The 365 · Verses · Day 122 · Repentance
Good deeds erase bad deeds. The Prophet ﷺ said: this is for all my Ummah. Five prayers like a river washing five times daily.
Qur'an Q 11:114
وَأَقِمِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ طَرَفَىِ ٱلنَّهَارِ وَزُلَفًا مِّنَ ٱلَّيْلِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱلْحَسَنَـٰتِ يُذْهِبْنَ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ذِكْرَىٰ لِلذَّٰكِرِينَ
“[Prophet], keep up the prayer at both ends of the day, and during parts of the night, for good things drive bad away, this is a reminder for those who are aware. (Abdel Haleem)”
Svenska: Och förrätta bönen vid dagens början och dess slut och under nattens första timmar, de goda handlingarna driver bort de dåliga. Detta är en påminnelse för dem som vill minnas [Gud]! (Knut Bernström)
The story
Ibn Kathir reads this verse with its asbāb al-nuzūl: a man kissed a woman who was not his relative or wife, then came to the Prophet ﷺ in regret. Allah revealed this verse. The man asked: 'O Messenger of Allah, is this only for me?' The Prophet ﷺ said: 'It is for all of my Ummah, all of them.' (Bukhārī 526.) Ibn Kathir cites the Prophet's ﷺ hadith of the river: 'If there were a river at the door of one of you in which he bathed five times every day, would there be any dirt left on him?' They said: 'No.' He said: 'This is the parable of the five daily prayers; through them Allah erases sins.' (Bukhārī 528, Muslim 667.) Cross-ref: 'Jumuʿah-to-Jumuʿah, Ramaḍān-to-Ramaḍān erase what is between them as long as the major sins are avoided.' (Muslim 233.)
In the language
الْحَسَنَاتِ (al-ḥasanāt, 'the good deeds') is the plural definite, referring to the structural category. يُذْهِبْنَ (yudhhibna, 'drive away') is from dh-h-b, the root of going, departure. السَّيِّئَاتِ (as-sayyiʾāt, 'the bad deeds') is the plural definite. ذِكْرَىٰ لِلذَّاكِرِينَ (dhikrā li-dh-dhākirīn) closes the verse with an addressee-restriction: the reminder reaches those who choose to remember.
Why this verse
Q 11:114 names the structural principle: good deeds erase bad deeds. The pairing is direct: prayer at both ends of the day and parts of the night; these prayers and the broader category of good deeds drive bad deeds away. The verse is the believer's structural relief from the despair-cycle.
Bring it into today
When you are aware of a recent bad deed, do not despair. Instead, immediately do a good deed: a sadaqah, a sunnah prayer, a kind word to someone, a recitation of Quran. The verse names the structural mechanism. Build the reflex: bad deed → immediate good deed.
A reflection to carry
The verse is the believer's structural relief from the despair-cycle. The diseased soul that focuses only on its bad deeds is corrected by this verse: the bad deeds are not the final accounting; the good deeds drive them away. The accounting is dynamic, not static. Each good deed performed today reduces the weight of bad deeds previously accumulated. The believer who internalizes this verse stops staring at his sins and starts increasing his good deeds.
Read the longer reflection
Ibn Kathir's hadith of the man who kissed-but-did-not-do-zinā is operationally severe. The man came confessing; Allah revealed this verse; the man asked: 'Is this for me alone?'; the Prophet ﷺ said: 'For all of my Ummah.' The structural inclusivity: every believer who has bad deeds (every believer) has access to the structural eraser of good deeds. The qualification (Muslim 233): the erasure operates within the boundary of avoiding major sins. Major sins require explicit tawbah; minor sins are erased by accumulated good deeds.
Sources: Ibn Kathir. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
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