Therefore...

Therefore, as long as man’s soul belongs to the material world and varying or changing universe, it will be subject to brightness and darkness or increase and decrease of light and darkness until he passes away and the opportunity of choosing between faith and disbelief terminates. Then he may wish to have the opportunity to go back to the world and remove the darkness (of his soul) but this will not materialize (See lesson 49).

There is no doubt about this kind of interaction between faith and disbelief in the Holy Qur’an; there are many pieces of evidence in this relation such as:“And whoever has faith in Allah and acts righteously, He shall absolve him of his misdeeds” (al-Taghābun:9) Or the following Qur’anic verse maintains: “And whoever of you turns away from his religion and dies faithless -they are the ones whose works have failed in this world and the Hereafter.

They shall be inmates of the Fire and they shall remain in it [forever].” (al-Baqarah:217). The relationship between good and evil deeds The relationship between good and evil deeds is very similar to the relationship between faith and disbelief; however, it is not general, so that one’s record will always include deserving acts and the previous evil deeds will be destroyed (as Mu’tazilite scholars believe), or the algebraic sum of past deeds including their quality and quantity will always be reflected in one’s record (as some others speculate).

Nevertheless, with reference to deeds we should consider separation; in other words, some deeds, if performed in a deserving way and (if they) please God, will destroy the effect of past evil deeds, for instance repentance will forgive one’s sins if performed properly (Refer to al-Nisā:110, Āl-‘Imrān:135, al-An’ām:54, al- Shūra:25, al-Zumar: 57). This is exactly like a ray of light, which illuminates a dark space.

However, not all good deeds remove the effect of sin; therefore, it is possible for a believer to be punished for some time as a result of his sins and then enter eternal Paradise. It seems that man’s soul has different dimensions to which different groups of deeds - good or evil - are related. For example, a good deed related to dimension (A) will not remove the effect of an evil deed related to dimension (B) unless the good deed is so bright that it can penetrate other dimensions of the soul.

On the other hand, an evil deed may be so unpleasant that it can defect other dimensions of the soul.