﴿1-3﴾ “In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Those who disbelieve and hinder others from the way of Allah—He has rendered their deeds futile * But those who believe, perform righteous deeds, and believe in what was sent down to Muhammad—which is the truth from their Lord—He has expiated their sins and set their condition aright * That is because those who disbelieve follow falsehood, while those who believe follow the truth from their Lord. Thus Allah sets forth their respective examples for mankind.”
These verses mention the reward of the believers, the punishment of the disobedient, the reason for both, and the call for mankind to take heed. He says: “Those who disbelieve and hinder others from the way of Allah.” These are the leaders of disbelief and the imams of misguidance, who combine disbelief in Allah and His signs with barring themselves and others from the way of Allah, which is to believe in and follow that to which the messengers called.
Allah has therefore “rendered their deeds futile”; that is, He has nullified them and made them a cause of their wretchedness. This includes the deeds they undertook to plot against the truth and the allies of Allah: Allah turned their plotting back against them, and they achieved none of what they intended. It also includes the deeds for which they hope to be rewarded: Allah will nullify them. The reason is that they followed falsehood, which encompasses every aim pursued for something other than the sake of Allah, such as the worship of idols and graven images. Since deeds undertaken to support falsehood are themselves false, deeds performed for its sake are likewise false.
As for “those who believe” in what Allah sent down to His messengers generally, and to Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) in particular, “and perform righteous deeds” by fulfilling the obligatory and recommended rights owed to Allah and to His servants:
Allah “has expiated their sins,” both minor and major. Once their sins are expiated, they are saved from punishment in this world and the Hereafter. “And He has set their condition aright”; that is, He has set right their religion and worldly affairs, their hearts and deeds. He has also improved their reward by causing it to grow and increase, and has set all their circumstances aright. The reason is that they “followed the truth”—truthfulness, certainty, and all that this magnificent Quran contains—which comes “from their Lord,” who nurtured them through His grace and directed their affairs with His kindness. Thus, He nurtured them with the truth, and they followed it, so their affairs were set aright. Since the end they sought was connected to the truth ascribed to Allah—the Everlasting, the True, the Manifest—the means they pursued was righteous and enduring, and its reward also endures.