Hamm (resolve or intention of the heart, and its legal effect)

هَمّ

Hamm in the legal sense is the resolve of the heart to do something, good or bad, before doing it; it is stronger than a passing thought. ^{1 2} Most scholars hold that one who resolves on a good deed and does not do it has a full good deed recorded, and one who resolves on an evil deed and leaves it has a good deed recorded if he left it for God's sake; the jurists differ on the reward of one who left it for another reason. ^{3 4 5} Al-Baqillani and others hold that the resolve that is not recorded is the passing thought without settled purpose, while a firm resolve is held against the person; they differ on whether a firm resolve to commit an act of the limbs is punished, some holding that it is punished by reproach rather than by torment. ^{5 6 7 8} Some jurists hold one who resolves on sin within the Sacred Precinct is held to account, while others hold the pardon for resolve general in and outside the Precinct. ^{8 2} Resolving on unbelief, or firmly intending it for the future, is held by al-Nawawi and others to be unbelief at once, but a passing whisper does not count. ²