Monday, 11 May 2026 (24 Dhuʻl-Qiʻdah 1447 AH)
[Question]: On the view that the major sins nullify deeds: if a believer commits a major sin and then repents, do the good deeds he had done before the sin return to him, or do they not return?
And if you say that they do return, then it would follow that if there were two believers who both grew up upon obedience to Allah at the same time, then one of them sinned and then repented, it would follow that the two of them would be equal in reward and rank – and that is clearly false. So what is the answer to this issue? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer: On the view that the good deeds return, it does not follow that the two of them are equal, since the interposition of sin in the case of one of them and not the other is a differentiating factor.
As for whether the good deeds of the repentant one return to him or not, we have no way to make a definitive statement and cut off (all doubt) in this matter. The evidences are not explicit on that, and the intellect deems it possible… and deems it possible…
And there is nothing far-fetched in their returning, in view of the vastness of the mercy of the Most Merciful and the vastness of His bounty, pardon, generosity, and richness. When the sinner repents from his sin, He, exalted is He, expiates his sin and forgives it for him as though it had not been. When He, exalted is He, expiates it and forgives it, then indeed He, glorified is He, expiates its traces and its consequences; and nullification (iḥbāṭ) is among the traces and consequences of the sin. So the closer (view) is that when He, exalted is He, forgives the sin, He pardons its traces and expiates them as though they had never been.
Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.3