The Sovereign (Al-Mulk): (12) Indeed, those who fear...

There are two interpretations regarding this:

The First Interpretation: It refers to those who fear their Lord while they are in the Abode of Obligation (Dār al-Taklīf), where they engage in theoretical knowledge and require striving against Satan and repelling doubts through the path of rational inference (Istidlāl).

The Second Interpretation: This indicates that the person is pious (muttaqī) concerning all sins. This is because whoever avoids God's prohibitions in private will inevitably avoid them when people see him.

Our scholars used this verse as proof for the cessation of the threat (punishment) against the persistently sinful (Fussāq). They argued: The verse indicates that whoever is described with this fear (Khashyah) has a great reward. If this person comes on the Day of Resurrection still characterized by sinfulness alongside this fear, then both conditions are met.

1. Either he is rewarded and then punished, which is invalid by consensus.
2. Or he is punished and then transferred to the Abode of Reward, which is the desired outcome (for the believer who fears God).

Know that when the Almighty mentioned the warning for the disbelievers and the promise for the believers in the third person (absentee form, Mughayabah), He then returned to addressing the disbelievers directly, saying: