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62chapter onegood work for spiritual happiness; good work as citizens, etc.). Whatwould be important to write is that all good deeds are firmly locatedin this world. We cannot ignore the fact that this world is the fieldwhere the seeds of the Afterlife grow, even if we acknowledge theexistence of the next world. But without life in this world Hell andParadise would not make sense, neither would the Day of Judgementor the concepts of reward and punishment. Once we have graspedthe dialectics between this world and the Next, we are able to nourishthis life and give it meaning. We will then be able to fully participatein establishing a prosperous human society that can positivelyinfluence the course of events in history.Let us look at these two verses from the Book:Nay, whoever submits his whole self to God and is a doer of good[muÈsin], he will get his reward with his Lord… ( Al-Baqara 2:112)Who can be better [aÈsana] in religion than one who submits his wholeself to God, does good [huwa muÈsin], and follows the way [milla] ofAbraham the true in faith [ÈanÊf an ]? For God did take Abraham for afriend. ( Al-Nis§" 4:125)In both verses the category of a person who is a ‘doer of good’( al-muÈsin) is discussed. We hear in the first verse (2:112) that theAfterlife is intrinsically linked to ‘doing what is fair and just’ in thisworld. As we have said above, this world lays the foundation for ourlife in the next world where we will reap the fruits of our work inthis world. We learn that good deeds are recorded by Allah for eachindividual soul, because the Book says ‘he will get his reward with hisLord’, using the singular (his), which indicates an individual accountwith God, and not the plural form (their), that is, a collective account.When it uses the plural form as in ‘on such shall be no fear (for them),nor shall they grieve’ 51 , it is directed to the entire group of muÈsinånin the next world, reminding us in more general terms that ‘doingwhat is fair and just’ in this world does not entail losing sight of theNext. In the second verse (4:125) we hear that ‘who can be betterin religion than one who submits his whole self to God’. We learnthat every religious community, of whatever name or title, in whichthere is a person who assents to God (and who is someone who is‘doing what is fair and just’), will find God’s approval.51This phrase completes verse 2:113.