their piety.” And His words:

“They were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance.”

Also among these are His words:

“Indeed, We have granted you a clear victory, so that Allah may forgive you your past and future sins, complete His favor upon you, guide you to a straight path, and grant you a mighty victory.”

Conversely, misguidance and acts of disobedience result from earlier sins, as Allah says:

“When they deviated, Allah caused their hearts to deviate.”

“And their saying, ‘Our hearts are veiled.’ Rather, Allah has sealed them because of their disbelief.”

And He says:

“For breaking their covenant, We cursed them and made their hearts hard.”

And He says:

“They swore their most solemn oaths by Allah,”

through to His words, “they will not believe,” and then through to His words, “wander blindly.” This is a vast subject.

Hence some of the early generations said: “Part of the reward for a good deed is another good deed after it, and part of the punishment for an evil deed is another evil deed after it.”

It has become common among ordinary people to place His words, “Fear Allah, and Allah teaches you,” in the first category, citing them as evidence that fearing Allah is a cause of His teaching a person. Most learned people challenge this inference, because He did not connect the second verb to the first as a consequence is connected to a condition. He did not say, “Fear Allah, and He will teach you,” or “so He will teach you.” Rather, He used the conjunction “and,” and conjunction does not in itself imply that the first is the cause of the second.

It may, however, be said that conjunction can convey an association and mutual dependence, as when one says: “Visit me, and I shall visit you; greet us, and we shall greet