. As for the one whom