Ibn al-Mubārak described, he is persisting in sin if he intends to return to drinking it.

I say:

Someone who refrains from sins during Ramadan while intending to return to them outside Ramadan is also persisting in sin. However, intending to drink it if one becomes able is different from intending to do so when one already has the ability. Once he becomes able, his intention may or may not remain. Yet whenever his resolve is firm and nothing prevents him except inability, he is liable to punishment for that, as explained earlier. It has also been explained that such a person’s intention must necessarily be accompanied by whatever action lies within his power.

This clarifies what is reported from al-Hārith al-Muhāsibī: that he related a consensus that someone who intends an act is not on the same footing as someone who performs it. This consensus is valid when the person has the ability, for someone who intends an act and is able to perform it is not on the same footing as someone who actually performs it. But someone whose intention is firm and who does whatever he can is on the same footing as someone who performs the act in full, as explained earlier.

Further clarification comes from the fact that Allah, Glorified is He, has made reward and punishment in the Quran contingent upon intention alone, as in His words, Most High:

“Whoever desires this fleeting life, We hasten for him therein whatever We will, for whomever We wish. Then We assign Hell to him, where he will burn, condemned and banished.”

He also says:

“Whoever desires the life of this world and its adornments, We repay them in full for their deeds therein, and they will not be shortchanged therein. Those are the ones for whom there is nothing in the Hereafter but the Fire.”

And He says:

“Whoever desires the harvest of the Hereafter, We increase his harvest; and whoever desires the harvest of