An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 123 of 176

An-Nisa 4:123

لَّيْسَ بِأَمَانِيِّكُمْ وَلَآ أَمَانِىِّ أَهْلِ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ ۗ مَن يَعْمَلْ سُوٓءًا يُجْزَ بِهِۦ وَلَا يَجِدْ لَهُۥ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ وَلِيًّا وَلَا نَصِيرًا

“It [i.e., Paradise] is not [obtained] by your wishful thinking nor by that of the People of the Scripture. Whoever does a wrong will be recompensed for it, and he will not find besides Allāh a protector or a helper.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Salvation is not decided by anyone's wishful claims, ours or others'; whoever does wrong meets its recompense, and no one but Allah can protect him.

A reflection

'Your wishes' comes first

Many early commentators report the scene behind this ayah. Muslims and some People of the Scripture were boasting to each other. One side said: our prophet came before yours, and our book before yours, so we are closer to Allah. The Muslims answered: our prophet is the last of the prophets, and our book judges the books before it.

Then the ayah came, and it judged both sides at once. Laysa bi-amāniyyikum: it is not by your wishes. Wa-lā amāniyyi ahli al-kitāb: nor by the wishes of the People of the Scripture.

Notice the order. On this reading, 'your wishes', the Muslims' own, are named first.

One classical commentator draws out the principle. Religion is not a matter of adornment or wishing. Not everyone who claims something gets it by claiming. Not everyone who says 'I am in the right' is heard, until he has proof from Allah. What counts is obeying Allah and following what He sent through His messengers.

That is a mirror before it is a verdict. It is easy to read 'not by wishes' as a word about other people. The ayah turns it on us first.

Picture a man who spends his evenings writing long online posts proving that his community alone is saved. Next door, his elderly neighbour's bins have not been taken in for a month. He has not noticed. His certainty is enormous. His deeds are thin.

The ayah does not ask whose label is best. It asks: what have you done? A label carries no one across the bridge. Deeds do, by Allah's mercy.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.