Al Rūm

مَن كَفَرَ فَعَلَيْهِ كُفْرُهُ وَمَنْ عَمِلَ صَالِحاً فَلاَِنفُسِهِمْ يَمْهَدُونَ

لِيَجْزِيَ الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ مِن فَضْلِهِ إِنَّهُ لاَ يُحِبُّ الْكَافِرِينَ

44. “Whoever disbelieves, his unbelief shall be (charged) against him, and whoever does good deed, for their own selves they are preparing,”
45. “That He may reward those who believe and do righteous deeds out of His Grace, verily He does not love the unbelievers.”

The previous verse implied that on the Day of Hereafter people will scatter and become separated into different groups. This verse explains that this separation is so that each group of believers and disbelievers will be given their appropriate reward and retribution. In Hereafter, of course, the grace of Allah (s.w.t.) will involve those who have both faith and righteous deed. Thus, for entering Paradise only Faith is not enough but good deed is also necessary.

This verse is, in fact, an explanation for this separation of rows in Hereafter. The verse says:

The Qur’anic term /yamhadun/ is derived from /mahd/ and, as Raqib has said in Mufradat, it originally means cradle or a place which is prepared for a child. Then the words /mahd/ and /mihad/ have been used in a vaster sense, that is, it is called to any prepared place wherein the utmost ease and tranquillity is found. It is for this point of view that this meaning has been chosen for the people of Paradise and righteous believers. In short, you should not think that belief and disbelief, or your ugly and beautiful deeds have any effect on the Pure Essence of Allah, but it is you who become pleased and happy, or worried and sad.

It is interesting that concerning the disbelievers, the Holy Qur’an has sufficed with the sentence:

but concerning the believers, in the next verse, the Qur’an explains that not only they will see their deeds there but also Allah will bestow some more merits on them because of His Grace. The verse says:

This is the aim and it is certain that this Divine Grace (in Hereafter) does not reach the disbelievers, since:

It is evident that He will treat them with His justice, too, and He will not punish them more than their due, but they will not receive any grace or merit from Him either.

Note

No doubt any evil action effects on the situation of society and by means of it the situation of individuals will be affected and a kind of corruption will appear in the social system. Sin, vice, and breaking law is like a poisonous food which, willingly or unwillingly, will have some unpleasant effects on man’s system of body and he will encounter its natural reaction: Falsehood causes confidence to be vanished. Treachery of trust disturbs the social communications.

Injustice is always the cause of another injustice. Misuse from freedom will usually lead to dictatorship and dictatorship will lead to bursting. ‘The abandonment of the rights of the deprived’ often creates hostility, and compression of rancour and enmities causes the foundation of society to become unstable. However, any wrong action, whether in a limited measure or a vast one, has often an unpleasant reaction, and one of the commentaries on the holy verse which says:

is this very thing. (This is the natural relation of ‘sin’ and mischief’.) It is understood from the Islamic narrations that many of sins, besides this, have a series of evil sequels with them, the relation of which with those effects is, at least, unknown. For example, some Islamic narrations indicate that ‘breaking off ties of relationship causes life to become short; consuming unlawful things causes heart to become dark; and publicity of fornication causes the destruction of men and decreases the provision. …

The Prophet (S) in a tradition said:

“Fornication has six sequels; three sequels in the world, and three sequels in Hereafter. In the world, it decreases the person’s luminosity, brings death sooner than its proper time, and ceases the sustenance. In the Hereafter, it causes the severity of reckoning, the wrath of Allah, and eternity in Fire.” ⁴

We read in a narration form Imam Sadiq (as) who said:

“Those who die because of sins are more than those who die by a natural death.” ⁵

Similar to this meaning with another form is said in the Qur’an, where it says:

Thus, the Qur’anic word /fasad/ mentioned in verse 41 encompasses the social corruptions, calamities, and negation of blessings. Another attractive point is that the above verse denoted to the fact that one of the philosophies of calamities and pests is their educational effect on human beings. They must receive the fruit of their own deeds so that they awaken from the sleep of negligence and return toward purity and piety. We do not say that all vices and calamities are of this kind, but we say at least a part of them has such a philosophy. There are, of course, some other philosophies for it, too, which will be discussed in their appropriate places.