Tafseer of The Ant · An-Naml · 27:90
And whoever comes with an evil deed - their faces will be overturned into the Fire, [and it will be said], "Are you recompensed except for what you used to do?"
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.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his explanation of the word وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ ('whoever comes with an evil deed'): he said: thereby is meant ascribing partners to Allah (shirk).
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — concerning his explanation of مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ ('whoever comes with a good deed'): he said: it is the word of sincere devotion (i.e. the profession of the Oneness of Allah); and وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ : he said: ascribing partners to Allah (shirk).
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — likewise. Ibn Jurayj said: and I heard ʿAṭāʾ say concerning the evil deed: ascribing partners, i.e. in the words وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ .
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Abī al-Maḥjal, on the authority of Abī Maʿshar, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: he used to swear without reservation that مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ means: 'there is no god but Allah', and وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ : ascribing partners (shirk).
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ — likewise.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Jābir ibn Nūḥ related to us, saying: Mūsā ibn ʿUbayda related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb, concerning وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ فَكُبَّتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ فِي النَّارِ ('whoever comes with an evil deed, their faces are cast down into the Fire'): he said: the evil deed is ascribing partners (shirk).
Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Ḥafṣ related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn — and he was a man who frequently undertook military expeditions (ghazwah) — who said: while he was in his retreat, he raised his voice: 'There is no god but Allah, Alone, without partner; to Him belongs the dominion and to Him belongs all praise; He gives life and causes death; in His hand is the good and He is over all things Almighty.' A man answered him: 'What do you say, servant of Allah?' He said: 'I say what you hear.' The man said: 'Truly, those are the words concerning which Allah said: مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ خَيْرٌ مِنْهَا وَهُمْ مِنْ فَزَعٍ يَوْمَئِذٍ آمِنُونَ ('whoever comes with a good deed, for him is something better, and they are secure from the terror on that Day').'
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ — he said: sincere devotion; وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ — he said: ascribing partners (shirk).
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abā Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning the word وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ : he means thereby ascribing partners to Allah (shirk).
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ — he said: ascribing partners (shirk).
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ فَكُبَّتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ فِي النَّارِ : he said: the evil deed is ascribing partners, the disbelief (kufr).
Saʿd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to me, saying: Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar al-ʿAdanī related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Abān related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ : he said: the testimony that there is no god but Allah; وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ : he said: the evil deed is ascribing partners. Al-Ḥakam said: ʿIkrima said: every mention of 'the evil deed' in the Qurʾān concerns ascribing partners (shirk).
As for our explanation of the word فَلَهُ خَيْرٌ مِنْهَا ('for him is something better'), the exegetes are agreed upon it.
Mention of who said that:
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: فَلَهُ خَيْرٌ مِنْهَا — the good reaches him on account of it; Ibn ʿAbbās means thereby: on account of the good deed, the one who performs it attains the good.
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Rawḥ ibn ʿUbāda related to us, saying: Ḥusayn al-Shahīd related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ خَيْرٌ مِنْهَا — he said: for him is something good therein.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: whoever says 'there is no god but Allah', for him is something good therein, better than it.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning فَلَهُ خَيْرٌ مِنْهَا : he said: for him is a share therein.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ خَيْرٌ مِنْهَا — he said: for him is something good therein; that there should be something better than faith (īmān) — that is not so; rather, therein is the good that he receives from it.
Saʿd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ خَيْرٌ مِنْهَا : he said: there is nothing better than 'there is no god but Allah', but for him is something good therein.
Ibn Zayd held concerning this word what Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ خَيْرٌ مِنْهَا : Allah gives him for the one (good deed) ten, and that is something better than it.
As for the reading of وَهُمْ مِنْ فَزَعٍ يَوْمَئِذٍ آمِنُونَ ('and they are secure from the terror on that Day'): the reciters of the Qurʾān differed therein. Some reciters of Baṣra read: 'min fazaʿi yawmaʾidhin' — with 'day' annexed to 'terror' (i.e. with iḍāfa). A group of reciters of Kūfa read: مِنْ فَزَعٍ يَوْمَئِذٍ with tanwīn on 'terror' (without iḍāfa).
The correct position on this in my judgement is that both readings are well-known in the Qurʾānic recitation of the great cities and are close to one another in meaning; whichever reading the reciter chooses, he hits the mark. However, the iḍāfa-reading is my preference, because it concerns a particular terror. And if that is so, it is a definite noun referring back to the words: وَيَوْمَ يُنْفَخُ فِي الصُّورِ فَفَزِعَ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَنْ فِي الأَرْضِ إِلا مَنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ ('and the Day when the trumpet is blown, then those who are in the heavens and on the earth are seized with terror, except whom Allah wills'). If that is so, it is clear that by وَهُمْ مِنْ فَزَعٍ يَوْمَئِذٍ آمِنُونَ is meant the terror already mentioned earlier. And then there is no doubt that it is a definite notion, and that the iḍāfa — when it is a definite notion — is preferable to omitting it; and moreover, when it is read with iḍāfa, it is clearer that it is a report concerning security from all the horrors of that Day, compared to when the iḍāfa is omitted; for when it is without iḍāfa, it appears in most cases that the security applies only to terror at a part of the horrors of that Day.
As for هَلْ تُجْزَوْنَ إِلا مَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ('are you recompensed except for what you used to do?'): the Most High says: it is said to them: 'Are you, polytheists, recompensed except for what you used to do, now that Allah has cast you upon your faces into the Fire?' — nothing other than the requital for what you did in the worldly life of deeds whereby you provoked your Lord. The words 'it is said to them' are omitted, because the text sufficiently indicates it.
