Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 160 of 165

Al-An'am 6:160

مَن جَآءَ بِٱلْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُۥ عَشْرُ أَمْثَالِهَا ۖ وَمَن جَآءَ بِٱلسَّيِّئَةِ فَلَا يُجْزَىٰٓ إِلَّا مِثْلَهَا وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ

“Whoever comes [on the Day of Judgement] with a good deed will have ten times the like thereof [to his credit], and whoever comes with an evil deed will not be recompensed except the like thereof; and they will not be wronged.[360]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Bring one good deed and receive ten; bring one bad deed and receive only its like: grace on one side, justice on the other.

A reflection

Not an accountant's ledger

During Ramadan, a twelve-year-old makes a spreadsheet. Column A: good deed. Column B: points. He asks his father whether stacking the dishwasher scores more than reading a page of Quran. His father laughs, and then stops laughing, because he realises he has been doing the same thing for thirty years without the spreadsheet.

Most of us carry this ayah as a points system. One good deed, ten points. One bad deed, one point against. God becomes an accountant, and religion becomes a race to keep the balance positive.

The commentaries read it otherwise. One says the multiplying of good deeds is grace, and the requiting of bad deeds is justice. Two different things, not one tariff. Another notes that ten is the least that is promised. Elsewhere the promise is seven hundred, and even reward 'without measure'. A third suggests that 'ten' here may simply mean many, as someone says, 'I'll repay you tenfold'.

The Prophet ﷺ described the generosity behind it. Allah has written down good and bad deeds. Whoever intends a good deed and does not do it, Allah writes it with Him as a complete good deed. If he does it, He writes it as ten good deeds, up to seven hundred times, up to many times more. Whoever intends a bad deed and does not do it, it is written as a complete good deed. If he does it, it is written as one (Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim). One narration in Sahih Muslim ends: and none is destroyed before Allah except one who insists on destruction.

An accountant does not count your intentions as payment. An accountant does not turn your resisted wrong into credit. This ayah is not a ledger. It is a door held wide open, by a Lord who looks for reasons to give.

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.