other than it, and they have no evidence in it, because Allāh, the Exalted, did not say in it: "If you associate partners, your deeds that you performed before you associated will surely become worthless," and this is an addition to Allāh that is not permissible. Rather, the Exalted informed that He nullifies his deeds after associating if he also dies upon his association, not if he embraces Islam, and this is undoubtedly true. And if a polytheist performs ḥajj or ʿumrah, or prays, or fasts, or gives zakāh, none of that fulfills the obligation for him. Also, His saying, the Exalted, in it: "and you would surely be among the losers" clarifies that if an apostate returns to Islam, what he did before his Islam is not nullified at all, but rather it is recorded for him and he is rewarded with Paradise for it. There is no disagreement among anyone from the ummah that if an apostate returns to Islam, he is not among the losers but among the successful, the prosperous, the victorious. Thus, it is correct that the one whose deeds are nullified is the one who dies in his disbelief, whether apostate or not, and this is undoubtedly among the losers, not the one who embraces Islam after disbelief or returns to Islam after apostasy. And the Exalted said: "And whoever of you reverts from his religion and dies while he is a disbeliever, for those their deeds have become worthless" (Sūrah al-Baqarah, verse 217). So the text of our statement is correct: that his deeds are not nullified if he apostatizes unless he dies while he is a disbeliever. And we found that Allāh, the Exalted, says: "Indeed, I do not allow to be lost the work of any worker among you, whether male or female" (Sūrah Āl ʿImrān, verse 195), and He said: "So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it" (Sūrah al-Zalzalah, verse 7), and this is a general statement that cannot be specified. Thus, it is correct that his ḥajj and ʿumrah, if he returns to Islam, he will see them, and they will not be lost for him. And we have narrated through chains as clear as the sun from al-Zuhrī and from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, both of them from ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, that Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām informed him that he said to the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam): "O Messenger of Allāh, what do you think about deeds I used to perform in the pre-Islamic period of ignorance, such as charity, freeing slaves, or maintaining family ties, is there any reward in them?" The Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said: "You have embraced Islam with all the good you have done before."