The Importance of Accountability: A Warning to Those Who Persist in Sin
WARNING THE DISOBEDIENT
ALLĀH says;
وَقُلِ اعْمَلُواْ فَسَيَرَى اللّهُ عَمَلَكُمْ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالْمُوْمِنُونَ وَسَتُرَدُّونَ إِلَى عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ فَيُنَبِّيُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
And say, Do ˹as you will˺, for ALLĀH will see your deeds, and ˹so will˺ HIS Messenger and the believers. And you will be brought back to the All-Knower of the unseen and the seen. Then HE will inform you of what you used to do.”
"And say" to these hypocrites: "Do ˹as you will˺" and carry on with your falsehood, and do not think that this will be hidden from ALLĀH.
“ALLĀH will see your deeds, and ˹so will˺ HIS Messenger and the believers.” That is, your deeds will inevitably become clearly known “and you will be brought back to the All-Knower of the unseen and the seen. Then HE will inform you of what you used to do.”, both good and bad.
This is a warning and threat to those who persist in falsehood, transgression, misguidance and sin. It may be that what is meant is: no matter what you do, good or bad, ALLĀH is watching you and HE will inform HIS Messenger and HIS believing slaves of your deeds, even if they were hidden.
{Tafsir As-Sa’di}
Sahl (may ALLĀH be pleased with him) narrated: “The Prophet (ﷺ) and the mushrikīn met in battle and fought. When the Messenger of ALLĀH (ﷺ) went back to his camp and the others went back to their camp, there was among the companions of the Messenger of ALLĀH (ﷺ) a man who killed anyone ˹of the enemy˺ who got in his way. They said: No one has done better today than So and so.
The Messenger of ALLĀH (ﷺ) said, “Rather he is one of the people of Hell.”
A man said: I am going to follow him. So he went out with him; every time that man stopped, he stopped with him, and when he hastened, he hastened with him. He said: The man was badly wounded, so he sought to hasten his death. He put the handle of his sword on the ground and its tip in the middle of his chest, then he leaned ˹on his sword˺ and killed himself.
The man (who had watched the deceased) went to the Messenger of ALLĀH (ﷺ) and said: ‘I bear witness that you are the Messenger of ALLĀH (ﷺ).’
He (ﷺ) said: “Why is that?”.
The man told him the whole story.
The Messenger of ALLĀH (ﷺ) said: "A man may do the deeds of ˹the people of˺ Paradise, or so it seems to the people, although he is one of the people of Hell, and a man may do the deeds of ˹the people of˺ Hell, or so it seems to the people, although he is one of the people of Paradise.""
{Al-Bukhārī #4207}