and the question remains whether the two instances of remaining behind are equal in some other respect.

Such, too, is the condition of Muslims who fight one another in the civil strife that occurs among them: the outcome can only be evil for both victor and vanquished. The vanquished gains neither this world nor the Hereafter. As al-Sha‘bī said:

“We were overtaken by a trial in which we were neither righteous and God-fearing nor wicked and wretched.”

The victor, meanwhile, obtains an immediate worldly share, only to suffer retribution in the Hereafter. Allah may also hasten retribution for him in this world, as happened to most of those who prevailed in civil strife: calamity befell them in this world, as it did those who prevailed at al-Harra and during the turmoil involving Abū Muslim al-Khurāsānī, and in similar instances.

As for those who say that a person is not held accountable for resolve within the heart, they cite the Prophet’s words, peace and blessings be upon him:

“Allah has pardoned my community for what their souls whisper to them.”

This does not state that He pardons them for their resolve. Rather, it states that He pardons their inward thoughts until a person speaks or acts. It thus indicates that, so long as he neither speaks nor acts, he is not held accountable. Some, however, have supposed that this amounts to resolve, but that is not so. Rather, unless a person speaks or acts, it does not amount to resolve, for resolve must be accompanied by whatever action lies within his power, even if the person resolved does not attain his intended objective.

Someone firmly resolved to kill, commit unlawful sexual intercourse, or do something similar must make some movement—even if only with his head—or walk, take up an implement, utter a word, or say or do something. All of this is something for which he is held accountable, like the fornication of the eye, the tongue, and the foot. He is held accountable for these acts, which are preliminaries to the complete act of unlawful sexual intercourse