Tafseer of The Dunes · Al-Ahqaf · 46:16
Those are the ones from whom We will accept the best of what they did and overlook their misdeeds, [their being] among the companions of Paradise. [That is] the promise of truth which they had been promised.
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement, the Exalted: أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ نَتَقَبَّلُ عَنْهُمْ أَحْسَنَ مَا عَمِلُوا وَنَتَجَاوَزُ عَنْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ فِي أَصْحَابِ الْجَنَّةِ وَعْدَ الصِّدْقِ الَّذِي كَانُوا يُوعَدُونَ (They are those from whom We accept the best of what they did, and whose evil deeds We overlook, among the inhabitants of the Garden; the true promise that they used to be promised) (16).
He, exalted is His mention, says: These, whose description is this description, they are those from whom the best of what they did of good works in the worldly life is accepted, so that He rewards them for it and recompenses them for it. وَنَتَجاوَزُ عَنْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ — He says: and He overlooks for them the evil deeds of their works which they committed in the worldly life, so that He does not punish them for it. فِي أَصْحَابِ الْجَنَّةِ — He says: We do that with them, just as We do that with the inhabitants of the Garden and its people, who are truly its people.
As Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam ibn Abān, on the authority of al-Ghaṭrīf, on the authority of Jābir ibn Zayd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of the Prophet, Allah's peace and blessings be upon him, on the authority of the Trustworthy Spirit (al-Rūḥ al-Amīn), he said: "The good deeds and the evil deeds of the servant are brought, and they are set off against one another; then if a good deed remains, Allah expands it for him in the Garden." He said: and I entered upon Yazdād and he narrated the same report. He said: I said: and if the good deed is used up? He said: أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ نَتَقَبَّلُ عَنْهُمْ أَحْسَنَ مَا عَمِلُوا وَنَتَجاوَزُ عَنْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ ... the verse.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: Abū Bakr called ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with them both, and said to him: I charge you with a charge that you must observe: indeed, Allah has in the night a right that He does not accept in the day, and in the day a right that He does not accept in the night. Indeed, there is no voluntary deed (nāfila) for anyone until he has completed the obligatory deed (farīḍa). Indeed, the scales of those whose scales weigh heavy on the Day of Resurrection weigh heavy only through their following of the truth in the worldly life, and through that having been heavy upon them; and it is fitting that a scale in which only the truth is placed should weigh heavy. And the scales of those whose scales weigh light on the Day of Resurrection weigh light through their following of falsehood in the worldly life, and through that having been light upon them; and it is fitting that a scale in which only falsehood is placed should weigh light.
Do you not see that Allah mentions the people of the Garden according to their best deeds, so that one would say: where does my work reach the work of these? And that is because Allah, mighty and exalted is He, overlooked their worst deeds and did not make them public. Do you not see that Allah mentions the people of the Fire according to their worst deeds, so that one would say: I am better in deed than these? And that is because Allah returned to them their best deeds. Do you not see that Allah, mighty and exalted is He, sent down the verse of severity alongside the verse of relief, and the verse of relief alongside the verse of severity, so that the believer would be hopeful and fearful, so that he would not cast himself by his own hand into destruction, and so that he would not harbor toward Allah a wish in which he would wish from Allah something other than the truth.
The reciters differed over the recitation of His statement أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ نَتَقَبَّلُ عَنْهُمْ أَحْسَنَ مَا عَمِلُوا وَنَتَجاوَزُ . Most of the reciters of Medina and Basra and some of the reciters of Kufa recited it as (يُتَقَبَّلُ وَيُتَجَاوَزُ) with a ḍamma on the yāʾ of both, in the passive form whose agent is not named, and with (أحْسَنُ) in the nominative. And most of the reciters of Kufa recited it as (نَتَقَبَّلُ وَنَتَجَاوَزُ) with the nūn and a fatḥa upon it, and (أحسنَ) in the accusative, with the meaning of a report from Allah, praised be His praise, about Himself that He does that with them,
and as a referring-back of the statement to His statement وَوَصَّيْنَا الإِنْسَانَ (And We have enjoined upon man): "and We accept from them the best of what they did and We overlook". And they are two well-known recitations, both correct in meaning; with whichever of the two the reciter recites, he has done right.
And His statement وَعْدَ الصِّدْقِ الَّذِي كَانُوا يُوعَدُونَ — He says: Allah has promised them this promise, the promise of truth concerning which there is no doubt that He will fulfill it toward them, which Allah, the Exalted, used to promise them in the worldly life. And He put وَعْدَ الصِّدْقِ in the accusative, because it is a verbal noun (maṣdar) arising from His statement نَتَقَبَّلُ عَنْهُمْ أَحْسَنَ مَا عَمِلُوا وَنَتَجاوَزُ عَنْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ . And the verbal noun of "waʿada waʿdan" was derived only from this statement, because His statement يَتَقَبَّلُ عَنْهُمْ — وَيَتَجاوَزُ is a promise from Allah to them; therefore He said: "the promise of truth", in agreement with that meaning.
