Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:146
Except for those who repent, correct themselves, hold fast to Allah, and are sincere in their religion for Allah, for those will be with the believers. And Allah is going to give the believers a great reward.
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.
The explanation of the words of Allah: إِلَّا الَّذِينَ تَابُوا وَأَصْلَحُوا وَاعْتَصَمُوا بِاللَّهِ وَأَخْلَصُوا دِينَهُمْ لِلَّهِ فَأُولَئِكَ مَعَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَسَوْفَ يُؤْتِ اللَّهُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا (4:146) [Except those who repent and make amends and hold fast to Allah and make their religion sincerely for Allah; they are the ones who will be with the believers. And Allah will give the believers a tremendous reward]
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is an exception from Allah — the Exalted. He has excepted those who repent of their hypocrisy (nifāq), when they make amends and make their religion sincere for Allah alone, and disengage from the idols and associate-partners, and believe His Messenger — He has excepted them from belonging to those who persist in their hypocrisy until their appointed death overtakes them in the hereafter, and from entering the abodes of Jahannam that are due to them. Rather, the Exalted has promised them that He will allot to them, together with the believers, the place of honor, and will cause them to dwell with them in their abodes in the Janna. And He promised them, as recompense for their repentance, an abundant gift, and said: "And Allah will give the believers a tremendous reward."
Abū Jaʿfar said: The explanation of the verse is therefore: "except those who repent," that is: those who returned to the truth and turned back from their hypocrisy to nothing other than the acknowledgment of the oneness of Allah, the affirmation of His Messenger and of what he brought from his Lord — "and make amends," meaning: and improved their deeds, and so acted according to what Allah commanded them, and fulfilled His obligations, and abstained from what He forbade them, and held back from disobeying Him — "and hold fast to Allah," that is: and clung to the covenant of Allah.
We have already shown previously that "al-iʿtiṣām" means holding fast and clinging. Holding fast to Allah is therefore: clinging to His covenant and His compact, which He has imposed upon His creatures in His Book, namely obedience to Him and the abandonment of disobedience to Him.
— "and make their religion sincerely for Allah," that is: and they made their obedience and their deeds which they perform sincere for Allah, and by them intended Him, and did not perform them for show before people, nor in doubt concerning their religion, nor in doubt whether Allah will indeed call to account for what they have done — to reward the doer of good for his good and the doer of evil for his evil — but rather they performed them in certainty concerning the reward of the doer of good for his good and the requital of the doer of evil for his evil, or that his Lord would be merciful to him and forgive him — drawing near to Allah thereby, seeking thereby the Face of Allah. That is the meaning of "making their religion sincerely for Allah."
Then the Exalted said: "they are the ones who will be with the believers," that is: these, whose characteristic He has described among the hypocrites, after their repentance, their making amends, their holding fast to Allah and the making of their religion sincere — these are with the believers in the Janna, not with the hypocrites who died in their hypocrisy, to whom He has promised the lowest level of the Fire.
Then He said: "And Allah will give the believers a tremendous reward," that is: And Allah will give to these, whose characteristic is this, for their repentance, their making amends, their holding fast to Allah, the making of their religion sincere for Him, and for their faith, a tremendous reward — and that is ranks in the Janna, just as He has given to those who died in hypocrisy abodes in the Fire, namely the lowest thereof. For Allah — the Exalted — has promised His believing servants that He will give them that for their faith, just as He has promised the hypocrites for their hypocrisy what He has mentioned in His Book.
And this statement is the meaning of the statement of Ḥudhayfa ibn al-Yamān, namely that which:
10747 — Ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Wakīʿ related this to us, both of them saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: Ḥudhayfa said: Indeed, people will enter the Janna who were hypocrites! Then ʿAbdallāh said: And what is your knowledge of that? Thereupon Ḥudhayfa became angry, stood up, and went aside. When they dispersed, ʿAlqama passed by him; he called him and said: Indeed, your companion knows that which you have said! Then he recited: "Except those who repent and make amends and hold fast to Allah and make their religion sincerely for Allah; they are the ones who will be with the believers. And Allah will give the believers a tremendous reward."
