and seas heaving with waves—do they not point to the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing? Allahu akbar! Here is a Bedouin with no formal learning, yet by pure reason he concluded that such mighty phenomena must testify to a Creator who brings them into being and governs them. Indeed they do, by Allah.

Another man was asked, “How did you come to know your Lord?” He replied, “By the undoing of resolves and the diversion of intentions.” What does that mean? A person may form a firm resolve, only for that resolve to unravel without any visible cause. Who has undone it? The very One who implanted it in the first place—Allah. Likewise a person may intend to do something—he may even begin it—then he is turned away from it altogether.

Therefore we say: this ḥadīth shows that a person may say, “I will do such-and-such,” as a disclosure of what he holds within himself, not as a definitive claim that he will actually accomplish it, for the future rests with Allah alone. But if you are merely informing others of your inner intent, there is no blame in that. And Allah is the granter of success.