“And follow up a bad deed with a good deed and it will wipe it out.”

The Prophet said:

“And follow up a bad deed with a good deed and it 

will wipe it out.”

This part of the hadith illustrates that even those with taqwa, or fear of Allah (swt) may still slip and make mistakes. No one is perfect, but those who are from the mutaqeen or people of taqwa, do not persist in their sins. When they remember Allah (swt) they immediately perform a good deed to outweigh the negative effects of a bad one. Allah (swt) speaks of these people in the Qur’an:

“And be quick in the race for forgiveness from Your Lord and for Paradise as wide as the heavens and the earth, prepared for the mutaqeen, Those who spend [for Allah’s cause] in prosperity and in adversity, who repress anger, and who pardon men. Verily, Allah loves the doers of good. And for those who, when they have committed some evil or wronged themselves, remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their sins – and who can forgive sins except Allah – and who do not persist in what [wrong] they have done, while they know. For such, the reward is forgiveness from their Lord, and Gardens with rivers flowing amidst them, wherein they shall abide forever. How excellent is this reward for the doers [of taqwa].” (Q. 3:133-136).

SubhanAllah, may Allah make us of the muttaqeen, Aameen.