الحسنة
al-Ḥasana
A deed done with iḥsān that merits God’s pleasure; a good deed or deed of righteousness. The plural is al-ḥasanāt.
What it means
Al-ḥasana is a good deed, the opposite of al-sayyiʾa, the evil deed. The Quran says that the reward is multiplied: “Whoever brings a good deed will have ten times the like of it” (6:160). Another verse says that “good deeds remove evil deeds” (11:114), and that God “multiplies” a good deed and gives from Himself a great reward (4:40). A good deed is thus given more weight than its outward size.
The word has a second use in prayer. The supplication that Muslims make most often is: “Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire” (2:201), where ḥasana means good of every kind. In Faruqi’s account a ḥasana is a deed done with iḥsān, in which excellence and sincerity meet. The plural ḥasanāt is also used for the credit in the record of deeds. Sincerity and excellence therefore decide the worth of the deed, more than its size.
Often misunderstood as
Rendered “good work” as if any act of kindness counted; the term refers to a deed done with excellence for the sake of God.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 29, listed as AL ḤASANAH. The definition is restated here.