3. Sura al-Imran

Medina 89 [200 verses]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَمَا يَفْعَلُواْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَلَن يُكْفَرُوْهُ وَاللّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِالْمُتَّقِينَ ﴿١١٥﴾

3: 115. Of the good that they do, nothing will be rejected of them;

for Allah knoweth well those that do right.

Other Versions:

3: 115

Asad And whatever good they do, they shall never be denied the reward thereof: for, God has full knowledge of those who are conscieous of Him.

Pickthall And whatever good they do, they will not be denied the meed thereof. Allah is Aware of those who ward off (evil).

Transliteration Wa ma_ yaf'alu_ min khairin falay yukfaru_h(u), walla_hu'alimum bil muttaqin(a).

[ Ruby’s note – This is a key verse on which not much commentary is available. The Quran is proclaiming that no good work from the non-believers [not believing Muhammad as God’s prophet and follow the Quran.] will be discounted to the least. In spite of that no good work from them would be rejected. Moreover, it is also recognized that righteous people still exist among that group of people. The main thing is that one believes in God and the Hereafter and do good work in this life. Therefore, it is the Message or Truth of God that is more important and above the consideration that one has rejected Muhammad as the Messenger of that truth.

As always the Message is more important than the Messenger. If one understands the Message from the Creator and still belong to another faith and pursues his/her path from another understanding and do not believe that Muhammad is God’s Messenger, he/she still can be righteous and successful before God. This idea of emphasis on God and His Message above a prophet’s recognition as the Messenger is of key importance. Many erroneous and unjust ideas emanate from not understanding and accepting this key idea the Quran is expounding. Here the pronoun “they’ undoubtedly mean those who did not follow the Prophet at that time.]