Surah al-Naml (The Ants)

Shaykh al-Islām said:

This is an explanation of verses that have proved difficult to understand, so much so that some works of Quranic commentary contain nothing but mistaken interpretations of them. Among these is the saying of the Most High:

“Whoever comes with a good deed will have something better in return”—to the end of the verse.

The well-known interpretation transmitted from the early generations is that the good deed is the declaration, “There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah,” and that the evil deed is associating partners with Allah. Al-Suddī is reported to have said: “This is at the Reckoning: for every good deed, ten evil deeds are cancelled. If a single evil deed remains, his recompense is the Fire, unless Allah forgives him.”

I say: It is established in the authentic hadith collections that a good deed is multiplied tenfold and up to seven hundredfold, that an evil deed is counted as one, that intending a good deed counts as a good deed, and that intending an evil deed is not recorded.

Those who held the first view did so because righteous deeds are encompassed by tawhīd (monotheism). For Allah is worshipped by doing what He has commanded, as He says:

“Yes indeed, whoever submits himself to Allah while doing good”—to the end of the verse.

And the Most High says:

“Have you not seen how Allah sets forth the parable of a good word”—to the end of the verse.