ثواب
Thawāb
The reward that Allah grants for good deeds, above all on the Day of Judgement
What it means
Thawāb is the reward that Allah gives for good deeds. The root means to return, and the sense is what comes back to the person who has done good. The Quran speaks of the reward of this world and the reward of the Hereafter (3:145), and says that whoever brings a good deed will receive ten times the like (6:160). Muslims hope for thawāb when they pray, fast, give and help others, and they say that a deed done sincerely for the sake of Allah is recorded. The final reward is Paradise. The sources present it as bounty from Allah, who multiplies what a person does.
Often misunderstood as
That it is a payment earned by works, when the sources describe it as generosity from Allah.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 26, listed as THAWĀB. The definition is restated here.