a woman who has reached menstruating age unless she wears a head covering.” He also said in an authentic hadith:

“Whoever performs a deed that does not conform to our command, it is rejected.”

That is, it is rejected, not accepted. Thus, if someone avoids disbelief but performs a deed that does not conform to the command of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, it will not be accepted from him. If he prays without ablution, his prayer will not be accepted, because he has not feared Allah in that deed, even though he has avoided associating partners with Him.

The Most High says:

“And those who give what they give while their hearts are fearful because they will be returning to their Lord.”

In a hadith, ‘Ā’ishah asked the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: “Messenger of Allah, does this mean a man who commits fornication, steals, and drinks wine, while fearing that he will be punished?”

He replied: “No, daughter of al-Siddīq. Rather, it means a man who prays, fasts, and gives charity, while fearing that these deeds will not be accepted from him.”

Those among the early generations who feared that their deeds would not be accepted did so because they feared that they might not have performed them as commanded. This is the clearest explanation for why some of them qualified their statements about faith and deeds of faith, as when one of them said, “I am a believer, if Allah wills,” or, “I have prayed, if Allah wills.” This arose from fear that he might not have fulfilled his obligation in the prescribed manner, not from doubt about the conviction in his heart.

The verse cannot mean that Allah accepts deeds only from someone who avoids all sins. For when a disbeliever or a sinner intends to repent, he is not yet God-fearing. If acceptance of a deed depended on its doer being free of sin when performing it, repentance could never be accepted. This is unlike requiring that Allah be feared in the deed itself: when a person repents, he performs the repentance required of him, and as he begins to repent, he is moving from evil to good