Website: www.aaiil.uk

Doing good deeds is of the greatest importance
for both Muslims and non-Muslims

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 17 July 2026

“It will not be in accordance with your vain desires nor the vain desires of the People of the Book. Whoever does evil, will be recom­pensed for it and will not find for himself besides Allah a friend or a helper. And whoever does good deeds, whether male or female, and is a believer — these will enter the Garden, and they will not be dealt with unjustly in the least.” — ch. 4, An-Nisā’, v. 123–124

لَیۡسَ بِاَمَانِیِّکُمۡ وَ لَاۤ اَمَانِیِّ اَہۡلِ الۡکِتٰبِ ؕ مَنۡ یَّعۡمَلۡ سُوۡٓءًا یُّجۡزَ بِہٖ ۙ وَ لَا یَجِدۡ لَہٗ مِنۡ دُوۡنِ اللّٰہِ وَلِیًّا وَّ لَا نَصِیۡرًا ﴿۱۲۳﴾  وَ مَنۡ یَّعۡمَلۡ مِنَ الصّٰلِحٰتِ مِنۡ ذَکَرٍ اَوۡ اُنۡثٰی وَ ہُوَ مُؤۡمِنٌ فَاُولٰٓئِکَ یَدۡخُلُوۡنَ الۡجَنَّۃَ وَ لَا یُظۡلَمُوۡنَ نَقِیۡرًا ﴿۱۲۴﴾

“Or do those who commit evil deeds think that We shall make them like those who believe and do good — their life and their death being equal? Evil is what they judge!” —ch. 45, Al-Jāthiyah, v. 21

اَمۡ حَسِبَ الَّذِیۡنَ اجۡتَرَحُوا السَّیِّاٰتِ اَنۡ نَّجۡعَلَہُمۡ کَالَّذِیۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا وَ عَمِلُوا الصّٰلِحٰتِ ۙ سَوَآءً مَّحۡیَاہُمۡ وَ مَمَاتُہُمۡ ؕ سَآءَ مَا یَحۡکُمُوۡنَ ﴿٪۲۱﴾

The requirement for Muslims to do good deeds is given such a primary importance in the Quran that sometimes it is mentioned before the requirement to believe, i.e. to have īmān. As you know, the Quran very frequently refers to Muslims as “those who believe and do good deeds”. This expression occurs about fifty times in the Quran. This itself conveys to us the importance of doing good deeds, since it is placed along­side having belief in Islam as our religion. It indicates that doing good cannot be separated from having faith in our hearts that Islam is the true religion. Now I want to look at some verses which place the doing of good deeds even before belief and which tell us that, as regards the unbelievers in Islam, what Allah disapproves of about them are their bad deeds rather than their wrong beliefs.

There are some hadith from which people think that anyone who acknowledges that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah will enter the garden of heaven (jannat) and that Allah has forbidden for him the fire of hell (Sahih Muslim, ‘Faith’, ch. 10). It is thought that such a person will enter jannat regard­less of his deeds, however bad these may have been. The first passage I recited starts by saying that this entry into jannat and being saved from Allah’s punishment does not take place according to people’s own fancies and wishes. The People of the Book, by which the Quran means in particular the Jews and the Chris­tians, had come to think that merely by belonging to their religions they would be forgiven all misdeeds by God and granted His favours. Muslims, unfortunately, came to hold a similar notion about themselves. The Quran here calls these ideas as their own wishful thinking. It then lays down the rule that those who do evil will meet with bad conse­quen­ces, as bad as the severity of their misdeeds. This is regardless of who they are. Similarly, whoever does good deeds, whether male or female, will receive benefit from God.

This verse says that those who receive reward from God are: “whoever does good deeds, whether male or female, and is a believer”. Does this mean only Muslims? First please note that this verse certainly does not say that whoever is an unbeliever will be punished because of his unbelief and whoever is a believer will be rewarded because of his belief. There is no such teaching in Islam. The point being stressed by this passage is the importance of doing good deeds, so much so that a believer who fails to do good deeds will not receive any benefit from God just because of his belief, and of course a believer who commits bad deeds is liable to be punished. By adding “and is a believer” does not exclude non-Muslims who do good deeds; rather, it informs us that to do good deeds to the highest and the utmost level requires having belief in the teachings of the Quran. Elsewhere the Quran says plainly about non-Muslims that:

“And whatever good they do, they will not be denied it.” (3:115)

The second passage I recited says that God does not treat equally those who commit evil deeds and “those who believe and do good”, neither on this world nor in the hereafter. Again, the distinction here is between those who do evil and those who do good. It is not non-Muslims on one side and Muslims on the other. It is the evil-doers on one side and those who do good from among the believers on the other side. In another place the Quran says:

“And the blind and the seeing are not alike, nor those who believe and do good and the evildoers.” (40:58)

Those who believe and do good are likened to those who have sight, who can see the right path through the guidance given to them. The evil-doers are likened to the blind who cannot see where they are going, and are therefore treading dangerous paths. Again, this verse is not contrasting Muslims with non-Muslims. It is clearly conveying that, firstly, Islam requires Mus­lims to do good; it is not sufficient just to believe. Secondly, what Islam condemns in unbelievers is not so much their wrong beliefs, merely ideas that they hold, but the consequences of their wrong beliefs which are leading them to commit acts of evil. Another verse runs as follows:

“Whoever disbelieves will be responsible for his disbelief (kufr); and whoever does good, such people prepare (good) for their own souls.” (30:44)

Here, again, the opposite of kufr is said to be the doing of good. The way to avoid being a kafir is not to go around declaring “I am a Muslim”, but to do the good deeds required of a Muslim.

You must have heard about hadith reports which recommend that Surah al-Kahf, ch. 18, should be recited on Fridays. Let us look at its last verse. The Holy Prophet Muhammad is ordered to declare to people:

“I am only a mortal like you — it is revealed to me that your God is one God. So whoever hopes to meet his Lord, he should do good deeds, and make no one a partner (with God) in the service of his Lord.” (18:110)

The root and the crux of Islam is summed up in these few words. The Holy Prophet is only a mortal like other humans. The same laws and rules of physical and spiritual development apply to him which apply to all humans. So he can be a model to others. He has come with the message that the God Who created everything is only one God. The desire of a human should be to meet his Lord (liqā’a rabbi-hī). This means that the aim of a religious person should not be merely to obey some rules prescribed by religion and carry out some rituals of worship. It should be to come into contact with God, even in this life.

Then the way to do that is described. The first and the most important step is to do good deeds; otherwise one can never meet God. Secondly, the good deeds must be done without any motive of any gain, earning praise from other people, or pleasing any idol of stone, or dead person, or any being who is taken for a god. Any service done in the way of God, whether good deeds or prayer and worship, must not be in the name of anyone other than God. A person who does good deeds sincerely, with reference only to God, and none else, shall achieve the ultimate goal of achieving closeness to God.

This verse also explains what is meant in the first passage that I recited by the words: “whoever does good deeds, whether male or female, and is a believer”. This expression also occurs two more times in the Quran (16:97 and 40:40). “Believer” here means the same as what the verse in ch. 18 meant by saying: “make no one a partner (with God) in the service of his Lord”. So those words mean: whoever does good deeds, whether male or female, and does them purely for God alone, and not to gain something from someone else.

It is repeatedly stated in the Quran that God will judge people by their deeds and actions, as opposed to their beliefs, claims and titles. The Quran directs Muslims to say to others:

“Do you dispute with us about Allah, and He is our Lord and your Lord, and for us are our deeds and for you your deeds; and we are sincere to Him?” (2:139)

What a plain and beautiful statement is this! Allah is the Lord of us Muslims and of all others. He will judge us by our deeds and others by their deeds. Each side gains by doing good and it suffers by doing wrong. There is no point in having a dispute about whose beliefs are right and whose are wrong. It is deeds which show who is right and who is wrong. In another place in the Quran, a quality of true believers is given as follows:

“And when they hear idle talk, they turn aside from it and say: For us are our deeds and for you your deeds. Peace be on you! We do not desire the ignorant.” (28:55)

They don’t get involved in useless, time-wasting arguments with people who are not arguing with knowledge or with a positive and constructive purpose to understand something. Such people behave ignorantly. Believers should say to them that we cannot settle our differences by arguing, so let us be judged by God and by the world through our deeds. A third time the Quran tells Muslims to say to others:

“Allah is our Lord and your Lord. For us are our deeds, and for you your deeds. There is no contention between us and you. Allah will gather us together, and to Him is the eventual coming.” (42:15)

Here Muslims are clearly told to say: “There is no conten­tion (meaning, strife and conflict) between us and you”. The expression “For us are our deeds, and for you your deeds” may have another meaning as well. It may be referring to the fact that each side considers the other to be wrong and wishes to correct them. But we are told to say that neither side should take that desire to an extreme and become overly concerned to correct the other side’s beliefs, behaving as if it will be held responsible if they continue in the wrong path.

In another verse Allah addresses all humanity and says to them:

“For everyone of you We appointed a law and a way. And if Allah had pleased He would have made you a single people, but that He might try you in what He gave you. So vie with one another in good works. To Allah you will all return, so He will inform you of that in which you differed.” (5:48)

Before Islam different religions and traditions had arisen among different nations. Even after Islam, which came for all the world, those different religions and laws still continue. Allah did not make all humanity into one people in these terms. But this is a test for them: do they fight and bicker or do something positive? That positive response is to try to outdo one another in good deeds, because all their religions teach the doing of good. This verse also shows that everyone’s good deeds, whether Muslims or non-Muslims, are rewarded by God because God is advising followers of different religions to try to excel one another in good deeds, so He must reward whoever of them does good deeds.

So may Allah enable us and everyone else to take care of their own deeds, not rest content that their religion is true, nor to be overly worried about the deeds of others — Ameen.

Website: www.aaiil.uk