Do my good deeds committed before converting to Islam count?

Question

As a revert, for much of my life I haven't had the chance to do good deeds for Allah. As such, I'm probably significantly behind people born into Muslim families. I've done good deeds, but not with Allah in mind at the time.

Question: Do my good deeds committed before converting to Islam count?

I have no intuition here. We get our sins erased, so perhaps our good deeds are likewise erased. But that doesn't feel right.

Answer 1

In the name of Allah the most Beneficent the most Merciful,

In such issues, there are always some differences in the opinions of scholars. Why?

There are lot of reasons for scholarly difference; I will enumerate some of them:

1. there are few ahadith on such issues;
2. there are different ahadith with different meaning;
3. the existing ahadith don't give us a clear judgement;
4. the scholars didn't have access the all of the sunnah (hadiths), sp they may miss some ahadith;
5. some scholars are good in some subjects but they are not good in hadith, so they can't know if some ahadith are authentic or not,

and so on. What do scholars do in this cases? Scholars who have good knowledge in Islamic sciences and Arabic language have the right to perform independent reasoning (إجتهاد) and give us a legal opinion (fatwa فتوى).

Now here are the different views for the given case:

First, I will survey the relevant ahadith and Quran verses:

But those who disbelieved - their deeds are like a mirage in a lowland which a thirsty one thinks is water until, when he comes to it, he finds it is nothing but finds Allah before Him, and He will pay him in full his due; and Allah is swift in account. Quran 24:39

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Except for those who repent, believe and do righteous work. For them Allah will replace their evil deeds with good. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful. Quran 25:70

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So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it,And whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it. Quran 99:7,8

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Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly gone far astray. Quran 4:116

The first hadith:

Hakim b. Hizam reported to 'Urwa b. Zubair that he said to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): Messenger of Allah, do you think if there is any reward (of the Lord with me on the Day of Resurrection) for the deeds of religious purification that I performed in the state of ignorance, such as charity, freeing a slave, cementing of blood-relations? Upon this he (the Messenger of Allah) said to him: You have accepted Islam with all the previous virtues that you had practised. sahih muslim

Second:

(إِذَا أَسْلَمَ الْعَبْدُ فَحَسُنَ إِسْلَامُهُ كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَهُ كُلَّ حَسَنَةٍ كَانَ أَزْلَفَهَا وَمُحِيَتْ عَنْهُ كُلُّ سَيِّئَةٍ كَانَ أَزْلَفَهَا ثُمَّ كَانَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ الْقِصَاصُ الْحَسَنَةُ بِعَشْرَةِ أَمْثَالِهَا إِلَى سَبْعِ مِائَةِ ضِعْفٍ وَالسَّيِّئَةُ بِمِثْلِهَا إِلَّا أَنْ يَتَجَاوَزَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ عَنْهَا) Série de Hadiths authentiques - Sheikh Al-Albani

It was narrated that Abu Sa'eed Al-Khudri said: "The Messenger of Allah [SAW] said: 'If a person accepts Islam, such that his Islam is good, Allah will decree reward for every good deed that he did before, and every bad deed that he did before will be erased. Then after that will come the reckoning; each good deed will be rewarded ten times up to seven hundred times. And each bad deed will be recorded as it is, unless Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, forgives it.'" (sahih al-Bukhari)

Third:

'A'isha reported: I said: Messenger of Allah, the son of Jud'an established ties of relationship, fed the poor. Would that be of any avail to him? He said: It would be of no avail to him as he did not ever say: O my Lord, pardon my sins on the Day of Resurrection. (sahih Muslim)

There are many different opinions on this issue, but I will describe some of them:

1. Good deeds and bad deeds are both not counted because:

• Allah doesn't accept deeds from disbelievers: "But those who disbelieved their deeds are like a mirage" Quran 24:39
• A disbeliever's good morals will still with him in Islam, and he will find it easy to do good deeds.
• A disbeliever's good deeds help him to follow the truth, and Allah may guide him to Islam because of it.

2. Good deeds are counted because:

• In the hadith of Abu Sa'eed Al-Khudri, it's clear that for a new Muslim, if his iman was good, his good deeds will be counted.
• It's known that for an apostate (one who left Islam), his good deeds if he revert still count.
• The Quran verses that mention that Allah doesn't accept from disbelievers who died without Islam.

3. There are others who say e.g.: good deeds are counted but not worships because it was not for Allah.

Allah is Most Merciful and the most beneficent.

Allah say 39:61: And Allah will save those who feared Him by their attainment; no evil will touch them, nor will they grieve.

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: There are one hundred (parts of) mercy for Allah and He has sent down out of these one part of mercy upon the jinn and human beings and animals and the insects, and it is because of this (one part) that they love one another, show kindness to one another and even the beast treats its young one with affection, and Allah has reserved ninety nine parts of mercy with which He would treat His servants on the Day of Resurrection. sahih muslim

May Allah accept from us.

Answer 2

Allah says in Surat-ul-Furqan: إِلَّا مَن تَابَ وَآمَنَ وَعَمِلَ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا فَأُولَٰئِكَ يُبَدِّلُ اللَّهُ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ حَسَنَاتٍ ۗ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا Except for those who repent, believe and do righteous work. For them Allah will replace their evil deeds with good. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.

https://quran.com/25:70

Allah is so merciful. Not only does He erase your sins, but He also replaces the evil deeds with good. So don't worry, your good deeds are counted in shaa' Allah. :-)