Tafseer of The Ant · An-Naml · 27:89
Whoever comes [at Judgement] with a good deed will have better than it, and they, from the terror of that Day, will be safe.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah the Exalted says: مَنْ جَاءَ — "whoever comes to Allah" — with His oneness (tawḥīd) and belief in Him, and with the pronouncement of lā ilāha illā Allāh out of full conviction of his heart — فَلَهُ — "for him is" — on account of this good deed with Allah — خَيرٌ — "something better" — on the Day of Resurrection. That better thing is that Allah grants him, in return for it, مِنْهَا the Garden (janna), and that He grants him safety مِنْ فَزَعٍ — from the terror of the Great Cry: the blast into the Ṣūr. وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ — that is to say: whoever, on the day he meets his Lord, comes to Him with the ascription of partners to Him (shirk) and with the rejection of His oneness — فَكُبَّتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ — "their faces are cast down" — into the Fire of Hell (jahannam).
In accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes spoke.
Mention of those who said this:
Muḥammad ibn Khalaf al-ʿAsqalānī related to me, saying: al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb al-Bujalī related to us, saying: I heard Abā Zurʿa, who said: Abū Hurayra said — Yaḥyā said: I think he had it from the Prophet ﷺ — he said: مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ خَيْرٌ مِنْهَا وَهُمْ مِنْ فَزَعٍ يَوْمَئِذٍ آمِنُونَ — he said: that is lā ilāha illā Allāh. وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ فَكُبَّتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ فِي النَّارِ — he said: that is the ascription of partners (shirk).
Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Masrūqī related to us, saying: Abū Yaḥyā al-Ḥammānī related to us, on the authority of al-Naḍr ibn ʿArabī, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ خَيْرٌ مِنْهَا وَهُمْ مِنْ فَزَعٍ يَوْمَئِذٍ آمِنُونَ — he said: whoever pronounced lā ilāha illā Allāh. وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ فَكُبَّتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ فِي النَّارِ — he said: with the ascription of partners (shirk).
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ خَيْرٌ مِنْهَا — he said: whoever pronounced lā ilāha illā Allāh. وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ — that is the ascription of partners (shirk).
