(He does it)(1), but as for the person to whom it never even occurs that Allah has forbidden the act, and who has no desire for it—he simply refrains—such a person is neither punished nor rewarded for it, unless some positive deed issues from him that would warrant reward (or punishment)(2).

Hence, if someone says, “What is required is merely not to do it,” and by that means that simple abstention suffices to avert punishment, he is correct (for when no sin proceeds from a person, he is not punished)(3). Yet if he means that a person is rewarded for this mere non-occurrence, that is not the case (for reward is earned only for a positive act, and the same holds true for punishment)(4).

When a disbeliever fails to believe in Allah and His Messenger, his soul must inevitably(5) preoccupy itself with works that distract it from faith, and those(6) works are themselves acts of disbelief for which he is punished. Accordingly, when Allah mentions the chastisement of the unbelievers in the Fire, He cites concrete actions for which they are punished—deeds that oppose faith and defile the soul(7). For this reason, monotheism and faith are the greatest means by which the soul is purified.