37th Hadith - The Grace of Allah and His Mercy [Bukhari: 6491 & Muslim: 131(a)]

الحديث السابع والثلاثون 

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِي اللهُ عَنْهُ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ :  مَنْ نَفَّسَ عَنْ مُؤْمِنٍ كُرْبَةً مِنْ كُرَبِ الدُّنْيَا نَفَّسَ اللهُ عَنْهُ كُرْبَةً مِنْ كُرَبِ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ، وَمَنْ يَسَّرَ عَلَى مُعْسِرٍ يَسَّرَ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةِ، وَمَنْ سَتَرَ مُسْلِماً سَتَرَهُ اللهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةِ وَاللهُ فِي عَوْنِ الْعَبْدِ مَا كاَنَ الْعَبْدُ فِي عَوْنِ أَخِيْهِ. وَمَنْ سَلَكَ طَرِيْقاً يَلْتَمِسُ فِيْهِ عِلْماً سَهَّلَ اللهُ بِهِ طَرِيْقاً إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ، وَمَا اجْتَمَعَ قَوْمٌ فِي بَيْتٍ مِنْ بُيُوْتِ اللهِ يَتْلُوْنَ كِتَابَ اللهِ وَيَتَدَارَسُوْنَهُ بَيْنَهُمْ إِلاَّ نَزَلَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ السَّكِيْنَةُ وَغَشِيَتْهُمُ الرَّحْمَةُ، وَحَفَّتْهُمُ الْمَلاَئِكَةُ، وَذَكَرَهُمُ اللهُ فِيْمَنْ عِنْدَهُ، وَمَنْ بَطَأَ فِي عَمَلِهِ لَمْ يُسْرِعْ بِهِ نَسَبُهُ

[رواه البخاري ومسلم]

37th Hadith - Translation 

On the authority of Ibn Abbas (R.A.), from the Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.), from what he has related from his Lord:

Verily Allah has written down the good deeds and the evil deeds, and then explained it [by saying]: “Whosoever intended to perform a good deed, but did not do it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. And if he intended to perform it and then did perform it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds up to seven hundred times, up to many times multiplied. And if he intended to perform an evil deed, but did not do it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. And if he intended it [i.e., the evil deed] and then performed it, then Allah writes it down as one evil deed.”  [Bukhari: 6491 & Muslim: 131(a)]

Brief Narration

The hadith mentioned four types of deeds:

1. Doing good deeds - the result will be a multiplication of rewards.
2. Doing evil acts - this will be recorded as one sin for one sin.
3. The intention of doing good deeds - this will be recorded even if it is not done as one deed. ('Intention' here means that we have a great eagerness and a very strong determination to do a certain deed - and not merely thoughts of doing it.)   
4. The intention of doing a bad deed or committing a sin without actually doing it.

In one version of the hadith, Allah says that for the one who commits a sin, Allah might record it merely as one sin, or He might omit the sin because of repentance by the sinner, or because of the sinner performing good deeds - as mentioned in Hadith # 18: "Fear Allah wherever you may be; follow up an evil deed with a good one which will wipe (the former) out, and behave good- naturedly towards people."

But we have to be careful because if a person has committed a sin once and then has the intention of repeating it whenever possible. That is this person is persisting on disobedience and is subject to punishment because of his bad intention even if he does it years later. 

(Reference: Commentary of Forty Hadiths of An-Nawawi by Dr. Jamal Ahmed Badi)