Al-An'am (The Cattle): (120) And forsake the outward and inward of sin...

Know that when the Almighty explained the prohibitions, He followed it up by commanding their complete abandonment, saying: {And forsake the outward and inward of sin}.

The term "sin" (al-ithm) here refers to that which incurs sin. Scholars have offered two main interpretations for "the outward and inward of sin":

1. The Outward Sin is open adultery, and the Inward Sin is committing it secretly. Al-Dahhak said: The people of Jahiliyyah considered adultery permissible if it was secret. Thus, Allah forbade both the secret and the public act through this verse.
2. This prohibition is general, encompassing all forbidden things. This view is more sound because restricting a general term to a specific instance without evidence is impermissible.

Other interpretations include:

• What you commit openly and what you conceal secretly.
• What you do and what you intend.

Ibn al-Anbari said: It means forsake sin from all its aspects, just as one says, "I did not take from this money little or much," meaning, I did not take from it in any manner whatsoever.

Others stated: The meaning of the verse is the prohibition of sin, clarifying that concealing or hiding it does not remove its status as sin.

It can also be argued that {forsake the outward of sin} means refraining from committing the sin, and then He said {and its inward} to show that the motivation for abandoning that sin should be the fear of Allah, not the fear of people.

Still others said: {The outward of sin} refers to the actions of the limbs, and {its inward} refers to the actions of the hearts, such as arrogance, envy, self-admiration, and wishing ill upon Muslims. This includes belief, resolve, gazing, suspicion, wishing, and blaming others for good deeds. By this, the view of those who claim that what occurs in the heart is not held accountable unless accompanied by action is proven false, as Allah has forbidden all these categories in this verse.

Then the Almighty said: {Indeed, those who earn sin will be recompensed for what they used to acquire}.

The meaning of "acquire" (iqtiraaf) has been previously mentioned. The apparent meaning of the text indicates that the sinner must be punished. However, the Muslims are unanimous that if one repents, they will not be punished. Our scholars (the Ash'arites) added a second condition: that Allah may pardon the sinner and refrain from punishing them, as Allah says: {Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that of whom He wills} (An-Nisa: 48).

(The translation continues with the exegesis of this verse in the subsequent section.)