لاَ أُضِيعُ عَمَلَ عَامِلٍ{“Never will I allow to be lost the work of [any] worker among you}: Allah (swt) says: “The work of a worker”, not: The speech of a person. The issue needs actions, Allah (swt) answered this sincere supplication of the believers who asked Allah (swt) for forgiveness and atonement of bad deeds by:
أَنِّي لاَ أُضِيعُ عَمَلَ عَامِلٍ مِّنكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنثَى بَعْضُكُم مِّن بَعْضٍ Never will I allow to be lost the work of [any] worker among you, whether male or female}: The answer was about an action not the speech, so there must be proof when you supplicate, action must be done, Islam does not accept speech from a person without a work, as the Prophet (saws) said:
“Faith is what settles in the heart and is confirmed by action”[1]
There must be no separation between rituals and purposes, and if rituals do not lead to goals, they will only keep you distant from Allah (swt), as the Prophet (saws) said:
“Whoever his prayer does not forbid him from shameful and wrongdoing, he will only increase his distance from Allah”[2]
“There are people who fast and get nothing from their fast except hunger, and there are those who pray and get nothing from their prayer but a sleepless night.”[3]
مِّن ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنثَى {whether male or female}: There is equality; Because the female is not treated with injustice, women are honored and inviolable, and we are now at the conclusion of Surat (Al Imran) we will come directly to Surat (An-Nisa) and you will find in its verses the rights of women in Islam.
بَعْضُكُم مِّن بَعْضٍ {you are of one another.}: There are rights, duties and responsibilities, and there is equality between men and women in regards of complementarity of the roles that Allah (swt) created both of them for.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
{O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.} (Al-Hujuraat: 13)
Let not someone say: The man is preferred over the woman, or the woman is preferred over man. The preference between man and woman and between all people is only by good deeds, and it is by piety.
فَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُواْ وَأُخْرِجُواْ مِن دِيَارِهِمْ{So those who emigrated or were evicted from their homes}: So there are those who are at the forefront. These are the first emigrants who were expelled from their homes and migrated from Mecca to Medina, and they were forcibly evicted from their homes.
وَأُوذُواْ فِي سَبِيلِي وَقَاتَلُواْ وَقُتِلُواْ {were harmed in My cause or fought or were killed}: The matter was only because they said: Our Lord is Allah, for that Quraysh and the polytheists fought them at that time, and they were harmed, fought and killed in the Battle of Badr and in the Battle of Uhud, and these verses came after the Battle of Uhud.
لأُكَفِّرَنَّ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ وَلأُدْخِلَنَّهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ ثَوَابًا مِّن عِندِ اللّهِ {I will surely remove from them their misdeeds, and I will surely admit them to gardens beneath which rivers flow as reward from Allah,}: The reward for this action is gardens beneath which rivers flow, and heaven (Jannah) in Arabic is derived from the word which means covered up by the abundance of trees.
When Allah (swt) describes the gardens, He brings to the human mind what is related to the world of the unseen. The human mind cannot comprehend what happens after death because it has been created and prepared to receive life, but after life, things will be different, and the human mind will be different from its recent condition. In other verses, Allah (swt) says:
مَّثَلُ الْجَنَّةِ الَّتِي وُعِدَ الْمُتَّقُونَ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ أُكُلُهَا دَآئِمٌ وِظِلُّهَا تِلْكَ عُقْبَى الَّذِينَ اتَّقَواْ وَّعُقْبَى الْكَافِرِينَ النَّارُ
{The example of Paradise, which the righteous have been promised, is [that] beneath it rivers flow. Its fruit is lasting, and its shade. That is the consequence for the righteous, and the consequence for the disbelievers is the Fire.} (Ar-Ra’d: 35)
Allah (swt) comes with a close example of what humans perceive in a sensual way in the life of this world. As for the essence, man cannot know it until after death, and after he reaches to the gardens of eternity through his work and Allah’s mercies.
وَاللّهُ عِندَهُ حُسْنُ الثَّوَابِ{and Allah has with Him the best reward.”}: What is with Allah is different from what is with humans, you think of what is with humans according to human standards, but what is with Allah (swt) is according to His (swt) standards
[1] Musanaf ibn Abi Shaybah: Chapter of Faith, Hadith No. 30351.
[2] Al-Mu’jam al-Kabeer of Tabarani: Section of the Hadiths narrated by Abdullah ibn Abbas, Hadith No. 11047.
[3] Sunan ibn Majah: Chapter of Fasting, Hadith No.1690.