Tafsir of Surah Muhammad - Verse 33

Nullifying the Disbelievers' Deeds and the Command to chase Them

Allah then informs about those who disbelieve, obstruct others from the path of Allah, oppose the Messenger and contend with him, and revert from the faith after guidance has become clear to them. He indicates that those people can never harm Allah in the least, and rather they only harm themselves and become losers on the Day of Resurrection. He will nullify their deeds. Allah will not reward them even the weight of a mosquito (i.e., the smallest thing) for any good that they did before their apostasy, but would instead totally invalidate and destroy it. Their apostasy wipes away their good deeds entirely, just as the good deeds would normally wipe away the evil deeds. Imam Ahmad Ibn Nasr Al-Marwazi reported in Kitab As-Salah (the Book of Prayer) that Abu Al-`Aliyah said, "The Prophet's Companions used to think that no sin would harm a person who says `La ilaha illallah,' just as no good deed would benefit a person who joins partners with Allah. So Allah revealed,

أَطِيعُواْ اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَلاَ تُبْطِلُواْ أَعْمَـلَكُمْ

(Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and do not invalidate your deeds.) This made them fear that some sins could nullify their deeds." It has also been reported from Ibn `Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said, "We, the Companions of Allah's Messenger ﷺ, used to think that good deeds would all be accepted, until Allah revealed,

أَطِيعُواْ اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَلاَ تُبْطِلُواْ أَعْمَـلَكُمْ

(Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and do not invalidate your deeds. ) So we asked each other: `What is it that can nullify our deeds' So we said, `The major sins, great offenses that require admission into the Fire and immoral sins.' But then Allah revealed,

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ

(Verily, Allah does not forgive joining partners with Him in worship, but He forgives except that to whom He wills.) (4:48) After this was revealed, we ceased saying that. We thereafter continued to fear for those who committed great sins and immoral sins and to have hope for those who did not." Then, Allah commands His believing servants to obey Him and His Messenger , which would result in their happiness in this worldly life and the Hereafter. He also prohibits them from apostasy, because that would result in the nullification of their deeds. Thus He says,

وَلاَ تُبْطِلُواْ أَعْمَـلَكُمْ

(and do not invalidate your deeds.) meaning, by apostasy. Thus, Allah says after this,

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ وَصَدُّواْ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ مَاتُواْ وَهُمْ كُفَّارٌ فَلَن يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ

(Verily, those who disbelieved and obstructed others from the path of Allah and then died as disbelievers -- never will Allah forgive them.) This is similar to His saying,

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ

(Verily, Allah does not forgive joining partners with Him in worship, but He forgives except that to whom He wills.) (4:48) Allah then addresses His believing servants by saying,

فَلاَ تَهِنُواْ

(So do not lose heart) meaning, do not be weak concerning the enemies.

وَتَدْعُواْ إِلَى السَّلْمِ

(and beg for peace) meaning, compromise, peace, and ending the fighting between you and the disbelievers while you are in a position of power, both in great numbers and preparations. Thus, Allah says,

فَلاَ تَهِنُواْ وَتَدْعُواْ إِلَى السَّلْمِ وَأَنتُمُ الاٌّعْلَوْنَ

(So do not lose heart and beg for peace while you are superior.) meaning, in the condition of your superiority over your enemy. If, on the other hand, the disbelievers are considered more powerful and numerous than the Muslims, then the Imam (general commander) may decide to hold a treaty if he judges that it entails a benefit for the Muslims. This is like what Allah's Messenger ﷺ did when the disbelievers obstructed him from entering Makkah and offered him treaty in which all fighting would stop between them for ten years. Consequently, he agreed to that. Allah then says:

وَاللَّهُ مَعَكُمْ

(And Allah is with you) This contains the good news of victory and triumph over the enemies.

وَلَن يَتِرَكُمْ أَعْمَـلَكُمْ

(and He will never deprive you of (the reward of) your deeds.) meaning, Allah will never invalidate your deeds, nullify them, or deprive you of them, but rather He will give you your rewards complete, without any reduction." And Allah knows best.

Commentary

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُ‌وا وَصَدُّوا عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّـهِ (Those who disbelieve and prevent (others) from Allah's way ... - 47:32) This verse also refers to the hypocrites, and the Jewish tribes of Banu Quraizah and Banu Nadir. Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ says that this verse refers to those hypocrites who, on the occasion of the battle of Badr, joined forces with the infidels of Quraysh and helped them in such a way that twelve men of the two tribes took upon themselves the responsibility of feeding the entire army. Each one of the twelve men took turns to organize meal for the enemy camp on different days.

وَسَيُحْبِطُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ (...and He will render their deeds vain - 47:32) Habt-ul-a` mal (rendering deeds vain) could have one of the two meanings: [ i ] their efforts to undermine Islam would be unsuccessful and fail as explained in the foregoing commentary of this verse; and [ ii ] on account of their disbelief and hypocrisy, their good deeds –such as charity, free will offerings, philanthropic activities and so on - will all be rendered void and will not be acceptable.

لَا تُبْطِلُوا أَعْمَالَكُمْ and do not nullify Qur'an has employed the phrase ibtal ul-a'male instead of habt ul-a'mal because the scope of the former phrase is much wider than the latter phrase, because ibtal-ul-a'mal may be interpreted in two ways: In the one case it takes place on account of disbelief which was described in the foregoing verse by the phrase habt-ul-a` mal because no action of a die-hard infidel is ever acceptable on account of disbelief. If anyone embraced Islam and later abandoned it, all his good actions performed during the days of Islam will be rendered vain albeit good works of the days of Islam are acceptable. The good works, in this case, will be made vain because of the subsequent disbelief and apostasy.

The other case of ibtal-ul-a'mal is that the acceptability of some righteous deeds is sometimes conditional upon other righteous acts. If the condition is not fulfilled, the righteous deeds will be rendered fruitless. For example, for every righteous action to be acceptable, the necessary condition is that it must be performed exclusively and sincerely for Allah. It must not be performed to make an ostentatious display to people. Let us take a few examples of this rule from the Qur'an: In [ 98:5] we read:

وَمَا أُمِرُ‌وا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللَّـهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ

"They were commanded only to worship Allah, making their submission sincere for Him, (98:5) ".

On another occasion in the Qur'an [ 39:3] we read:

أَلَا لِلَّـهِ الدِّينُ الْخَالِصُ

"Unquestionably, for Allah is the pure religion" [ 39:3].

This goes to show that all good works - to be acceptable - must be done with the sincerity of heart and honesty of purpose. Otherwise they will be rendered void by Allah. On a third occasion in the Qur'an [ 2:264] we read: لَا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُم بِالْمَنِّ وَالْأَذَىٰ "0 those who believe, do not nullify your charities by boasting about favour, and teasing (2:264) ". This shows that giving charity to a needy person and then following it up by demands of gratitude or insulting words or hurting him in some other way will only nullify his charitable act. This probably could be the meaning of what Hasan Basri (رح) has said when interpreting this verse: "Do not render vain your own good works by means of sins." Although the apparent sense of this statement is that if one commits a sin, all his good deeds are nullified, yet this being against the well-established position, its real purpose cannot be other than it refers only to those sins that are relevant to a particular virtuous act and which nullify that particular act only. It is similar to what Ibn Jurayj has said to explain this verse: " (Do not nullify your virtuous acts) by doing them only to show off and to win a good name among the people." Likewise, Muqatil and others have explained it by saying: bil-manni, that is, (Do not nullify your deeds) by boasting about your favour. Otherwise, according to the unanimity of ahl-us-sunnah wal jamaah, no sin - not even a major sin other than kufr or shirk -- can destroy the righteous acts of a believer. For example, if a believer, who performs his prayer regularly and keeps his fasts, were to steal something, the sacred law does not declare his prayers and fasts null and void or demand him to repeat them. Therefore, in the statement of Hasan Basri (رح) the word 'sins' refers only to those sins refraining from which is a necessary condition for the acceptability of good works. For example, the acceptability of good works, it is necessary to refrain from riya', that is, to avoid showing off or making an ostentatious display of accomplishments. Moreover, it is also possible that Hasan Bari statement regarding refers to the deprivation of the blessings of righteous works, and not to the absolute nullification of a righteous work itself. This may apply to all types of sin in the sense that if a believer's sins are much more than his good deeds, the few good deeds that he has to his credit will be devoid of the blessing that may save him from the punishment of his sins. According to the rule of retribution, he will be punished first for his sins and finally through the virtue of his faith he will attain salvation and be admitted into the gardens of Paradise.

Ruling:

If a believer starts a nafl (an act of worship that is not obligatory), and then deliberately disrupts it before its completion, this too is deemed by Imam Abu Hanifah as nullifying the deed, and is impermissible according to him. Therefore, if a person commences righteous acts that were initially not compulsory or obligatory, their completion, according to this interpretation of the verse, becomes obligatory. Otherwise he would be committing ibtal-ul-a'mal [ nullification of actions ]. If anyone does this without a legitimate reason or nullifies them purposely, he would be a sinner, and it would be obligatory for him to make qada' for such nullification. According to Imam Shafi` i, neither he is a sinner nor is it obligatory for him to make qada'. His argument is that the act was not initially compulsory or obligatory, therefore its abandonment or nullification would not entail a sin. Hanafis are that the wordings of the current verse are general in their scope embracing all righteous acts, whether obligatory or supererogatory. Therefore, if a supererogatory act is initiated, its completion becomes obligatory. On this occasion, in Tafsir Mazhari, a large number of ahadith are quoted and the issue is discussed in detail.

It is mentioned in a tradition that, during the period of the Prophet Muhammad, certain Muslims opined that if they professed, ‘la ilaha illallah’ (there is nobody worth worshipping except God), they would come to no harm by any sin. In that connection, this verse 33 was revealed. In this light the verse means that a man should combine obedience with Faith. He should carry out not only the harmless commandments but also those commandments for which he has to crush his self and jeopardize his interests. If he does not do so, his earlier deeds will be of no avail. The position of weak Muslims is that they will support the Truth on the condition that they should not have to incur the displeasure of the great men of their day. When they see that supporting the Truth is becoming a cause of displeasure to them, they tilt towards them even if these great men are rejecters of the Truth or stubbornly resistant to it. Those who reject the Truth or set themselves up as its opponents can never receive the grace of God. Then how can those who side with such rejecters of Truth meet with any other fate? In Islam there is war as well as peace. But that war is not Islamic which is fought under provocation. In Islam only defensive war is permitted. Such a war should not be the consequence of an emotional reaction, but one which results from a proper decision, and is defensive by nature.