Abd al-Wahid ibn Ahmad al-Mulayhi informed us; Abu Muhammad Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Shurayh informed us; Abu al-Qasim Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Baghawi informed us; Ali ibn al-Ja‘d narrated to us; Zuhayr ibn Mu‘awiyah narrated to us, from Abu al-Zubayr, from Jabir, who said:

Suraqah ibn Malik ibn Ju‘shum came and said, “Messenger of Allah, explain our religion to us as though we had only just been created. Tell us about this umrah of ours: is it for this year alone, or forever?”

He said, “Rather, it is forever.”

He said, “Messenger of Allah, explain our religion to us as though we had only just been created: with regard to what are deeds done today? Is it in accordance with what the pens have dried upon and the decrees have already run their course concerning, or in accordance with what is yet to come?”

He said, “No; rather, it is in accordance with what the pens have dried upon and the decrees have already run their course concerning.”

He said, “Then what is the point of deeds?”

Zuhayr said: He replied with words that were unclear to me. I later asked one of my relatives about them, and he mentioned that he had heard them. He said, “Do deeds, for everyone will be facilitated for that for which he was created.” (1)

“Successful indeed is the one who purifies it (9), and failed indeed is the one who corrupts it (10). Thamud denied in their transgression (11).”

“Successful indeed is the one who purifies it”: this is the answer to the oath—that is, successful and blessed is the soul that Allah purifies: He rectifies it, cleanses it of sins, and grants it success in obedience.

“And failed indeed is the one who corrupts it”: that is, failed and lost is the soul whom Allah leads astray and thereby corrupts.

Al-Hasan said: Its meaning is that successful indeed is whoever purifies his own soul, rectifies it, and compels it to obey Allah, exalted is He; and failed indeed is whoever corrupts it, destroys it, leads it astray, and compels it to disobey. Thus, he attributed the action to the soul itself.

The original form of “corrupts it” is dassasahā, derived from tadsīs, meaning the concealment of something; the second s was changed into a y.

The meaning here is that he debased it and concealed its standing through disbelief and disobedience.

Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Yusuf al-Juwayni informed us; Abu Muhammad Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Sharik al-Shafi‘i informed us; Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Muslim Abu Bakr al-Jurabadhī informed us; Ahmad ibn Harb narrated to us; Abu Mu‘awiyah narrated to us, from Asim, from Abu Uthman and Abdullah ibn al-Harith, from Zayd ibn Arqam, who said: I say to you only what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to us:

“O Allah, I seek refuge in You from incapacity, laziness, miserliness, cowardice, anxiety, and the punishment of the grave. O Allah, grant my soul its piety and purify it; You are the best of those who purify it. You are its Protector and Master. O Allah, I seek refuge in You from knowledge that does not benefit, from a soul that is never satisfied, from a heart that does not humble itself, and from a supplication that is not answered.” (2)

His saying, exalted is He, “Thamud denied in their transgression,” means: because of their rebellion and aggression—that is, their transgression drove them to deny.