An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 146 of 176

An-Nisa 4:146

إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ تَابُوا۟ وَأَصْلَحُوا۟ وَٱعْتَصَمُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَأَخْلَصُوا۟ دِينَهُمْ لِلَّهِ فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ مَعَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۖ وَسَوْفَ يُؤْتِ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا

“Except for those who repent, correct themselves, hold fast to Allāh, and are sincere in their religion for Allāh, for those will be with the believers. And Allāh is going to give the believers a great reward.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Even the hypocrite can come home: turning back, repairing, holding fast to Allah and purifying his faith, he stands with the believers in their reward.

A reflection

Four cures for four sicknesses

Illā alladhīna tābū wa-aṣlaḥū wa-iʿtaṣamū bi-llāhi wa-akhlaṣū dīnahum li-llāh. Except those who repent and set things right. Except those who hold fast to Allah and make their religion sincerely His.

After ten ayat describing the hypocrites, the door opens with a single word: illā, except. And notice how precisely the way back is shaped.

One commentator lays out the four steps. First, repentance: leaving what was wrong. Second, setting things right: doing what is good. Third, holding fast to Allah: making His pleasure the aim, not the advantage of the moment. Had their aim been gain, he explains, they would soon have changed again. Fourth, sincerity: that this aim be pure, with nothing else mixed into it.

Now set those four beside the sickness described in the passage. They believed and disbelieved, back and forth (4:137): the cure is tawba, a final turning back. They plotted and spoiled (4:141): the cure is iṣlāḥ, repair. They swung between two sides, attached to nothing (4:143): the cure is iʿtiṣām, holding fast. They prayed to be seen (4:142): the cure is ikhlāṣ, sincerity.

Every wound has its own dressing.

Picture an old carpenter handed a wobbling chair. He does not simply glue it and hope. He turns it upside down and finds each fault. A loose joint, a split rail, a short leg, a cracked seat. Each one gets its own repair. When he sets it upright, it stands.

That is how carefully Allah describes the way home. It is not vague. It is a remedy written for the exact disease. Whatever your own wobble, there is a matching repair, and the door is open to make it.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.