Tafsir of Surah Al-An'am - Verse 160

The Good Deed is Multiplied Tenfold, While the Sin is Recompensed with the Same

This Ayah explains the general Ayah;

مَن جَآءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ خَيْرٌ مِّنْهَا

(Whoever comes with good, then he will receive better than that.)28:84 There are several Hadiths that are in agreement with the apparent wording of this honorable Ayah. Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal recorded that Ibn `Abbas said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said about his Lord,

«إِنَّ رَبَّكُمْ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ رَحِيمٌ مَنْ هَمَّ بِحَسَنَةٍ فَلَمْ يَعْمَلْهَا كُتِبَتْ لَهُ حَسَنَةً فَإِنْ عَمِلَهَا كُتِبَتْ لَهُ عَشْرًا إِلَى سَبْعِمِائَةٍ إِلَى أَضْعَافٍ كَثِيرَةٍ. وَمَنْ هَمَّ بِسَيِّئَةٍ فَلَمْ يَعْمَلْهَا كُتِبَتْ لَهُ حَسَنَةً فَإِنْ عَمِلَهَا كُتِبَتْ لَهُ وَاحِدَةً أَوْ يَمْحُوهَا اللهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ وَلَا يَهْلِكُ عَلَى اللهِ إِلَّا هَالِك»

(Your Lord is Most Merciful. Whoever intends to perform a good deed and does not do it, it will be written for him as a good deed. If he performs it, it will be written for him as ten deeds, to seven hundred, to multifold. Whoever intends to commit an evil deed, but does not do it, it will be written for him as a good deed. If he commits it, it will be written for him as a sin, unless Allah erases it. Only those who deserve destruction will be destroyed by Allah.) Al-Bukhari, Muslim and An-Nasa'i also recorded this Hadith. Ahmad also recorded that Abu Dharr said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«يَقُولُ اللهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ:مَنْ عَمِلَ حَسَنَةً فَلَهُ عَشْرُ أَمْثَالِهَا وَأَزِيدُ وَمَنْ عَمِلَ سَيِّئَةً فَجَزَاؤُهَا مِثْلُهَا أَوْ أَغْفِرُ وَمَنْ عَمِلَ قُرَابَ الْأَرْضِ خَطِيئَةً ثُمَّ لَقِيَنِي لَا يُشْرِكُ بِي شَيْئًا جَعَلْتُ لَهُ مِثْلَهَا مَغْفِرَةً، وَمَنِ اقْتَرَبَ إِليَّ شِبْرًا اقْتَرَبْتُ إِلَيْهِ ذِرَاعًا وَمَنِ اقْتَرَبَ إِلَيَّ ذِرَاعًا اقْتَرَبْتُ إِلَيْهِ بَاعًا وَمَنْ أَتَانِي يَمْشِي أَتَيْتُهُ هَرْوَلَة»

(Allah says, `Whoever performs a good deed, will have tenfold for it and more. Whoever commits a sin, then his recompense will be the same, unless I forgive. Whoever commits the earth's fill of sins and then meets Me while associating none with Me, I will give him its fill of forgiveness. Whoever draws closer to Me by a hand's span, I will draw closer to him by a forearm's length. Whoever draws closer to Me by a forearm's length, I will draw closer to him by an arm's length. And whoever comes to Me walking, I will come to him running.') Muslim also collected this Hadith. Know that there are three types of people who refrain from committing a sin that they intended. There are those who refrain from committing the sin because they fear Allah, and thus will have written for them a good deed as a reward. This type contains both a good intention and a good deed. In some narrations of the Sahih, Allah says about this type, "He has left the sin for My sake." Another type does not commit the sin because of forgetfulness or being busy attending to other affairs. This type of person will neither earn a sin, nor a reward. The reason being that, this person did not intend to do good, nor commit evil. Some people abandon the sin because they were unable to commit it or due to laziness, after trying to commit it and seeking the means that help commit it. This person is just like the person who commits the sin. There is an authentic Hadith that states,

«إِذَا الْتَقَى الْمُسْلِمَانِ بِسَيْفَيْهِمَا فَالْقَاتِلُ وَالْمَقْتُولُ فِي النَّار»

(When two Muslims meet with their swords, then the killer and the killed will be in the Fire.) They said, "O Allah's Messenger! We know about the killer, so what about the killed" He said,

«إِنَّهُ كَانَ حَرِيصًا عَلَى قَتْلِ صَاحِبِه»

(He was eager to kill his companion.) Al-Hafiz Abu Al-Qasim At-Tabarani said that Abu Malik Al-Ash`ari said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«الْجُمُعَةُ كَفَّارَةٌ لِمَا بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَ الْجُمُعَةِ الَّتِي تَلِيهَا وَزِيَادَةُ ثَلَاثَةِ أَيَّامٍ، وَذَلِكَ لأَنَّ اللهَ تَعَالَى قَالَ:

مَن جَآءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ عَشْرُ أَمْثَالِهَا

»

(Friday (prayer) to the next Friday (preayer), plus three more days, erase whatever was committed (of sins) between them. This is because Allah says: Whoever brings a good deed shall have ten times the like thereof to his credit) Abu Dharr narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«مَنْ صَامَ ثَلَاثَةَ أَيَّامٍ مِنْ كُلِّ شَهْرٍ فَقَدْ صَامَ الدَّهْرَ كُلَّه»

(Whoever fasts three days every month, will have fasted all the time.) Ahmad, An-Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah recorded this Hadith, and this is Ahmad's wording. At-Tirmidhi also recorded it with this addition;

«فأنزل الله تصديق ذلك في كتابه»

(So Allah sent down affirmation of this statement in His Book, )

مَن جَآءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ عَشْرُ أَمْثَالِهَا

(Whoever brings a good deed shall have ten times the like thereof to his credit,)

«اليوم بعشرة أيام»

(Therefore, a day earns ten days.) At-Tirmidhi said; "This Hadith is Hasan". There are many other Hadiths and statements on this subject, but what we mentioned should be sufficient, Allah willing, and our trust is in Him.

Said in the second (160) verse is: مَن جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ عَشْرُ‌ أَمْثَالِهَا ۖ وَمَن جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ فَلَا يُجْزَىٰ إِلَّا مِثْلَهَا وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ ﴿160﴾ (Whoever comes with a good deed, receives ten times as much, and whoever comes with an evil deed, he will not be recompensed by anything but its equal, and they shall not be wronged).

Stated in the previous verse (159) was that the punishment for the evil deeds of those who turn away from the straight path rested with Allah alone.

In the present verse, the generous procedure of reward and punishment in the Hereafter has been described by saying that a person who does one good deed will get ten times more in return - and a person who commits one sin, the return for him will be equal to that of one sin.

As reported in the Sahih of Al-Bukhari and Muslim and in Nasa'i and the Musnad of Ahmad, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: Most Exalted and Very Merciful is your Rabb. A person who intends to do a good deed has one good recorded in his Book of Deeds - even if he does not get around to do it. Following that, when he gets to do that good deed, ten good deeds are recorded in his Book of Deeds. And if a person intends to do a sin, then stays back and does not do it, still a good is recorded for him - and if he were to actually commit a sin, still what he gets registered in his name is one sin, or that too is erased. With this showering of grace and mercy in the presence of Allah, who can apprehend total destruction? Unless, of course, there be that rare person who is determined to be destroyed. (Ibn Kathir)

In a Hadith Qudsi narrated by Sayyidna Abu Dharr ؓ it is said:

` A person who does one good deed gets the reward of ten, even more - and a person who commits one sin will get its punishment equal to one sin only, or I shall forgive even that. And a person who comes to Me with sins which would fill the whole earth, and still seeks forgiveness, I shall treat him with matching forgiveness. And a person who comes closer towards Me to the measure of one hand finger-span, I step one hand-span towards him. And a person who steps one hand-span toward Me, I come towards him by the measure of one Ba' (the stretch of both hands). And the person who comes walking towards Me, towards him I come running.'

From these Hadith narrations, we can see that the increase of ten times for one good deed as mentioned in this verse is actually a description of its base limit - and Allah Ta` ala, in His mercy and generosity, may give even more than that, and shall give, as proved by other narrations which place it upto the level of seventy times or seven hundred times.

In the words of the verse, it is noteworthy that the expression used جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ (` comes with a good deed' ) and not: عَمِلَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ (does a good deed). According to Tafsir Al-Bahr Al-Muhit, this indicates that such reward or punishment will not be awarded just on having done something good or bad. Instead of that, the condition is that to deserve reward or punishment, a good or bad deed must survive as such until the time of death. The outcome is that a person who has done a good deed, but it gets destroyed because of the misfortune of some sin, then, he no longer remains deserving of reward against this deed. An example of it is, God forbid, that of Shirk and Kufr which, in fact, destroy all good deeds. In addition to that there are many other sins which make some good deeds turn false and ineffectual - as it appears in the Holy Qur'an: لَا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُم بِالْمَنِّ وَالْأَذَىٰ (do not nullify your charities by boasting about favour, and teasing -2:264).

This tells us that the good deed of charity (sadaqah) gets nullified and wasted by boasting about the favour done or by causing hurt through teasing and underrating the recipient. Similarly, it appears in Hadith that sitting in the Masjid and talking about worldly things eats up good deeds as fire eats up the wood. This tells us that good deeds, such as, Nafl, Tasbih and Dhikr, go to waste by indulging in mundane conversation.

Similar is the case of evil deeds which, if repented from, become the cause of the sin being erased from the Book of Deeds - it does not keep sticking to a person until the time of death. Therefore, not said in the verse was something like: ` does any deed, good or bad, for which there will be punishment or reward.' Instead, what was said, in effect, was: Whoever brings to Us a good deed will get a reward ten times as much and whoever brings to Us an evil deed, then, it will be only one deed he will be punished for. The point is that this act of bringing to Allah Ta` ala can become possible only when this deed remains intact and unharmed right through the end. The crucial thing is that it survives, that nothing happens in between which will cause the good deed to be spoiled or wasted - and of course, the method is to keep repenting and seeking the forgiveness of Allah Ta` ala from falling into any evil deed.

At the end of the verse, it was said: وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ (and they shall not be wronged). It means that this is no human court. This is the Highest of the high. No probability of any injustice to anyone exists there, nor can there be a decrease in the return for someone's good deed, nor is there any possibility of an increase in the punishment for someone's evil deed.

Adherence to religion requires that the individual should not give a higher status to anyone in his life than God. He should build relations on the basis of recognition of the Truth and not on the basis of self-interest, and the first symbol of that is the proper treatment of parents. He should consider the provision made by God as a divine gift and should not meddle with His system. In this connection a man’s misguidance leads him into the foolishness of the killing of children. He should be shown deeds of shamelessness so that his heart’s sensitivity to evil remains alive. He should not exploit the weak: the acid test of this is how he treats an orphan. In the discharge of duties and in matters of give and take, he should strike a just balance. He should always speak with justice. He should spend his life with the feeling that he is bound by a divine pledge, and that he is never free of its responsibilities. This is the straightforward way for a man to spend his life—one which is liked by God. Man should keep himself on this straight path without deviating to the right or left. The Ten Commandments mentioned above (verses 151-153) are simple and natural. Every man’s mind testifies to their truth. If stress is laid on these things, there can never be differences or sectarianism. But when communities decline, such leaders are born among them as wilfully misinterpret these straightforward precepts and this is what fragments religious unity. If unnecessary discussions are introduced into the Faith of monotheism—e.g. whether God has a body or is bodyless; if there is hair-splitting on the subject of orphans, i.e. what is the definition of orphanhood; if the point is raised that Divine commands cannot be carried out unless the government is overthrown and as such the first task is changing the ‘un-Islamic’ government—there will be no end to the difficulties created and it will be impossible to achieve a general consensus on these points. Then different schools of thought will form; separate sects will take shape; long-established unity will turn into internal discord. To devote one’s full attention to this simple and natural religion is the best act of righteousness. But for this purpose, a man has to fight with his self; even if the atmosphere is unpropitious, one has to remain firm by exercising patience and making sacrifices. This is an arduous task, and that is why the reward for it is multiplied many times over by God. Those who practice evil, those who adopt paths other than that specified by God, indulge in the worst type of crime. However, God does not take excessive measures against them. He gives them a punishment commensurate with their crime.