Surah Al-Ankaboot (29) — Ayah 7

(Ayah 7) ➊ { وَ الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا وَ عَمِلُوا الصّٰلِحٰتِ لَنُكَفِّرَنَّ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّاٰتِهِمْ:} That is, those who believed in Allah and His Messenger, remained steadfast in trials, were not shaken by the harm from the polytheists, then continued to do righteous deeds, kept striving against their own enemies and the enemies of Allah and His Messenger, so We will surely remove their evils, by the blessing of faith all their previous sins will be forgiven, then all sins before migration will be forgiven, and all sins before Hajj will be forgiven. ‘Amr bin Al-‘As (may Allah be pleased with him) says that when Allah placed Islam in my heart, I came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said: “Extend your right hand so that I may pledge allegiance to you.” He extended his right hand, he says, I withdrew my hand, so he said: “O ‘Amr! What happened to you?” I said: “I want to make a condition.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “What condition will you make?” I said: “That I be forgiven.” So the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: [ أَمَا عَلِمْتَ أَنَّ الْإِسْلاَمَ يَهْدِمُ مَا كَانَ قَبْلَهُ؟ وَأَنَّ الْهِجْرَةَ تَهْدِمُ مَا كَانَ قَبْلَهَا؟ وَأَنَّ الْحَجَّ يَهْدِمُ مَا كَانَ قَبْلَهُ؟ ] [مسلم، الإیمان، باب کون الإسلام یھدم ما قبلہ … : ۱۲۱ ] “Do you not know that Islam wipes out whatever was before it? And migration wipes out whatever was before it? And Hajj wipes out whatever was before it?” Then, not only are past sins forgiven by repentance, but they are even changed into good deeds. For details, see the commentary of Surah Al-Furqan, Ayah (70). In addition, ablution, prayer, fasting, charity, and striving in Allah’s cause—every good deed becomes a means of erasing sins. For details, see Surah Hud, Ayah (114).

➋ { وَ لَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ اَحْسَنَ الَّذِيْ كَانُوْا يَعْمَلُوْنَ :} This has two meanings: one is that among a person’s good deeds, those which are the best will be considered, and he will be given a good reward accordingly. The second is that a person will be given a better reward than what he deserves according to his deeds. The good deeds done in the state of disbelief will also be rewarded after becoming Muslim. Hakim bin Hizam (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that he said: “O Messenger of Allah! Tell me about those deeds which I used to do in the days of ignorance, thinking them to be virtuous, such as maintaining family ties, freeing slaves, and giving charity—will I have any reward for them?” The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: [ أَسْلَمْتَ عَلٰی مَا سَلَفَ لَكَ مِنْ خَيْرٍ] [ بخاري، البیوع، باب شراء المملوک من الحربي و ھبتہ و عتقہ : ۲۲۲۰ ] “You have accepted Islam along with all the good you did before.” Then, after believing, every good deed will be rewarded tenfold up to seven hundred times or even more, in fact, without measure. See Surah An-Nisa (40), Al-An’am (160), Al-Qasas (84), Al-Baqarah (261), Az-Zumar (10), and Al-Mu’min (40).

➌ Razi has mentioned a fine point regarding the better reward. He says that a person’s deeds are either related to the heart, or are seen by the eyes, or are heard by the ears. It is Allah’s grace that in return for those deeds which are seen by the eyes, He will grant those blessings {’’مَا لَا عَيْنٌ رَأَتْ‘‘} (which no eye has seen), and in return for those deeds which are heard by the ears, He will grant those blessings {’’وَلَا أُذُنٌ سَمِعَتْ‘‘} (which no ear has heard), and in return for the faith and good belief of the heart, He will grant those blessings {’’ وَلَا خَطَرَ عَلٰي قَلْبِ بَشَرٍ ‘‘} (which have never even occurred to the heart of any human). What better reward can there be for faith and righteous deeds than this?

7-1. That is, despite the fact that Allah Almighty is free of all needs from the entire creation, He will, purely out of His grace and mercy, grant the people of faith the best reward for their deeds. And for every single good deed, He will grant manifold reward.

And those who believe and do righteous deeds, We will surely remove their evil deeds [8] and will reward them with better than what they used to do [9].

[8]
Different Forms of Good Deeds Erasing Sins:

There are three forms of this. First, when a person embraces Islam, his previous sins are forgiven. Similarly, by performing good deeds, minor sins are forgiven. Second, when a person starts performing good deeds, he naturally develops an aversion to sins. Third, when good deeds become prevalent in a society, sins automatically begin to disappear, because the two are opposites of each other. When one comes, the other inevitably has to leave. The same is the case with Sunnah and Bid‘ah. Regarding this, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has clearly stated: "Wherever a Bid‘ah becomes prevalent, a Sunnah is taken away from there." In other words, the spread of Bid‘ah necessarily results in the disappearance of Sunnah.

[9] This sentence also has two meanings. One is clear from the translation: that Allah will grant more or better than the reward for that good deed. The second meaning is that whatever better deed a person has, Allah will grant the reward for his other deeds as well according to the value of that better deed.