Tafsir of An-Nisa' 4:123

"It is not by your wishful thinking, nor..."

The pronoun refers to "the promise of God." That is: the reward promised by God is not attained by your wishful thinking, nor by the wishful thinking of the People of the Book.

The address is directed to the Muslims, for none desires the promise of God except one who believes in Him. The People of the Book are mentioned alongside them because they share with them the belief in God’s promise.

Masruq and al-Suddi stated: "It is regarding the Muslims." Al-Hasan said: "Faith is not by wishful thinking; rather, it is what settles in the heart and is verified by deeds. There were people distracted by the wish for forgiveness until they left the world without a single good deed, saying: 'We think well of God.' They lied; had they thought well of God, they would have performed good deeds for Him."

It is said that the Muslims and the People of the Book boasted to one another. The People of the Book said: "Our Prophet came before yours, and our Book before yours." The Muslims said: "We are more worthy than you; our Prophet is the Seal of the Prophets, and our Book judges over the books that came before it." Thus, this was revealed.

It is also possible that the address is to the polytheists, due to their saying: "If the matter is as these people claim, we shall certainly be better than them and in a better state," as in: "I will surely be given wealth and children" (Maryam: 77) and "I will surely have the best with Him" (Fussilat: 50). The People of the Book used to say: "We are the sons of God and His beloved ones," and "The Fire will not touch us except for a few numbered days." This is supported by the mention of the polytheists preceding this verse. Mujahid also held that the address is to the polytheists.

"Whoever does evil will be recompensed for it" and "Whoever does righteous deeds..."

This follows the mention of the wishful thinking of the People of the Book, similar to His saying: "Yes, whoever earns evil and his sin has encompassed him" (al-Baqarah: 81), and His saying: "And those who believe and do righteous deeds" following His saying: "And they said, 'The Fire will not touch us except for a few numbered days'" (al-Baqarah: 80).

When God invalidated wishful thinking and established that the entire matter is bound to deeds—that whoever improves his deeds is the winner, and whoever corrupts his deeds is the ruined—the matter became clear and manifest. It became necessary to abandon wishful thinking, cut off vain desires, and turn toward righteous deeds. Yet, it is eloquent, but ears do not grasp it, and minds do not attend to it.

If you ask: What is the difference between the first "min" (in man ya'mal) and the second? I say: The first is for partiality (taba'ud). He meant: "Whoever does some righteous deeds," because no one is capable of performing all righteous deeds due to varying circumstances. One only performs what is his duty and within his capacity; how many a legally responsible person has no Hajj, no Jihad, no Zakat, and for whom prayer is suspended in certain circumstances? The second "min" is for clarifying the ambiguity in "whoever does."

If you ask: Why are the righteous singled out as not being wronged, while others are the same in that regard? I say: There are two aspects:

1. The pronoun in "and they will not be wronged" refers to both the doers of evil and the doers of good.
2. Mentioning it for one group implies it for the other, as both are recompensed for their deeds with no disparity between them. Furthermore, "wronging" the evildoer would mean increasing his punishment, and it is known that the Most Merciful of the merciful does not increase the punishment of a criminal, so mentioning it was unnecessary. As for the doer of good, he receives a reward and the consequences of that reward from God’s bounty, which are in the status of the reward. It is possible that some of that bounty could be withheld, as it is not mandatory. Thus, the negation of "wronging" serves as an indication that no reduction in bounty will occur.