Not too long ago I wrote a deeply personal post on what I thought Islam was about, which I entitled What It Means, appropriately enough, and with the requisite nod to the Drive-By Truckers album. I will not include another lengthy exegesis (I've included a link instead). Essentially, my point was that as I work my way through the Quran, which I read throughout the year but obviously much more intensely and holistically during Ramadan, it seems to me that what really matters is faith (and not blind submission; but instead based on thoughtful reflection) and righteous deeds (which is mainly just giving back more, time after time, than you received). So, I culled out all the times (or at least most - I'm sure that I missed some, in which case I'll go back and amend later) that the two concepts are paired in the Quran, which is, obviously, a lot. It's not as if everything else isn't important, but to me, in its most simple form, what we're talking about is what we can control and what we can't control. Or, what we can know and what we can't know.
"And give glad tidings to those who believe and perform righteous deeds that theirs are Gardens with rivers running below." 2:24
"Truly those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabeans - whosoever believes in God and the Last Day and works righteousness shall have their reward with their Lord. No fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve." 2:62
"And those who believe and perform righteous deeds, it is they who are the inhabitants of the Garden, therein to abide." 2:82
"Truly those who believe, perform righteous deeds, maintain the prayer, and give the alms shall have their reward with their Lord. No fear shall come upon the, nor shall they grieve." 2:277
"'And as for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, He shall pay them their rewards in full. And God loves not the wrongdoers.'" 3:57
"They believe in God and the Last Day, enjoin right and forbid wrong, and hasten unto good deeds. And they are among the righteous." 3:114
"But for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, We shall cause them to enter Gardens with rivers running below, abiding therein forever. They they shall have spouses made pure, and We shall cause them to enter plenteous shade." 4:57
"But for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, We shall cause them to enter Gardens with rivers running below, abiding therein forever. God's Promise is true, and who is truer in speech than God?" 4:122
"And whosoever performs righteous deeds, whether male or female, and is a believer, such shall enter the Garden, and they shall not be wronged so much as the speck on a date stone." 4:124
"As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, He shall pay them their rewards in full, and will increase them from His Bounty." 4:173
"To those who believe and perform righteous deeds, God has promised forgiveness and a great reward." 5:9
"Truly those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Sabeans, and the Christians - whosoever believes in God and the Last Day and works righteousness, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve." 5:69
"There is no blame upon those who believe and perform righteous deeds for that which they have eaten, so long they are reverent, and believe, and perform righteous deeds, then are reverent and believe, and then are reverent and virtuous. And God loves the virtuous." 5:93
"Those who believe and who do not obscure their belief through wrongdoing, it is they who have security, and they are rightly guided." 6:82
"As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds - We task no soul beyond its capacity - it is they who are the inhabitants of the Garden; they shall abide therein." 7:42
"But the believing men and believing women are protectors of one another, enjoining right and forbidding wrong, performing the prayers, giving the alms, and obeying God and His messenger. They are those upon whom God will have Mercy. Truly God is Mighty. Wise." 9:71
"Unto Him is your return all together; God's Promise is true. Verily He originates creation, then He brings it back, that He may recompense with justice those who believe and perform righteous deeds." 10:4
"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, their Lord guides them by their Faith. They shall have rivers running below them in Gardens of bliss." 10:9
"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds and are humble before their Lord, it is they who are the inhabitants of the Garden; they shall abide therein." 11:23
"Those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs in blessedness and a beautiful return." 13:29
"Those who believe and perform righteous deeds shall be made to enter Gardens with rivers running below, abiding therein by the leave of their Lord. Their greeting therein shall be, 'Peace!'" 14:23
"Whosoever works righteousness, whether male or female, and is a believer, We shall give them new life, a good life, and We shall surely render unto them their reward in accordance with the best of that which they used to do." 16:97
"Truly this Quran guides toward that which is most upright, and gives glad tidings to the believers who perform righteous deeds that theirs shall be a great reward." 17:9
"Praise be to God, Who sent down the Book unto His servant, and placed no crookedness therein, upright that He may warn of a great might coming from His Presence and give glad tidings unto the believers who perform righteous deeds that theirs shall be a beautiful reward . . ." 18:1-2
"As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, surely We neglect not the reward of one who is virtuous in deed." 18:30
"But as for the one who believes and works righteousness, he shall have a reward, that which is most beautiful, and we shall speak unto him that which is easy from our command." 18:88
"Those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be the Gardens of Paradise as a welcome." 18:107
"Then they were succeeded by a generation who neglected prayer and followed their desires. So they shall meet [the reward of] error, save for those who repent and believe and work righteousness. It is they who shall enter the Garden, and they shall not be wronged in the least." 19:59-60
"Surely those who believe and perform righteous deeds, for them shall the Compassionate ordain love." 19:96
"But whosoever comes unto Him as a believer, having performed righteous deeds, theirs shall be the highest ranks - Gardens of Eden with rivers running below, abiding therein. That is the recompense of one who purifies himself." 20:75-76
"And surely I am most forgiving toward the one who repents and believes and works righteousness, and thereafter is rightly guided." 20:82
"But whosoever performs righteous deeds and it a believer, he shall fear neither wrong nor deprivation." 20:112
"And whosoever performs righteous deeds and is a believer, there shall be no ingratitude for his endeavor, and surely We shall write [it] down for him." 21:94
"Truly God will cause those who believe and perform righteous deeds to enter Gardens with rivers running below." 22:14
"Truly God will cause those who believe and perform righteous deeds to enter Gardens with rivers running below, adorned therein with bracelets of gold and pearl, and therein their clothes will be of silk. And they shall be guided unto that which is good in speech, and be guided unto the path of the Praised." 22:23
"And as for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be forgiveness and a generous provision." 22:50
"Sovereignty that Day shall be God's. He will judge between them, and those who believe and perform righteous deeds shall be in a Garden of bliss." 22:56
"God has promised those among you who believe and perform righteous deeds that He will surely make them viceregents upon the earth, as He caused those before them to be viceregents, and that He will establish for them their religion, which He has approved for them, and that He will surely change them from a state of fear to [one of] security." 24:55
"He shall abide therein, humiliated, save for those who repent and believe and perform righteous deeds. For them, God will replace their evil deeds with good deeds, and God is Forgiving, Merciful. And whosoever has repented and works righteousness does indeed repent to God with true repentance." 25:69-71
"And as for the poets, the errant follow them. Hast thou not considered that they wander in every valley, and that they say what they do not do? Not so those who believe and perform righteous deeds, and remember God much, and help one another after having been wronged." 26:224-227
"As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be Gardens of refuge, as a welcome for that which they used to do." 32:19
"Those who disbelieve say, 'The Hour will never come upon us.' Say, 'Nay! By my Lord, by the Knower of the Unseen, it will surely come unto you.' Not a mote's weight evades Him in the heavens or on the earth, nor smaller than that, nor larger, but that it is in a clear Book, that He may recompense those who believe and perform righteous deeds; theirs shall be forgiveness and a generous provision." 34:3-4
"He said, 'He has indeed wronged you in asking that your ewe be added to his ewes. Truly many associates transgress against one another, save those who believe and perform righteous deeds. Yet how few are they!' And David understood that We had tried him; so he sought forgiveness from his Lord, fell down kneeling, and repented." 38:24
"And We did not create Heaven and earth and whatsoever is between them in vain; that is the conjecture of those who disbelieve. So woe before the Fire unto those who disbelieve! Or shall We make those who believe and perform righteous deeds like those who work corruption upon the earth? Or shall We make the reverent like the profligate?" 38:27-28
"And the blind and the seer are not equal; nor are those who believe and perform righteous deeds and the evildoer. Little do you reflect!" 40:58
"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be a reward unceasing." 41:8
"And who is more beautiful in speech than one who calls unto God, works righteousness, and says, 'Truly I am among those who submit'? The good deed and the evil deed are not equal. Repel by that which is better; then behold the one between whom and thee there is enmity shall be as if he were a loyal, protecting friend." 41:33-34
"Thou seest the wrongdoers wary of that which they have earned; for it will fall upon them. And those who believe and perform righteous deeds shall be in flowering meadows of the Gardens. With their Lord they shall have whatsoever they will. That is a great bounty." 42:22
"He responds to those who believe and perform righteous deeds, and will increase from His Bounty. Yet as for the disbelievers, theirs shall be a severe punishment." 42:26
"As for those who believed and performed righteous deeds, their Lord causes them to enter into His Mercy. That is the manifest triumph." 45: 30
"And those who believe and perform righteous deeds, and believe in what has been sent down unto Muhammad - and it is the truth from their Lord - He has absolved them of their evil deeds and set their state aright." 47:2
"Truly God causes those who believe and perform righteous deeds to enter Gardens with rivers running below, while those who disbelieve enjoy themselves and eat as cattle eat; and the Fire shall be an abode for them." 47:12
"Muhammad is the Messenger of God. Those who are with him are harsh against the disbelievers, merciful to one another. You see them bowing, prostrating, seeking bounty from God and contentment; their mark upon their faces is from the effect of prostration. That is their likeness in the Torah. And their likeness in the Gospel is a sapling that puts forth its shoot and strengthens it, such that it grows stout and rises firmly upon its stalk, impressing the sowers, that through them He may enrage the disbelievers. God has promised forgiveness and a great reward to those among them who believe and perform righteous deeds." 48:29
"The day that He gathers you for the Day of Gathering, that is the Day of Mutual Dispossession. And whosoever believes in God and works righteousness, He will absolve him of his evil deeds and cause him to enter Gardens with rivers running below, to abide therein forever. That is the great triumph." 64:9
"And whosoever believes in God and works righteousness, He causes him to enter Gardens with rivers running below, to abide therein forever. God has indeed prepared for him a beautiful provision." 65:11
"But God knows best what they conceal. So give them glad tidings of a painful punishment, save those who believe and perform righteous deeds; theirs shall be a reward unceasing." 84:23-25
"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be Gardens with rivers running below: that is the supreme triumph." 85:11
"By the dig and the olive, by Mount Sinai, and by this land made safe, truly We created man in the most beautiful stature, when We cast him to the lowest of the low, save those who believe and perform righteous deeds; for theirs shall be a reward unceasing. What then will make you deny religion? Is not God the most just of judges?" 95:1-8
"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, it is they who are the best of creation." 98:7
"By the declining day, truly mankind is in loss, save those who believe, perform righteous deeds, exhort one another to truth, and exhort one another to patience." 103:1-3
"And give glad tidings to those who believe and perform righteous deeds that theirs are Gardens with rivers running below." 2:24
"Truly those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabeans - whosoever believes in God and the Last Day and works righteousness shall have their reward with their Lord. No fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve." 2:62
"And those who believe and perform righteous deeds, it is they who are the inhabitants of the Garden, therein to abide." 2:82
"Truly those who believe, perform righteous deeds, maintain the prayer, and give the alms shall have their reward with their Lord. No fear shall come upon the, nor shall they grieve." 2:277
"'And as for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, He shall pay them their rewards in full. And God loves not the wrongdoers.'" 3:57
"They believe in God and the Last Day, enjoin right and forbid wrong, and hasten unto good deeds. And they are among the righteous." 3:114
"But for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, We shall cause them to enter Gardens with rivers running below, abiding therein forever. They they shall have spouses made pure, and We shall cause them to enter plenteous shade." 4:57
"But for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, We shall cause them to enter Gardens with rivers running below, abiding therein forever. God's Promise is true, and who is truer in speech than God?" 4:122
"And whosoever performs righteous deeds, whether male or female, and is a believer, such shall enter the Garden, and they shall not be wronged so much as the speck on a date stone." 4:124
"As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, He shall pay them their rewards in full, and will increase them from His Bounty." 4:173
"To those who believe and perform righteous deeds, God has promised forgiveness and a great reward." 5:9
"Truly those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Sabeans, and the Christians - whosoever believes in God and the Last Day and works righteousness, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve." 5:69
"There is no blame upon those who believe and perform righteous deeds for that which they have eaten, so long they are reverent, and believe, and perform righteous deeds, then are reverent and believe, and then are reverent and virtuous. And God loves the virtuous." 5:93
"Those who believe and who do not obscure their belief through wrongdoing, it is they who have security, and they are rightly guided." 6:82
"As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds - We task no soul beyond its capacity - it is they who are the inhabitants of the Garden; they shall abide therein." 7:42
"But the believing men and believing women are protectors of one another, enjoining right and forbidding wrong, performing the prayers, giving the alms, and obeying God and His messenger. They are those upon whom God will have Mercy. Truly God is Mighty. Wise." 9:71
"Unto Him is your return all together; God's Promise is true. Verily He originates creation, then He brings it back, that He may recompense with justice those who believe and perform righteous deeds." 10:4
"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, their Lord guides them by their Faith. They shall have rivers running below them in Gardens of bliss." 10:9
"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds and are humble before their Lord, it is they who are the inhabitants of the Garden; they shall abide therein." 11:23
"Those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs in blessedness and a beautiful return." 13:29
"Those who believe and perform righteous deeds shall be made to enter Gardens with rivers running below, abiding therein by the leave of their Lord. Their greeting therein shall be, 'Peace!'" 14:23
"Whosoever works righteousness, whether male or female, and is a believer, We shall give them new life, a good life, and We shall surely render unto them their reward in accordance with the best of that which they used to do." 16:97
"Truly this Quran guides toward that which is most upright, and gives glad tidings to the believers who perform righteous deeds that theirs shall be a great reward." 17:9
"Praise be to God, Who sent down the Book unto His servant, and placed no crookedness therein, upright that He may warn of a great might coming from His Presence and give glad tidings unto the believers who perform righteous deeds that theirs shall be a beautiful reward . . ." 18:1-2
"As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, surely We neglect not the reward of one who is virtuous in deed." 18:30
"But as for the one who believes and works righteousness, he shall have a reward, that which is most beautiful, and we shall speak unto him that which is easy from our command." 18:88
"Those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be the Gardens of Paradise as a welcome." 18:107
"Then they were succeeded by a generation who neglected prayer and followed their desires. So they shall meet [the reward of] error, save for those who repent and believe and work righteousness. It is they who shall enter the Garden, and they shall not be wronged in the least." 19:59-60
"Surely those who believe and perform righteous deeds, for them shall the Compassionate ordain love." 19:96
"But whosoever comes unto Him as a believer, having performed righteous deeds, theirs shall be the highest ranks - Gardens of Eden with rivers running below, abiding therein. That is the recompense of one who purifies himself." 20:75-76
"And surely I am most forgiving toward the one who repents and believes and works righteousness, and thereafter is rightly guided." 20:82
"But whosoever performs righteous deeds and it a believer, he shall fear neither wrong nor deprivation." 20:112
"And whosoever performs righteous deeds and is a believer, there shall be no ingratitude for his endeavor, and surely We shall write [it] down for him." 21:94
"Truly God will cause those who believe and perform righteous deeds to enter Gardens with rivers running below." 22:14
"Truly God will cause those who believe and perform righteous deeds to enter Gardens with rivers running below, adorned therein with bracelets of gold and pearl, and therein their clothes will be of silk. And they shall be guided unto that which is good in speech, and be guided unto the path of the Praised." 22:23
"And as for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be forgiveness and a generous provision." 22:50
"Sovereignty that Day shall be God's. He will judge between them, and those who believe and perform righteous deeds shall be in a Garden of bliss." 22:56
"God has promised those among you who believe and perform righteous deeds that He will surely make them viceregents upon the earth, as He caused those before them to be viceregents, and that He will establish for them their religion, which He has approved for them, and that He will surely change them from a state of fear to [one of] security." 24:55
"He shall abide therein, humiliated, save for those who repent and believe and perform righteous deeds. For them, God will replace their evil deeds with good deeds, and God is Forgiving, Merciful. And whosoever has repented and works righteousness does indeed repent to God with true repentance." 25:69-71
"And as for the poets, the errant follow them. Hast thou not considered that they wander in every valley, and that they say what they do not do? Not so those who believe and perform righteous deeds, and remember God much, and help one another after having been wronged." 26:224-227
"As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be Gardens of refuge, as a welcome for that which they used to do." 32:19
"Those who disbelieve say, 'The Hour will never come upon us.' Say, 'Nay! By my Lord, by the Knower of the Unseen, it will surely come unto you.' Not a mote's weight evades Him in the heavens or on the earth, nor smaller than that, nor larger, but that it is in a clear Book, that He may recompense those who believe and perform righteous deeds; theirs shall be forgiveness and a generous provision." 34:3-4
"He said, 'He has indeed wronged you in asking that your ewe be added to his ewes. Truly many associates transgress against one another, save those who believe and perform righteous deeds. Yet how few are they!' And David understood that We had tried him; so he sought forgiveness from his Lord, fell down kneeling, and repented." 38:24
"And We did not create Heaven and earth and whatsoever is between them in vain; that is the conjecture of those who disbelieve. So woe before the Fire unto those who disbelieve! Or shall We make those who believe and perform righteous deeds like those who work corruption upon the earth? Or shall We make the reverent like the profligate?" 38:27-28
"And the blind and the seer are not equal; nor are those who believe and perform righteous deeds and the evildoer. Little do you reflect!" 40:58
"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be a reward unceasing." 41:8
"And who is more beautiful in speech than one who calls unto God, works righteousness, and says, 'Truly I am among those who submit'? The good deed and the evil deed are not equal. Repel by that which is better; then behold the one between whom and thee there is enmity shall be as if he were a loyal, protecting friend." 41:33-34
"Thou seest the wrongdoers wary of that which they have earned; for it will fall upon them. And those who believe and perform righteous deeds shall be in flowering meadows of the Gardens. With their Lord they shall have whatsoever they will. That is a great bounty." 42:22
"He responds to those who believe and perform righteous deeds, and will increase from His Bounty. Yet as for the disbelievers, theirs shall be a severe punishment." 42:26
"As for those who believed and performed righteous deeds, their Lord causes them to enter into His Mercy. That is the manifest triumph." 45: 30
"And those who believe and perform righteous deeds, and believe in what has been sent down unto Muhammad - and it is the truth from their Lord - He has absolved them of their evil deeds and set their state aright." 47:2
"Truly God causes those who believe and perform righteous deeds to enter Gardens with rivers running below, while those who disbelieve enjoy themselves and eat as cattle eat; and the Fire shall be an abode for them." 47:12
"Muhammad is the Messenger of God. Those who are with him are harsh against the disbelievers, merciful to one another. You see them bowing, prostrating, seeking bounty from God and contentment; their mark upon their faces is from the effect of prostration. That is their likeness in the Torah. And their likeness in the Gospel is a sapling that puts forth its shoot and strengthens it, such that it grows stout and rises firmly upon its stalk, impressing the sowers, that through them He may enrage the disbelievers. God has promised forgiveness and a great reward to those among them who believe and perform righteous deeds." 48:29
"The day that He gathers you for the Day of Gathering, that is the Day of Mutual Dispossession. And whosoever believes in God and works righteousness, He will absolve him of his evil deeds and cause him to enter Gardens with rivers running below, to abide therein forever. That is the great triumph." 64:9
"And whosoever believes in God and works righteousness, He causes him to enter Gardens with rivers running below, to abide therein forever. God has indeed prepared for him a beautiful provision." 65:11
"But God knows best what they conceal. So give them glad tidings of a painful punishment, save those who believe and perform righteous deeds; theirs shall be a reward unceasing." 84:23-25
"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be Gardens with rivers running below: that is the supreme triumph." 85:11
"By the dig and the olive, by Mount Sinai, and by this land made safe, truly We created man in the most beautiful stature, when We cast him to the lowest of the low, save those who believe and perform righteous deeds; for theirs shall be a reward unceasing. What then will make you deny religion? Is not God the most just of judges?" 95:1-8
"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, it is they who are the best of creation." 98:7
"By the declining day, truly mankind is in loss, save those who believe, perform righteous deeds, exhort one another to truth, and exhort one another to patience." 103:1-3
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