Surah An-Nisa, Verse 111 and 112

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*Surah An-Nisa, Verse 111:*

وَمَن يَكْسِبْ إِثْمًا فَإِنَّمَا يَكْسِبُهُ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِهِ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا

And whoever earns sin, he earns it only against himself. And Allah is Ever All-Knowing, All-Wise.

*COMMENTARY*

Kasaba = to earn, to gain, to work for something valuable, to lay up a provision for the future life. We do a day's labour to earn our livelihood: so in a spiritual sense, whatever good or evil we do in this life, earns us good or evil in the life to come. In verses 110-112 three cases are considered:

1. If we do ill and repent, Allāh will forgive;

2. If we do ill and do not repent: thinking that we can hide it, we are wrong; nothing is hidden from Allāh, and we shall suffer the full consequences in the life to come, for we can never evade our personal responsibility:

3. If we do ill, great or small, and impute it to another, our original responsibility for the ill remains, but we add to it something else; for we tie round our necks the guilt of falsehood, which converts even our minor fault into a great sin, and in any case brands us even in this life with shame and ignominy.

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*Surah An-Nisa, Verse 112:*

وَمَن يَكْسِبْ خَطِيئَةً أَوْ إِثْمًا ثُمَّ يَرْمِ بِهِ بَرِيئًا فَقَدِ احْتَمَلَ بُهْتَانًا وَإِثْمًا مُّبِينًا

And whoever earns a fault or a sin and then throws it on to someone innocent, he has indeed burdened himself with falsehood and a manifest sin.