“Aisha reports: I said: ‘Messenger of Allah, the son of Judah established ties of relationship, fed the poor. Would that be of any avail to him?’ He (the Holy Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be with him) 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’.”
(Muslim)
This hadīth underlines the fact that the good deeds done by a person who dies in unbelief, will not be of any avail to him in the Day of Accountability. People generally maintain good relationships with their fellow beings, and do good deeds like helping the needy, feeding the poor, spending in charity, etc. But what distinguishes the good deeds done by a believer and those of an unbeliever is Iman. The Qur’ān repeatedly mentions Faith as the prerequisite of righteous deeds acceptable to the Lord.
In the Day of Judgement, the believers will be rewarded for their righteous deeds done just to seek the Pleasure of God. They will enter the Paradise beneath which flow the rivulets of clean water, milk and honey – for, they are khair-ul-bareeyah (the best of creatures). While the good deeds of the unbelievers will be of no avail to them only because they are sharrulbareeyah (the worst of creatures) who have no faith in God and the Day of Resurrection.
In this hadīth the Holy Messenger says that good deeds of Judah’s son would be of no avail to him because he never sought God’s forgiveness for his sins.