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Tafsir of An-Nisa' 4:152

Surah An-Nisa' 4:152

ﲂ ﲃ ﲄ ﲅ ﲆ ﲇ ﲈ ﲉ ﲊ ﲋ ﲌ ﲍ ﲎ ﲏ ﲐ ﲑ ﲒ ﲓ

But they who believe in Allah and His messengers and do not discriminate between any of them - to those He is going to give their rewards. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.

Tafsir

Mafatih al-Ghayb

Verse range: 4:152

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| An-Nisā’ (The Women): (152) And those who believe in Allah...

And know that when the Almighty mentioned the warning (to the disbelievers), He followed it up with a promise, saying:

{And those who believe in Allah and His Messengers and do not differentiate between any one of them—those We shall give their rewards. And Allah is Ever Forgiving, Most Merciful.}

In this verse, there are several issues:

Issue 1: The meaning of {and do not differentiate between any one of them}

The reason for saying {and do not differentiate between any one of them}—even though differentiation implies two or more—is that the word aḥad (one/any one) is used for the singular, plural, masculine, and feminine. This is evidenced by two points:

  1. The validity of the exception (Istithnā').
  2. The Almighty's saying: {You are not like any one of the women} (Al-Ahzāb: 32).

Once this is established, the meaning of the verse is: They did not differentiate between two of them or among a group of them.

Issue 2: Proof for Forgiveness and Non-Nullification of Deeds

Our scholars rely on this verse to establish the acceptance of repentance and the non-nullification of deeds. They argue that since Allah promised those who believe in Him and His Messengers that He would give them their rewards, the implication is that He will reward them for that very faith. Otherwise, this verse would not serve as an encouragement toward faith. This necessitates the certainty of non-nullification of deeds, certainty of forgiveness, and certainty of being brought out of the Fire after having been admitted to it.

Issue 3: The Recitation of {We will give them}

‘Āṣim, in the narration of Ḥafṣ, recited it with the letter Yā’ (يُؤْتِيهِمْ), where the pronoun refers back to the name of Allah (He). The rest recited it with the letter Nūn (نُؤْتِيهِمْ), referring to themselves (We). The latter recitation (with Nūn) is preferable for two reasons:

  1. It is more majestic (Afkham).
  2. It corresponds contextually with His saying: {And We have prepared} (Al-Ahzāb: 31).

Issue 4: The meaning of {soon We shall give them their rewards}

The meaning of {soon We shall give them their rewards} is that the giving of the reward is inevitable, even if delayed. The purpose of using sawfa (soon/will) is to emphasize and confirm the promise, not to indicate a literal immediate timing.

Then He said: {And Allah is Ever Forgiving, Most Merciful}. This means that after promising them the reward, He informed them afterward that He will overlook their sins, pardon them, and forgive them.

< {The People of the Scripture ask you to make a descent upon them a book from the sky. Indeed, they asked of Moses what was greater than that, when they said, "Show us Allah clearly." So the thunderbolt seized them for their wrongdoing. Then they took the calf [for worship] after clear signs had come to them. So We pardoned that from them, and We gave Moses a manifest authority. *And We raised the mountain above them for their covenant, and We said to them, "Enter the gate in prostration," and We commanded them, "Do not transgress on the Sabbath," and We took from them a solemn covenant.} >