Benefit: Concerning the Almighty’s words about those whom He has chosen and to whom He has bequeathed the Scripture—“Among them are those who wrong themselves, others who follow a middle course, and still others who are foremost in good deeds” (Fāṭir 35:32)—these three groups are alike in the following:

• the foundation of faith;
• Allah’s selecting them out of all creation;
• His favor in granting them the Book and their eventual entry into Paradise.

They differ in:

• the degree to which they perfect the ranks of faith;
• the measure of Allah’s special choosing and of their inheritance of the Scripture;
• their stations and degrees in Paradise, each in proportion to his qualities.

As for the one who wrongs his own soul: he is the believer who mingles righteous deeds with sinful ones and neglects some obligations of faith, though not to the extent that faith disappears altogether. This class itself divides into two:

1. A person who comes to the Day of Resurrection with all his sins already expiated—whether through supplication, intercession, charitable legacies whose benefit reached him in this life, or punishment in the barzakh proportionate to his sins, after which the penalty was lifted and the reward began to take effect. This is the highest level within this class, yet he is still counted among those who wronged themselves.

2. A person who arrives at the Resurrection still bearing sins. His good deeds and bad deeds will then be weighed, and such people fall into three kinds:
   (i) The one whose good deeds outweigh his bad deeds. He will not enter the Fire; rather, by Allah’s mercy and because of his good deeds—which themselves are manifestations of that mercy—he will enter Paradise.