Surah Muhammad Tafseer

Nullifying the Disbelievers' Deeds and the Command to chase Them

Allah says,

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَصَدُّوا عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَشَاقُّوا الرَّسُولَ

مِن بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الهُدَى لَن يَضُرُّوا اللَّهَ شَيْيًا

وَسَيُحْبِطُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ

Verily, those who disbelieve, and hinder from the path of Allah, and oppose the Messenger, after the guidance has been clearly shown to them, they will not harm Allah in the least, but He will make their deeds fruitless,

Allah then informs about those who disbelieve, obstruct others from the path of Allah, oppose the Messenger and contend with him, and revert from the faith after guidance has become clear to them. He indicates that those people can never harm Allah in the least, and rather they only harm themselves and become losers on the Day of Resurrection. He will nullify their deeds. Allah will not reward them even the weight of a mosquito (i.e., the smallest thing) for any good that they did before their apostasy, but would instead totally invalidate and destroy it. Their apostasy wipes away their good deeds entirely, just as the good deeds would normally wipe away the evil deeds.

Imam Ahmad Ibn Nasr Al-Marwazi reported in Kitab As-Salah (the Book of Prayer) that Abu Al-`Aliyah said,

"The Prophet's Companions used to think that no sin would harm a person who says `La ilaha illallah,' just as no good deed would benefit a person who joins partners with Allah. So Allah revealed,

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ امَنُوا أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ وَلَاا تُبْطِلُوا أَعْمَالَكُمْ