The Believers among the People of the Book

Allah tells us that the pious scholars among the People of the Book believe in the Qur'an, as He says:

الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَـهُمُ الْكِتَـبَ يَتْلُونَهُ حَقَّ تِلاَوَتِهِ أُوْلَـئِكَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ

أُولَـٰئِكَ يُؤْتَوْنَ أَجْرَ‌هُم مَّرَّ‌تَيْنِ (Such people will be given their reward twice - 28:54). That is, the believers who are also people of the book will be rewarded twice. A similar promise is made for the wives of the Holy Prophet ، ﷺ وَمَن يَقْنُتْ مِنكُنَّ لِلَّـهِ وَرَ‌سُولِهِ وَتَعْمَلْ صَالِحًا نُّؤْتِهَا أَجْرَ‌هَا مَرَّ‌تَيْنِ (And whoever from among you stands in obedience to Allah and His messenger and does righteous deeds, We will give her, her reward twice. - 33:31). In a hadith of Sahih a1 Bukhari three types of persons are mentioned for double reward One, those people of the book who had faith in their prophets initially, and then developed faith in the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Two, the slave who is submissive and obedient to Allah Ta` ala and His Messenger ﷺ ، and also to his master. Three, the one who owned a slave girl, with whom he was allowed intercourse but he freed her and made her his formal wife by performing nikah.

The point worth consideration in this verse is the cause for which these categories of Muslims are given their reward twice. One cause could be that they have done two good deeds for which they are entitled to double reward. In all these three cases there are two good deeds involved. In the case of believers two good deeds are faith in their own prophet first, and then in the Holy Prophet and the Qur'an. In the case of the wives of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، two good deeds are that they loved and obeyed the Holy Prophet ﷺ both as a prophet and as husband. As for the owner of the slave girl, his first good deed is to free her, and the second to marry her. But this explanation may be subjected to the objection that two rewards for two good deeds are applicable to all, according to norms of justice; so where is the distinction for the people of the book or believers, and the wives of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، or the master of the slave girl? Keeping this objection in view, I have answered the original question in another way which is fully described in my book Ahkam ul-Qur'an under Surah Al-Qasas. According to that explanation, it is apparent by the wording of Qur'an that in all these examples, the relevant persons will not get two rewards for two deeds, but they will get double reward for each single deed, because the principle of 'two rewards for two deeds' is applicable to all, according to the express declaration of the Qur'an: لَا أُضِيعُ عَمَلَ عَامِلٍ مِّنكُم (I do not let go to waste the labour of a worker from you - 3:195), that is Allah Ta` ala does not waste deeds of any one of you. In fact one will get reward for every single good deed he performs. Therefore the double reward contemplated for all these types, is that for every single good deed they will be awarded double the reward. For instance, they will be given two rewards for a single prayer, two rewards for a single charity, and two rewards for each one good deed like fasting, performing Hajj etc.. If one contemplates on the wordings of Qur'an he will note that for giving two rewards the appropriate word was اَجرَین ، (two rewards) but instead of that Qur'an has used the word اَجرَھُم مرّتَین (their reward twice - 28:54), in which there is a clear hint that all their good deeds will be written twice and they will get double the reward for each one of them.