of the deeds performed by non-Muslims in this world are taken into account—such as the expiation for ẓihār (the pre-Islamic formula that likens one’s wife to one’s mother); if he later becomes Muslim he is not required to repeat that expiation, and it is deemed sufficient for him.” End quote.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ (Ibn Ḥajar) then said:

“The correct view is that Allah’s graciously recording reward for a person once he is Muslim does not necessarily mean that the deed he performed while in disbelief was itself accepted. The ḥadīth merely mentions the writing down of reward; it does not address acceptance. It is therefore possible that acceptance is conditional upon his embracing Islam: if he does so, the deed is accepted and rewarded; if not, then not. This is a strong position. The very conclusion reached by al-Nawawī was also affirmed by Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī, Ibn Baṭṭāl and others among the early scholars, and by al-Qurṭubī and Ibn al-Munayyir among the later ones.

Ibn al-Munayyir said:

‘What conflicts with the established principles is the claim that the reward is written for him while he is still a disbeliever. As for Allah’s adding, to his good deeds after Islam, the reward for what he had previously done while thinking it was good, there is no obstacle to that—just as He may confer favour upon a person from the outset without any deed, or as He grants the incapacitated the reward of what he used to do when he was able. If it is permissible for him to be granted the reward of something he never did at all, it is all the more permissible for him to receive the reward of something he actually did, though it lacked the full set of conditions.’

Others adduced as evidence the fact that whoever from the People of the Book believes is given his reward twice, as is indicated by the Quran and by an authentic ḥadīth. Had such a person died upon his first belief, none of his righteous deeds would have benefited him; they would have been no more than scattered dust. This shows that the reward for his earlier deeds is recorded for him in addition to the reward for his later deeds. The same inference is drawn from the Prophet’s ﷺ reply when ʿĀʾishah asked about Ibn Judʿān and the good works he used to perform: ‘Will they benefit him?’ He said, ‘He never once said, “My Lord, forgive me my sin on the Day of Judgement.”’ This indicates that, had he said it after accepting Islam, the deeds he had done in disbelief would have benefited him.”

I (al-Albānī) say: This is the sound position, and it is impermissible to assert otherwise, for the ḥadīths that establish it are mutually corroborative. For that reason al-Sindī said in his marginal notes on al-Nasāʾī: “This ḥadīth shows that the meritorious deeds of a disbeliever are held in suspension: if he embraces Islam they are accepted; otherwise they are rejected.”