The hereafter and justice — Questions people ask about Islam

1 Whoso doeth an ill-deed, he will be repaid the like thereof, while whoso doeth right, whether male or female, and is a believer, (all) such will enter the Garden, where they will be nourished without stint.

Surah Ghafir (The Forgiver) 40:40 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

2 Whoever disobeyed God in his life and turned aside from the path of guidance is repaid in the hereafter with nothing but a punishment equal to his disobedience. And whoever obeyed God and did righteous work, carrying out His commands and avoiding what He forbade, male or female, believing in God and holding Him one — those enter the Garden, where God provides them from its fruits, its bliss and its delights without reckoning.

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar (The Simplified Commentary) · Ghafir 40:40 our rendering · Open the passage

3 Whoso bringeth a good deed will receive tenfold the like thereof, while whoso bringeth an ill-deed will be awarded but the like thereof; and they will not be wronged.

Surah Al-An'am (The Cattle) 6:160 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

4 Reward proportioned (to their evil deeds).

Surah An-Naba' (The Tidings) 78:23-26 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

5 On that Day Hell lies in wait for the people of unbelief, for whom it was prepared, a place of return for the unbelievers, where they remain for successive ages that do not come to an end … by that they are repaid with a just recompense matching the deeds they used to do in this world.

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar (The Simplified Commentary) · An-Naba' 78:26 our rendering · Open the passage

6 His words, a recompense in accordance, and after them, a recompense from thy Lord, a gift, a reckoning: the first is for the unbelievers, and God Most High has said that the recompense of an evil deed is an evil deed the like of it, so their recompense is in accordance with their deeds; and the second is for the believers, and their recompense is a full and sufficient one, and for this He said hisaban — that is, sufficient, from your saying 'it is enough for me'; and this is my view.

al-Kirmani · Asrar al-Takrar fi al-Qur'an (The Secrets of Repetition in the Qur'an), p. 244 our rendering · Open the passage

7 Nay, but that hath become clear unto them which before they used to hide. And if they were sent back they would return unto that which they are forbidden. Lo! they are liars.

Surah Al-An'am (The Cattle) 6:28 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

8 It is not so. Rather, on the Day of Resurrection there appeared to them what they had known within themselves of the truth of what the messengers brought in this world, even while they used to show his followers the opposite of it. And were it supposed that they were returned to this world and given more time, they would go back to the same obstinacy, to unbelief and denial. And they are liars in their saying: were we sent back to the world we would not deny the signs of our Lord, and we would be among the believers.

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar (The Simplified Commentary) · Al-An'am 6:28 our rendering · Open the passage

9 Whoever supposes that He treats opposites as equals, or distinguishes between two things equal in every respect, or that He voids the acts of obedience of a long life, sincere and sound, because of one grave sin committed after them — so that the doer of those acts abides in the Fire for ever and ever on account of that one sin, and all his obedience is voided by it, and He makes him abide in the punishment just as He makes abide the man who does not believe in Him for the blink of an eye and who has spent the hours of his life in what angers Him and in enmity to His messengers and His religion — such a man has thought ill of Him.

Ibn al-Qayyim · Zad al-Ma'ad fi Hady Khayr al-Ibad (Provisions for the Hereafter), p. 208 our rendering · Open the passage

10 There is a difficulty in this verse, in His saying, Mighty and Majestic, that they abide there for ages, while they do not come out of it. The best of what has been said about it is that Qatada said: abiding there for ages that have no end … We asked Abu al-Abbas Muhammad ibn Yazid about the saying of God, Mighty and Majestic, that they abide there for ages, and he said: what does this limit mean? For when we set a limit to a thing and say, 'I shall stay with you for a day', the force of the speech is that you will not stay beyond that day. Then he did not answer us about it for some thirty-odd years.

Abu Ja'far al-Nahhas · I'rab al-Qur'an (The Grammatical Analysis of the Qur'an), p. 81 our rendering · Open the passage

11 1. The objection strikes the structure as I described it, and I grant it. If what awaits the man who leaves it is a punishment without end, then the frame of 'the medicine and the doctor' does not describe the relation. And I do not mend the comparison with a patch; I strike it out. … 3. And I give notice of what I do not hold: I am in no position to tell you 'the punishment is not everlasting', nor 'it is everlasting for certain', and so settle a question in which there is a dispute among the people of learning, early and late — and the settling of it is not the work of this book nor within the competence of its writer. And whoever has given you a one-line answer in this matter has given you his own opinion in the dress of religion. … 5. And honesty in this matter requires it to be said: this is an objection I have not answered.

19. Why worship? — When did you begin to doubt? · Open the passage

12 So God, Mighty and Majestic, made it known that if they were sent back they would return, because they had already disbelieved after the proof had become binding upon them.

al-Zajjaj · Ma'ani al-Qur'an wa-I'rabuh (The Meanings of the Qur'an and Its Grammar), p. 239 our rendering · Open the passage

13 And the Book is placed, and thou seest the guilty fearful of that which is therein, and they say: What kind of a Book is this that leaveth not a small thing nor a great thing but hath counted it! And they find all that they did confronting them, and thy Lord wrongeth no-one.

Surah Al-Kahf (The Cave) 18:49 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

14 The record of each one's deeds is placed in his right hand or in his left, and you see the disobedient afraid of what is in it because of the crimes they sent ahead, saying when they look upon it: our ruin! What is it with this record, that it has left nothing of our doings, small or great, without setting it down? And they find everything they did in this world present and recorded. And your Lord wrongs no one by the weight of an atom: no obedient person has his reward reduced, and no disobedient person has his punishment increased.

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar (The Simplified Commentary) · Al-Kahf 18:49 our rendering · Open the passage

15 God, Mighty and Majestic, said: My mercy has outstripped My wrath.

Abu Hurayrah · Muslim · Sahih Muslim 2751 · sahih (authentic) our rendering

16 God does not wrong a believer of a single good deed: he is given for it in this world and rewarded for it in the hereafter. As for the unbeliever, he is fed in this world for the good deeds he did for God's sake, until, when he passes on to the hereafter, he has no good deed left for which he might be rewarded.

Anas ibn Malik · Muslim · Sahih Muslim 2808 · sahih (authentic) our rendering

1 As for your own question, my answer to it is one: why this particular measure? Why this particular child? I do not know. And I know of no one who knows. And everyone who has told you otherwise either did not understand your question, or judged his own silence to weigh on him more heavily than words he does not possess.

12. The heaviest question in the field · Open the passage

2 And Rowe's second case shows the limit to be wider still: the girl was killed by a free act, and the answer explains why the killer was not prevented from choosing, and says nothing at all about why the outcome was not turned away from her once he had chosen.

12. The heaviest question in the field · Open the passage

3 A reader who has passed through four answers, each with a 'strength' and a 'limit', comes away with the impression that he has been given something in every case, and that is not true. Here is the table, and I hide no zero in it… So the sum of it: Rowe's version in the fawn is touched by nothing but skeptical theism — with its two declared limits… And whoever read the chapter and came away thinking that the four answers divide the cases between them has read something other than what is in it.

12. The heaviest question in the field · Open the passage

4 Its first limit — and it is the one that kills the answer from within: whoever says 'I do not know the wisdom in it' may equally fail to know its goodness. For if my faculties are too weak to see the good hidden in the burning of a fawn, they are too weak to judge that what I see of kindness is kindness in the overall reckoning… Its second limit — and it is the most famous reply made to it, and I dropped it in the first version: moral paralysis… And an argument that silences the objection silences with it every call for rescue.

12. The heaviest question in the field · Open the passage

5 He will not be questioned as to that which He doeth, but they will be questioned.

Surah al-Anbiya (The Prophets) 21:23 — Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

6 Among the proofs that He alone creates and He alone is to be worshipped is that He is not questioned about His decree among His creation, while all His creation are questioned about their deeds.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar · The Prophets 21:23 our rendering · Open the passage

7 And the last thing I say is not an argument; it is the setting straight of a promise. Religion does not promise you that you will understand. Nobody worth attending to has told you that you will be handed the file to read. What is promised is something else: that you be given justice… In the child: that the one who died was not annihilated — that what happened to him is not the last word on him; that the one who wronged him will have it taken from him; and that what he bore is not left out of the reckoning of him. These are three definite things that can be true or false, not a fine phrase. As for the fawn in the forest, I have nothing definite on it… and I will not manufacture a justice for the fawn in order to complete a table with it.

12. The heaviest question in the field · Open the passage

8 And the Book is placed, and thou seest the guilty fearful of that which is therein, and they say: What kind of a Book is this that leaveth not a small thing nor a great thing but hath counted it! And they find all that they did confronting them, and thy Lord wrongeth no-one.

Surah al-Kahf (The Cave) 18:49 — Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

9 The record of every person's deeds is placed in his right hand or in his left, and you see the sinners afraid of what is in it because of the crimes they sent ahead; and when they look upon it they say: Woe to us! What is this record that has left out nothing of our deeds, small or great, without setting it down? And they find everything they did in the world present and recorded. And your Lord wrongs no one by the weight of an atom: no obedient man is given less than his reward, and no disobedient man is given more than his punishment.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar · The Cave 18:49 our rendering · Open the passage

10 No fatigue, nor disease, nor anxiety, nor grief, nor hurt, nor distress befalls a Muslim — not even the prick of a thorn — but that God expiates some of his sins by it.

Abu Hurayrah · al-Bukhari · Sahih al-Bukhari 5641 · sahih our rendering

11 Each carries a different cost, and the heaviest is the first: if the support is a text that says of God that he is merciful, then I have established the mercy by the testimony of the accused — and that is a plain circle unless the truth of the report is established by a route that does not pass through its content. And I am not giving you one of the three in this chapter, and the effect of that on the weight of what is here is known: the answer remains conditional upon what has not yet been offered.

12. The heaviest question in the field · Open the passage

12 And what has not fallen: Rowe's version — in both its cases, the fawn and the child — and Draper's version. I have not answered them in this chapter, and I have nothing that answers them decisively.

12. The heaviest question in the field · Open the passage

1 It will not be in accordance with your desires, nor the desires of the People of the Scripture. He who doeth wrong will have the recompense thereof, and will not find against Allah any protecting friend or helper.

Surah An-Nisa 4:123 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

2 This great favour is not attained by the wishes you wish, O Muslims, nor by the wishes of the People of the Scripture among the Jews and the Christians. It is attained only by true faith in God Most High and by doing good work that pleases Him. Whoever does an evil deed is requited for it, and he will find, apart from God Most High, no protector to take charge of his affair and no helper to help him and ward the evil of the punishment off him.

Tafsir al-Muyassar · An-Nisa 4:123 our rendering · Open the passage

3 Whoso desireth the life of the world and its pomp, We shall repay them their deeds herein, and therein they will not be wronged.

Surah Hud 11:15 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

4 Those people will have nothing in the Hereafter but the Fire of Hell, whose heat they will endure; the benefit of what they did has gone from them, and their work was void, because it was not for the face of God.

Tafsir al-Muyassar · Hud 11:16 our rendering · Open the passage

5 God does not wrong a believer a single good deed: he is given for it in this world and rewarded for it in the Hereafter. As for the unbeliever, he is fed in this world for the good deeds he did for God, until, when he passes on to the Hereafter, he has no good deed left for which to be rewarded.

Anas ibn Malik · Muslim · Sahih Muslim 2808 · sahih (authentic) our rendering

6 I said: Messenger of God, Ibn Jud'an in the age of ignorance used to keep ties of kinship and feed the poor — will that help him? He said: It will not help him; he never said one day: My Lord, forgive me my sin on the Day of Judgement.

Aisha, Mother of the Believers · Muslim · Sahih Muslim 214 · sahih (authentic) our rendering

7 He, exalted be He, likened their deeds — in their collapse and their going for nothing, like scattered dust, since they rested on no foundation of faith and right doing, and were done for other than God, mighty and majestic, and not by His command — to ashes scattered by a storm wind, so that their owner can lay hold of none of them at the hour of his greatest need of them… For God accepts of a work only what is purely for His face and in accord with His law. Deeds are four: one accepted and three rejected. The accepted is the one that is pure and correct: pure, that it be for God and not for another; correct, that it be of what God has laid down on the tongue of His Messenger. The three rejected are those that fall short of that.

Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya · I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in 'an Rabb al-'Alamin, p. 130 our rendering · Open the passage

8 He said: So I said, By God, I will not leave a single thing I did in the age of ignorance without doing its like in Islam. This shows that the good deeds of an unbeliever, if he becomes a Muslim, are rewarded — as the hadith of Abu Sa'id given earlier also shows.

Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali · Jami' al-'Ulum wa'l-Hikam, p. 296 our rendering · Open the passage

9 Whosoever goeth right, it is only for (the good of) his own soul that he goeth right, and whosoever erreth, erreth only to its hurt. No laden soul can bear another's load, We never punish until we have sent a messenger.

Surah Al-Isra 17:15 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

10 Whoever is guided and follows the path of truth, the reward of that returns to him alone; and whoever swerves and follows the path of falsehood, the punishment of that returns to him alone. No sinful soul bears the sin of another sinful soul. And God punishes no one until the case has been established against him by the sending of messengers and the sending down of books.

Tafsir al-Muyassar · Al-Isra 17:15 our rendering · Open the passage

11 Muslim reported, from the hadith of Abu Hurayra, may God be pleased with him: I heard the Prophet, God bless him and grant him peace, say: "The first of people to be judged on the Day of Resurrection will be a man who was martyred… He will say: You lie; rather you fought so that it would be said, He is bold — and it was said. Then the order will be given for him, and he will be dragged on his face until he is cast into the Fire. And a man who learned knowledge and taught it, and recited the Qur'an… He will say: You lie; rather you learned knowledge so that it would be said, He is a scholar, and you recited the Qur'an so that it would be said, He is a reciter — and it was said. Then the order will be given for him, and he will be dragged on his face until he is cast into the Fire. And a man to whom God gave abundance, and gave him of every kind of wealth… He will say: You lie; rather you did it so that it would be said, He is generous — and it was said. Then the order will be given for him, and he will be dragged on his face until he is cast into the Fire." … God, mighty and majestic, said: "Whoso desireth the life of the world and its pomp, We shall repay them their deeds herein, and therein they will not be wronged — Those are they for whom is naught in the Hereafter save the Fire" [Hud: 15–16].

Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali · Jami' al-'Ulum wa'l-Hikam, p. 76 our rendering · Open the passage

1 Whosoever goeth right, it is only for (the good of) his own soul that he goeth right, and whosoever erreth, erreth only to its hurt. No laden soul can bear another's load, We never punish until we have sent a messenger.

Surah Al-Isra 17:15 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

2 Whoever is guided and follows the path of truth, the reward of that returns to him alone; and whoever turns aside and follows the path of falsehood, the punishment of that returns to him alone. No guilty soul bears the sin of another guilty soul. And God punishes no one until the proof has been established against him by the sending of messengers and the sending down of books.

Tafsir al-Muyassar · Surah Al-Isra 17:15 our rendering · Open the passage

3 In this is evidence that whoever did not know of God's obligation, and whom the call did not reach, and who had no way of learning of it from anyone else — that obligation is not binding upon him, and the proof does not stand against him; the obligation becomes binding upon him only when he comes to know it, and the proof stands against him only when he is able to learn of it.

Al-Tahawi · Ahkam al-Qur'an al-Karim, p. 277 our rendering · Open the passage

4 Four will plead on the Day of Resurrection: a deaf man, a man without reason, a very old man, and a man who died in the interval between prophets. The deaf man will say: Lord, Islam came and I heard nothing. The man without reason will say: Lord, Islam came and the children were pelting me with dung. The old man will say: Lord, Islam came and I could not understand. And the one who died in the interval will say: Lord, no messenger of Yours came to me. So He will take their pledges that they will obey Him, and will send them a messenger: enter the Fire. He said: By Him in whose hand my soul is, had they entered it, it would have been coolness and peace for them.

Al-Aswad ibn Sari' · Ibn Hibban · Sahih Ibn Hibban 7357 · sahih (authentic) our rendering

5 He (peace be upon him) was asked about those who die among the children of the idolaters, and he said: God knows best what they would have done. This is not a suspension of judgement, as some have supposed, nor is it a statement that God will requite them for what He knows they would have done had they lived. It is a decisive answer: God knows what they would have done, and will requite them for what He knows of them according to what appears from them on the Day of Resurrection, not on the strength of His knowledge alone — as the rest of the hadiths state explicitly, and the scholars of hadith agreed that they are tested on the Day of Resurrection: whoever obeys enters the Garden, and whoever disobeys enters the Fire.

Ibn al-Qayyim · I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in 'an Rabb al-'Alamin, p. 208 our rendering · Open the passage

6 Messengers of good cheer and of warning, in order that mankind might have no argument against Allah after the messengers. Allah was ever Mighty, Wise.

Surah An-Nisa 4:165 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

7 And it is evidence that whoever dies an idolater is in the Fire, even if he died before the prophetic mission; because the idolaters had altered the pure monotheism, the religion of Abraham, and had put idolatry in its place and committed it, with no proof from God for it. Its ugliness, and the threat of the Fire for it, never ceased to be known from the religion of all the messengers, from the first of them to the last … And though He, glorified be He, does not punish on the strength of this innate disposition alone, the call of the messengers to the oneness of God never ceased to be known to the people of the earth; so the idolater deserves punishment for his going against the call of the messengers. And God knows best.

Ibn al-Qayyim · Zad al-Ma'ad fi Hady Khayr al-'Ibad, p. 598 our rendering · Open the passage

1 Unto whomsoever of you willeth to walk straight.

Surah At-Takwir (The Overthrowing) 81:28-29 · Open the passage

2 … for whoever among you wills to keep straight upon the truth and upon faith. And you do not will that straightness, nor are you able to bring it about, except by the will of Allah, Lord of all creatures.

Tafsir al-Muyassar - At-Takwir 81:28-29 our rendering · Open the passage

3 They who are idolaters will say: Had Allah willed, we had not ascribed (unto Him) partners neither had our fathers, nor had we forbidden aught. Thus did those who were before them give the lie (to Allah's messengers) till they tasted of the fear of Us. Say: Have ye any knowledge that ye can adduce for Us? Lo! ye follow naught but an opinion, Lo! ye do but guess.

Surah Al-An'am (The Cattle) 6:148 · Open the passage

4 … Say to them, Messenger: do you have any sound knowledge — about the cattle and crops you have forbidden, and about your claim that Allah willed unbelief for you, and was pleased with it from you and loved it for you — that you can bring out for us? In the affairs of this religion you follow nothing but conjecture, and you do nothing but lie.

Tafsir al-Muyassar - Al-An'am 6:148 our rendering · Open the passage

5 Say - For Allah's is the final argument - Had He willed He could indeed have guided all of you.

Surah Al-An'am (The Cattle) 6:149 · Open the passage

6 Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope. For it (is only) that which it hath earned, and against it (only) that which it hath deserved. Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget, or miss the mark! Our Lord! Lay not on us such a burden as thou didst lay on those before us! Our Lord! Impose not on us that which we have not the strength to bear! Pardon us, absolve us and have mercy on us, Thou, our Protector, and give us victory over the disbelieving folk.

Surah Al-Baqara (The Cow) 2:286 · Open the passage

7 Whoever is guided and follows the path of truth, the reward of that comes back to him alone; and whoever turns aside and follows the path of falsehood, the punishment of that comes back to him alone. No guilty soul bears the sin of another guilty soul. And Allah punishes no one until the proof has been established against him by the sending of the messengers and the sending down of the scriptures.

Tafsir al-Muyassar - Al-Isra (The Night Journey) 17:15 our rendering · Open the passage

8 The Lord, Exalted be He, wills of His servant that he act, and the act does not come to pass until He, Glorified be He, wills of Himself that He aid him… So they are two wills: a will of His servant that he act, and a will of Himself that He aid him. The servant has no way to the act except by this will, and he owns nothing of it, as Allah said: "And ye will not, unless (it be) that Allah willeth, the Lord of Creation"… And he has no vessel with him for the gift to be placed in, so whoever comes without a vessel goes back deprived, and let him blame none but himself.

Ibn al-Qayyim - Zad al-Ma'ad, p. 328 our rendering · Open the passage

9 It also reports, from Jabir, that a man said: Messenger of Allah, in what does action lie today? In what the pens have dried upon and the decrees have run with, or in what is still to come? He said: No, rather in what the pens have dried upon and the decrees have run with. The man said: Then what is the point of action? He said: Work, for each is made ready for that for which he was created.

Ibn Rajab - Jami' al-'Ulum wa al-Hikam, p. 482 our rendering · Open the passage

10 Belief in the decree has two degrees. The first is the belief that Allah, Exalted be He, knew beforehand what His servants would do of good and evil, obedience and disobedience, before He created them and brought them into being… and that He prepared reward and punishment for them as a recompense for their deeds, before He created and formed them… The second degree is that Allah created all the acts of His servants — unbelief, faith, obedience and disobedience — and willed them from them. This degree the people of the Sunna and the community affirm, and the Qadariyya deny.

Ibn Rajab - Jami' al-'Ulum wa al-Hikam, p. 102 our rendering · Open the passage

11 By Allah, besides whom there is no god, one of you will do the deeds of the people of Paradise until there is no more than a cubit between him and it, then the writing outstrips him and he does the deeds of the people of the Fire and enters it; and one of you will do the deeds of the people of the Fire until there is no more than a cubit between him and it, then the writing outstrips him and he does the deeds of the people of Paradise and enters it. Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

Ibn Rajab - Jami' al-'Ulum wa al-Hikam, p. 152 our rendering · Open the passage

12 Had Allah, Exalted be He, willed that these idolaters not associate partners with Him, they would not have associated any; but He, Exalted be He, knows what will come of their evil choice and their following of their deviant desires.

Tafsir al-Muyassar - Al-An'am 6:107 our rendering · Open the passage

13 Had Allah known of any good in them He would have made them hear, but had He made them hear they would have turned away, averse.

Surah Al-Anfal (The Spoils of War) 8:23 · Open the passage

14 Lo! We have shown him the way, whether he be grateful or disbelieving.

Surah Al-Insan (Man) 76:3 · Open the passage

1 It was said: O Messenger of God, is it known who the people of Paradise are and who the people of the Fire are? He said: Yes. It was said: Then what are those who act working for? He said: Everyone is made ready for that for which he was created.

Imran ibn Husayn · Muslim · Sahih Muslim 2649 · Sound (sahih) our rendering

2 This hadith states that felicity and wretchedness were already written down beforehand, that this is determined in accordance with deeds, and that each person is made ready for what he was created for among the deeds that are a cause of felicity or of wretchedness.

Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali · Jami' al-'Ulum wa'l-Hikam, p. 168 our rendering · Open the passage

3 Who hath created life and death that He may try you which of you is best in conduct; and He is the Mighty, the Forgiving,

Surat al-Mulk (The Sovereignty) 67:2 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

4 He who created death and life, to test you — O people — as to which of you is best in deed and most sincere in it. And He is the Mighty, whom nothing can defeat, the Forgiving to those of His servants who repent. In the verse there is an encouragement to acts of obedience and a deterrent from committing sins.

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar · Surat al-Mulk (The Sovereignty) 67:2 our rendering · Open the passage

5 And (remember) when thy Lord brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their reins, their seed, and made them testify of themselves, (saying): Am I not your Lord? They said: Yea, verily. We testify. (That was) lest ye should say at the Day of Resurrection: Lo! of this we were unaware;

Surat al-A'raf (The Heights) 7:172 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

6 Whosoever goeth right, it is only for (the good of) his own soul that he goeth right, and whosoever erreth, erreth only to its hurt. No laden soul can bear another's load, We never punish until we have sent a messenger.

Surat al-Isra' (The Night Journey) 17:15 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

7 What he — may God bless him and grant him peace — meant by their being of them is that they follow them in the rulings of this world and in the absence of liability, not that they follow them in the punishment of the hereafter; for God, exalted be He, does not punish anyone until the proof has been established against him.

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya · I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in 'an Rabb al-'Alamin, p. 206 our rendering · Open the passage

8 A world in which nothing hurts is a world in which there is no patience, no courage, no mercy and no self-sacrifice — not because the people in it are wicked, but because these things are measured against what stands opposite them, so that the forms of them we know fall away. … And this is John Hick's position in 'soul-making': that the world is not a pleasure-house badly made, but a place in which persons are formed

The Heaviest Question in the Matter — 6(b) Soul-building: John Hick's 'soul-making' · Open the passage

9 Its limit — and it is the harshest thing in the whole matter: pain that kills its bearer does not build him. A child who dies in his second year has had no character made for him. And some people come out of affliction harder and narrower, not more merciful and larger, and this is seen and not to be denied.

The Heaviest Question in the Matter — the limit of the soul-building answer · Open the passage

10 And when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo! I am about to place a viceroy in the earth, they said: Wilt thou place therein one who will do harm therein and will shed blood, while we, we hymn Thy praise and sanctify Thee? He said: Surely I know that which ye know not.

Surat al-Baqara (The Cow) 2:30 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

11 We said: Go down, all of you, from hence; but verily there cometh unto you from Me a guidance; and whoso followeth My guidance, there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve.

Surat al-Baqara (The Cow) 2:38 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

1 And they say: When we are bones and fragments, shall we forsooth, be raised up as a new creation?

Surah Al-Isra 17:49 · Open the passage

2 …It has been related that when Ubayy ibn Khalaf brought decayed bones, crumbled them and scattered them in the air, and said: O Muhammad, who will give life to bones when they have rotted away! — Allah Most High sent down: "Say: He will revive them Who produced them at the first, for He is Knower of every creation."

Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi · Al-Burhan fi Ulum al-Qur'an, p. 25 our rendering · Open the passage

3 And he hath coined for Us a similitude, and hath forgotten the fact of his creation, saying: Who will revive these bones when they have rotted away?

Surah Ya-Sin 36:78 · Open the passage

4 Say: He will revive them Who produced them at the first, for He is Knower of every creation,

Surah Ya-Sin 36:79 · Open the passage

5 Say to him: He will give them life Who created them the first time, and He knows all His creation; nothing is hidden from Him.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar — Ya-Sin 36:79 our rendering · Open the passage

6 We know that which the earth taketh of them, and with Us is a recording Book.

Surah Qaf 50:4 · Open the passage

7 We know what the earth takes away and consumes of their bodies, and with Us is a preserved Book, guarded from change and alteration, recording all that befalls them in their lives and after their death.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar — Qaf 50:4 our rendering · Open the passage

8 Yea, verily. We are Able to restore his very fingers!

Surah Al-Qiyamah 75:4 · Open the passage

9 …Does this disbelieving man suppose that We shall not be able to gather his bones after they have been scattered? Yes indeed — We shall gather them, being able to make his fingers, or his fingertips — after gathering and joining them — a well-formed creation, just as they were before death.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar — Al-Qiyamah 75:3–4 our rendering · Open the passage

10 "A man entered Paradise who had never done any good deed. When death came to him he said to his family: When I die, burn me, then grind me up, then scatter half of me in the sea and half of me on the land. So Allah commanded the land and the sea, and they gathered him. Then He said: What made you do what you did? He said: Fear of You. So He forgave him for that."

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri · Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut · Takhrij al-Musnad li-Shu'ayb 11096 · sahih (authentic) our rendering

11 Every part of the son of Adam is consumed by the earth except the coccyx: from it he was created, and in it he will be put together again.

Abu Hurayrah · Muslim · Sahih Muslim 2955 · sahih (authentic) our rendering

12 Or (bethink thee of) the like of him who, passing by a township which had fallen into utter ruin, exclaimed: How shall Allah give this township life after its death? And Allah made him die a hundred years, then brought him back to life. He said: How long hast thou tarried? (The man) said: I have tarried a day or part of a day. (He) said: Nay, but thou hast tarried for a hundred years. Just look at thy food and drink which have not rotted! Look at thine ass! And, that We may make thee a token unto mankind, look at the bones, how We adjust them and then cover them with flesh! And when (the matter) became clear unto him, he said: I know now that Allah is Able to do all things.

Surah Al-Baqarah 2:259 · Open the passage

13 And when Abraham said (unto his Lord): My Lord! Show me how Thou givest life to the dead, He said: Dost thou not believe? Abraham said: Yea, but (I ask) in order that my heart may be at ease. (His Lord) said: Take four of the birds and cause them to incline unto thee, then place a part of them on each hill, then call them, they will come to thee in haste, and know that Allah is Mighty, Wise.

Surah Al-Baqarah 2:260 · Open the passage

14 Remember — O Messenger — Abraham's asking his Lord to show him how the dead are raised… He said: Take four birds, draw them to yourself, slaughter them and cut them up, then place a part of them on each hill, then call them and they will come to you in haste. So Abraham, peace be upon him, called them, and behold, each part returned to its place, and they came hastening.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar — Al-Baqarah 2:260 our rendering · Open the passage

15 That We may transfigure you and make you what ye know not.

Surah Al-Waqi'ah 56:61 · Open the passage

1 Whosoever goeth right, it is only for (the good of) his own soul that he goeth right, and whosoever erreth, erreth only to its hurt. No laden soul can bear another's load, We never punish until we have sent a messenger.

Surah al-Isra' (The Night Journey) 17:15 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

2 Whoever is guided and follows the path of truth, the reward of that returns to him alone; and whoever turns aside and follows the path of falsehood, the punishment of that returns to him alone; and no sinful soul bears the sin of another sinful soul. And God punishes no one until the proof has been established against him by the sending of the messengers and the sending down of the scriptures.

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar · al-Isra' (The Night Journey) 17:15 our rendering · Open the passage

3 What he — may God bless him and grant him peace — meant by counting them as belonging to them is that they follow them in the rulings of this world and in there being no liability for them, not that they follow them in the punishment of the hereafter; for God, exalted be he, punishes no one until the proof has been established against him.

Ibn al-Qayyim · I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in 'an Rabb al-'Alamin, p. 206 our rendering · Open the passage

4 And they said: Messenger of God, we are ruined. If we are to be held to account for what we say and for what we do, then as for our hearts, they are not in our hands. So the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said to them: Say, we hear and we obey. They said: We hear and we obey. He said: Then this verse abrogated it — the verse in which the messenger and the believers believe in what was sent down to him from his Lord — through to "Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope. For it (is only) that which it hath earned, and against it (only) that which it hath deserved" — so the talk within their souls was passed over for them, and they were held to their deeds.

Ibn al-Jawzi · Nawasikh al-Qur'an, p. 312 (the closing verse in Pickthall's rendering) our rendering · Open the passage

5 Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope. For it (is only) that which it hath earned, and against it (only) that which it hath deserved. Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget, or miss the mark! Our Lord! Lay not on us such a burden as thou didst lay on those before us! Our Lord! Impose not on us that which we have not the strength to bear! Pardon us, absolve us and have mercy on us, Thou, our Protector, and give us victory over the disbelieving folk.

Surah al-Baqara (The Cow) 2:286 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

6 The correct view is that he is obliged to fear God as much as he is able, and to seek out the truth with his utmost effort and with such knowledge as a man like him has. God, exalted be he, has set up many signs pointing to the truth, and God, glorified and exalted, has not made what he loves and what angers him alike in every respect, such that the one cannot be told from the other. Sound natures must incline to the truth and prefer it, and some signs weighing in its favour must stand up for them, even if by a dream or an inspiration. But if it be supposed that all of this is lifted away, and every sign is absent in his case, then here the obligation falls away from him in the ruling of this particular matter, and with respect to it he becomes like one whom the call never reached.

Ibn al-Qayyim · I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in 'an Rabb al-'Alamin, p. 167 our rendering · Open the passage

7 And notice the restriction in the third premise: 'non-resistant'. So whoever answers the argument with 'the evidence is plain and the denier is being obstinate' has not addressed it at all — he has addressed a different argument.

12. The heaviest question in the field — 5. A separate matter: divine hiddenness · Open the passage

8 And the burden here is heavy on the believer, and I will not lighten it. The best-known volume on the question is built on disagreement: chapters by believers and atheists and agnostics contradicting one another, and its two editors declare that the question is open.

12. The heaviest question in the field — 5. A separate matter: divine hiddenness · Open the passage

9 And this is the soundest thing said, to my mind, because it alone attacks the structure of the argument (premise 3) and not its conclusion. And its price is that hanging the matter on a thin conception of relationship weakens the claim of perfect love itself

12. The heaviest question in the field — table of replies to the hiddenness argument our rendering · Open the passage

1 Whosoever goeth right, it is only for (the good of) his own soul that he goeth right, and whosoever erreth, erreth only to its hurt. No laden soul can bear another's load, We never punish until we have sent a messenger.

Surah Al-Isra 17:15 · Open the passage

2 Whoever is guided and follows the path of truth, the reward of that returns to him alone; and whoever turns away and follows the path of falsehood, the punishment of that returns to him alone. No sinful soul bears the sin of another sinful soul. And God punishes no one until the proof has been established against him by the sending of messengers and the sending down of books.

Tafsir al-Muyassar - Al-Isra 17:15 our rendering · Open the passage

3 The Messenger of God was asked about the children of the idolaters, and he said: God knows best what they would have been doing.

Abu Hurayrah - al-Albani - Takhrij Kitab al-Sunnah 209 - hasan (good) our rendering

4 "He (peace be upon him) was asked about those who die among the children of the idolaters, and he said: God knows best what they would have been doing." This is not a withholding of judgement, as some have supposed, nor is it a statement that God will requite them for what He knows they would have done had they lived. It is a decisive answer: God knows what they would have done, and He will requite them for what He knows of them by what appears from them on the Day of Resurrection, not by His knowledge alone — as the rest of the hadiths state plainly, and as the people of hadith agree, that they are tested on the Day of Resurrection; whoever obeys enters the Garden, and whoever disobeys enters the Fire.

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya - I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in 'an Rabb al-'Alamin, p. 208 our rendering · Open the passage

5 "He (peace be upon him) was asked about the people of a settlement of the idolaters who are raided by night, so that some of their children and women are struck, and he said: They are of them." This is a sound hadith. What he (peace be upon him) meant by their being of them is following them in the rulings of this world and the absence of liability, not following them in the punishment of the hereafter; for God, exalted be He, does not punish anyone until the proof has been established against him.

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya - I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in 'an Rabb al-'Alamin, p. 206 our rendering · Open the passage

6 And his saying: "Every child is born upon the natural disposition, and then his parents make him a Jew, or a Christian, or a Magian, just as an animal brings forth a whole animal: do you find any mutilated among them? Abu Hurayrah said: Recite, if you wish: the natural disposition of God upon which He created people; there is no changing the creation of God [Al-Rum 30:30]."

Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali - Jami' al-'Ulum wa al-Hikam, p. 99 our rendering · Open the passage

7 And for all there will be ranks from what they do, that He may pay them for their deeds; and they will not be wronged.

Surah Al-Ahqaf 46:19 · Open the passage

8 Each group, the people of good and the people of evil, has ranks with God on the Day of Resurrection, according to the deeds they did in this world, each in keeping with his level; and so that God may pay them in full the recompense of their deeds, and they are not wronged by any increase in their evil deeds or any decrease in their good ones.

Tafsir al-Muyassar - Al-Ahqaf 46:19 our rendering · Open the passage

9 … That indicates (1) the confirmation of the prohibition against killing the children of the idolaters in the land of war (2). The Sunnah likewise indicates it (3), along with what the Book indicates: the forbidding of killing without right (4).

Al-Shafi'i (collected by al-Bayhaqi) - Ahkam al-Qur'an of al-Shafi'i, p. 266 our rendering · Open the passage

1 Couldst thou but see when the guilty hang their heads before their Lord, (and say): Our Lord! We have now seen and heard, so send us back; we will do right, now we are sure.

Surah al-Sajdah 32:12 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

2 And if We had so willed, We could have given every soul its guidance, but the word from Me concerning evildoers took effect: that I will fill hell with the jinn and mankind together.

Surah al-Sajdah 32:13 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

3 Had We willed, We would have given these who associate others with God their right guidance and the grace to believe. But the word from Me took effect and fell due: that I shall fill hell with the people of disbelief and disobedience, of jinn and mankind together; and that is because they chose misguidance over guidance.

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar, on al-Sajdah 32:13 our rendering · Open the passage

4 "And if We had so willed, We could have given every soul its guidance" — two objects. It is said that there are two views of its meaning. One of them is that the flow of the passage shows it to be in the hereafter, that is: had We willed, We would have returned them to the world and to the trial, as they asked. "But the word from Me took effect: that I shall fill hell with the jinn and mankind together", that is: the word from Me took effect that I shall punish with the punishment of hell whoever disobeyed Me. And God, mighty and majestic, knew that if He returned them they would return, as He said: "And if they were sent back they would return unto that which they are forbidden" [al-An'am: 28].

Abu Ja'far al-Nahhas, I'rab al-Qur'an, p. 200 our rendering · Open the passage

5 That I shall fill hell with thee and with such of them as follow thee, together.

Surah Sad 38:82-85 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

6 He said: Go forth from hence, degraded, banished. As for such of them as follow thee, surely I will fill hell with all of you.

Surah al-A'raf 7:18 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

7 The punishment became due upon most of these disbelievers, after the truth was set before them and they refused it. They do not believe in God or in His Messenger, and they do not act by His law.

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar, on Ya-Sin 36:7 our rendering · Open the passage

8 And if thy Lord willed, all who are in the earth would have believed together. Wouldst thou (Muhammad) compel men until they are believers?

Surah Yunus 10:99 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

9 Save him on whom thy Lord hath mercy; and for that He did create them. And the Word of thy Lord hath been fulfilled: Verily I shall fill hell with the jinn and mankind together.

Surah Hud 11:119 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

10 His wisdom, glorified and exalted, required that He create them differing: one party wretched and one party happy, and each made ready for what he was created for. By this the promise of your Lord in His judgment and His decree is fulfilled: that He, glorified be He, will fill hell with the jinn and mankind who followed Iblis and his hosts and did not find their way to faith.

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar, on Hud 11:119 our rendering · Open the passage

11 Nay, but that hath become clear unto them which before they used to hide. And if they were sent back they would return unto that which they are forbidden. Lo! they are liars.

Surah al-An'am 6:28 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

1 And ordain for us in this world that which is good, and in the Hereafter (that which is good), Lo! We have turned unto Thee. He said: I smite with My punishment whom I will, and My mercy embraceth all things, therefore I shall ordain it for those who ward off (evil) and pay the poor-due, and those who believe Our revelations;

Surah al-A'raf 7:156 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

2 And He also said in al-An'am: {Your Lord has prescribed mercy for Himself} (al-An'am: 54), and that is brief; and He expanded it here in His words: {My mercy embraceth all things, therefore I shall ordain it for those who ward off (evil)} (156) to the end of the verse — so He made clear those for whom He ordained it.

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, Asrar Tartib al-Qur'an (The Secrets of the Order of the Qur'an), p. 86 our rendering · Open the passage

3 "He said: I smite with My punishment whom I will" — that is, those whom I will, meaning those who deserve it. "And My mercy embraceth all things" — that is, whoever enters into it, it does not fall short of him. And it is said: it embraces every thing among created beings, so that even the beast has mercy and tenderness toward its young.

Abu Ja'far al-Nahhas, I'rab al-Qur'an (The Grammatical Analysis of the Qur'an), p. 74 our rendering · Open the passage

4 And of this is His saying, exalted be He: {As for those who are wretched, they are in the Fire; theirs therein is sighing and wailing. Abiding there so long as the heavens and the earth endure save for that which thy Lord willeth}. For when He, glorified be He, knew that the description of wretchedness covers both the disobedient believer and the unbeliever, He made an exception from the ruling of everlasting stay in the Fire in wording that holds out hope, in that He set down an unrestricted exception, and He confirmed it with His saying: {Lo! thy Lord is Doer of what He will}, meaning that there is no objection against Him in bringing the people of wretchedness out of the Fire. And when He knew that the people of felicity have no going out from the Garden, He confirmed their everlasting stay after the exception with what removes the very ground of the exception, where He said {a gift not …

Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi, al-Burhan fi 'Ulum al-Qur'an (The Proof in the Sciences of the Qur'an), p. 48 our rendering · Open the passage

5 Abiding there so long as the heavens and the earth endure save for that which thy Lord willeth. Lo! thy Lord is Doer of what He will.

Surah Hud 11:107 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

6 As for those who were wretched in this world through the corruption of their belief and the evil of their deeds, the Fire is their resting place. In it they have sighing and wailing from the severity of the torment they are in, and these are the most hideous and ugliest of sounds. They remain in the Fire forever, so long as the heavens and the earth endure; their torment is not cut off and does not come to an end, but is lasting and confirmed — except for what your Lord wills: the bringing out of the disobedient among those who profess God's oneness, after a period of their stay in the Fire. Your Lord — O Messenger — does whatever He wills.

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar (The Simplified Commentary) · Hud 11:107 our rendering · Open the passage

7 God, Mighty and Majestic, said: My mercy has outstripped My wrath.

Abu Hurayra · Muslim · Sahih Muslim 2751 · sahih (sound) our rendering

8 When God had decreed the creation, He wrote in His book, which is with Him above the Throne: My mercy has overcome My wrath.

Abu Hurayra · al-Bukhari · Sahih al-Bukhari 3194 · sahih (sound) our rendering

9 And as for those who do evil, their retreat is the Fire. Whenever they desire to issue forth from thence, they are brought back thither. Unto them it is said: Taste the torment of the Fire which ye used to deny.

Surah al-Sajda 32:20 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

10 {Remaining therein for ages}. It is said: "A huqb is eighty years. And this is not among the things that indicate an end point, as some people suppose. What indicates an end point is a fixed count: five ages, or ten. What is meant is that they remain in it for ages, and whenever one age passes, another age follows it."

Ibn Qutayba al-Dinawari, Gharib al-Qur'an (The Rare Words of the Qur'an), p. 508 our rendering · Open the passage

11 Say — O Messenger — to these idolaters: To whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them? Say: It belongs to God, as you yourselves acknowledge and know, so worship Him alone. God has prescribed mercy for Himself, so He does not hasten punishment upon His servants.

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar (The Simplified Commentary) · al-An'am 6:12 our rendering · Open the passage

12 And what I see in those I have read and talked with — and it is a sample and not a survey, so take it for what it is worth: that the leaving happens at eternity in the fire as the wage of a sin that comes to an end, and at the verses on slavery and captives, … These are the doors, and they are not in these chapters.

Before the Three Chapters: To One Who Read and Then Left · Open the passage

1 Lo! Those who disbelieve Our revelations, We shall expose them to the Fire. As often as their skins are consumed We shall exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the torment. Lo! Allah is ever Mighty, Wise.

Surah An-Nisa (The Women) 4:56 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

2 If someone says: the skin that disobeyed has been replaced by a skin that did not disobey — that is a mistaken thing to say, because the one who disobeys and the one who feels the pain is the human being, not the skin. It is also possible that what is replaced is the burning itself, and the skin is restored as his first skin was, as you say: I have cast from my ring another ring; you have changed the casting, but the silver is one and the same.

Abu Ishaq al-Zajjaj, Ma'ani al-Qur'an wa I'rabuh (The Meanings and Grammar of the Qur'an), p. 64 our rendering · Open the passage

3 His words, {We replaced them with other skins}, mean: other than they were in their burnt state, because God renews them, so the punishment upon them is more severe. They are those very skins that disobeyed God, except that the burning has been removed from them — as one man says to another, 'You today are other than you were yesterday,' while he is that same man, only that something has been taken from him or added to him.

Al-Akhfash al-Awsat, Ma'ani al-Qur'an (The Meanings of the Qur'an), p. 329 our rendering · Open the passage

4 Those who denied what God sent down of His signs, the revelation of His Book, His proofs and His arguments — We shall admit them into a Fire whose heat they will endure. Whenever their skins are burned away, We replace them with other skins, so that their punishment and their pain may continue. God is Mighty, nothing being beyond Him, and Wise in His ordering and His decree.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar (The Simplified Commentary) — An-Nisa 4:56 our rendering · Open the passage

5 Reward proportioned (to their evil deeds).

Surah An-Naba (The Tidings) 78:26 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

6 They are recompensed with that: a just recompense, matching the deeds they used to do in the world.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar (The Simplified Commentary) — An-Naba 78:26 our rendering · Open the passage

7 Whosoever goeth right, it is only for (the good of) his own soul that he goeth right, and whosoever erreth, erreth only to its hurt. No laden soul can bear another's load, We never punish until we have sent a messenger.

Surah Al-Isra (The Night Journey) 17:15 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

8 The lightest in punishment among the people of the Fire on the Day of Resurrection is a man under the arches of whose feet are two embers, from which his brain boils as a cauldron and a kettle boil.

Al-Nu'man ibn Bashir · al-Bukhari · Sahih al-Bukhari 6562 · sahih (authentic) our rendering

9 Then will it be said unto those who dealt unjustly Taste the torment of eternity. Are ye requited aught save what ye used to earn?

Surah Yunus (Jonah) 10:52 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

10 When God had decreed the creation, He wrote in His Book, which is with Him above the Throne: My mercy has overcome My wrath.

Abu Hurayrah · al-Bukhari · Sahih al-Bukhari 3194 · sahih (authentic) our rendering

11 And He is, together with that, Wise in what He ordains, because those who deny may ask about the punishment, how it came to be; so God made known that everything He has done is done with wisdom.

Abu Ishaq al-Zajjaj, Ma'ani al-Qur'an wa I'rabuh (The Meanings and Grammar of the Qur'an), p. 65 our rendering · Open the passage

1 And (there are) fair ones with wide, lovely eyes,

Surah Al-Waqi'ah (The Event) 56:22 · Open the passage

2 And voluptuous women of equal age;

Surah An-Naba (The Tidings) 78:33 · Open the passage

3 A similitude of the Garden which those who keep their duty (to Allah) are promised: Therein are rivers of water unpolluted, and rivers of milk whereof the flavour changeth not, and rivers of wine delicious to the drinkers, and rivers of clear-run honey; therein for them is every kind of fruit, with pardon from their Lord. (Are those who enjoy all this) like those who are immortal in the Fire and are given boiling water to drink so that it teareth their bowels?

Surah Muhammad 47:15 · Open the passage

4 We brought the women of the people of Paradise into being in a creation other than the creation that was theirs in this world, a complete creation that admits no passing away. We made them virgins, endeared to their husbands, all of one age. We created them for the Companions of the Right.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar on Surah Al-Waqi'ah (The Event) 56:35 our rendering · Open the passage

5 Therein are brought round for them trays of gold and goblets, and therein is all that souls desire and eyes find sweet. And ye are immortal therein.

Surah Az-Zukhruf (Ornaments of Gold) 43:71 · Open the passage

6 No soul knoweth what is kept hid for them of joy, as a reward for what they used to do.

Surah As-Sajdah (The Prostration) 32:17 · Open the passage

7 Satan seeketh only to cast among you enmity and hatred by means of strong drink and games of chance, and to turn you from remembrance of Allah and from (His) worship. Will ye then have done?

Surah Al-Ma'idah (The Table Spread) 5:91 · Open the passage

8 Wherein there is no headache nor are they made mad thereby.

Surah As-Saffat (Those Who Set The Ranks) 37:47 · Open the passage

9 {Therein is no ghawl}: that is, it does not assail their minds and carry them away. It is said: "Wine is a ghawl of forbearance, and war is a ghawl of souls." And one says: ghalani ghawlan. And al-ghawl also means distance.

Ibn Qutaybah al-Dinawari, Gharib al-Qur'an, p. 368 our rendering · Open the passage

10 (nor are they made mad thereby): they do not become intoxicated. Al-nazif is the drunkard; he is called nazif and manzuf only because his mind has been drained away.

Al-Zajjaj, Ma'ani al-Qur'an wa-I'rabuh, p. 109 our rendering · Open the passage

11 Allah promiseth to the believers, men and women, Gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide - blessed dwellings in Gardens of Eden. And - greater (far)! - acceptance from Allah. That is the supreme triumph.

Surah At-Tawbah (Repentance) 9:72 · Open the passage

12 Whoso doeth an ill-deed, he will be repaid the like thereof, while whoso doeth right, whether male or female, and is a believer, (all) such will enter the Garden, where they will be nourished without stint.

Surah Ghafir (The Forgiver) 40:40 · Open the passage

13 (K) Al-Tirmidhi reported it, and graded it hasan, by way of Ikrimah, from Umm Umarah al-Ansariyyah, that she came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said: I see that everything is for the men; I do not see the women mentioned with anything. Then there came down the verse naming the men who submit and the women who submit.

Al-Suyuti, Lubab al-Nuqul fi Asbab al-Nuzul, p. 173 our rendering · Open the passage

14 ... Umm Salamah said: Messenger of Allah, I do not hear Allah mention the women in the emigration with anything. So Allah, exalted be He, sent down: "And their Lord hath heard them (and He saith): Lo! I suffer not the work of any worker, male or female, to be lost", to the end of the verse. Al-Hakim Abu Abdullah related it in his Sahih ...

Al-Wahidi, Asbab Nuzul al-Qur'an, p. 138 our rendering · Open the passage

15 So Allah answered their supplication: He does not let the effort of any of them who does a righteous deed go to waste, male or female; and they are equal in the brotherhood of religion, in the acceptance of deeds, and in the reward for them ...

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar on Surah Al Imran (The Family of Imran) 3:195 our rendering · Open the passage

1 Let him who hath abundance spend of his abundance, and he whose provision is measured, let him spend of that which Allah hath given him. Allah asketh naught of any soul save that which He hath given it. Allah will vouchsafe, after hardship, ease.

Surah al-Talaq (Divorce) 65:7 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

2 …and whoever has been straitened in his provision — that is, the poor man — let him spend of what God has given him of provision. The poor man is not charged with the like of what the rich man is charged with. God will grant, after straitness and hardship, ease and sufficiency.

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar · Surah al-Talaq (Divorce) 65:7 our rendering · Open the passage

3 "Allah asketh naught of any soul save that which He hath given it" — al-Suddi said: God does not charge the poor man with the spending of the rich. And Ibn Zayd said: the poor man is not charged with paying the alms-tax or giving in charity.

Abu Ja'far al-Nahhas · I'rab al-Qur'an, p. 298 our rendering · Open the passage

4 Whosoever goeth right, it is only for (the good of) his own soul that he goeth right, and whosoever erreth, erreth only to its hurt. No laden soul can bear another's load, We never punish until we have sent a messenger.

Surah al-Isra' (The Night Journey) 17:15 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

5 Whoever is guided and follows the path of truth, the reward of that returns to him alone; and whoever turns away and follows the path of falsehood, the punishment of that returns to him alone. No sinning soul bears the sin of another sinning soul. And God punishes no one until the proof has been established against him by the sending of messengers and the sending down of books.

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar · Surah al-Isra' (The Night Journey) 17:15 our rendering · Open the passage

6 As for man, whenever his Lord trieth him by honouring him, and is gracious unto him, he saith: My Lord honoureth me.

Surah al-Fajr (The Dawn) 89:15–17 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

7 It is not as this man supposes. Rather, honour lies in obedience to God, and humiliation in disobedience to Him; and you do not honour the orphan, nor treat him well…

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar · Surah al-Fajr (The Dawn) 89:17 our rendering · Open the passage

8 God does not look at your forms or your wealth, but He looks at your hearts and your deeds.

Abu Hurayrah · Muslim · Sahih Muslim 2564 · sahih (authentic) our rendering

9 The most severely tried of people are the prophets, then those nearest to them, then the next. A man is tried according to his religion: if he is firm in his religion his trial is made severe, and if there is softness in his religion he is tried according to his religion. Trial does not leave the servant until it leaves him walking on the earth with no sin upon him.

Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas · Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut · Takhrij Siyar A'lam al-Nubala' 9/160 · sahih (authentic) our rendering

10 "We never punish until we have sent a messenger" — on this there are two views. One is that the meaning is: We were not punishing with the punishment that comes as a penalty for going against something that can be known only by being informed of it, until We send a messenger. The other is that what is meant is the punishment of utter destruction.

Abu Ja'far al-Nahhas · I'rab al-Qur'an, p. 267 our rendering · Open the passage

11 And here is the crux of the matter: the objection is entirely sound against a man who has never examined anything at all. And whoever inherited the belief and never put a single question to it is, in this, in the same case as the man who inherited its contrary and never put a question to it. And that takes in most of us, not most of them — and I say it without dressing it up: many of the religious have not examined, and many of those who have left have not examined, and the two parties throw at each other a single charge that is true of them both.

Chapter 16, "If I Had Been Born in India" · Open the passage

12 As for your own question, my answer to it is one: why this particular measure? Why this particular child? I do not know. And I know of no one who knows. And everyone who has told you otherwise either did not understand your question, or judged his own silence to weigh on him more heavily than words he does not possess.

Chapter 12, "The Heaviest Question in the Matter" · Open the passage

1 The forgiveness is not for those who do ill-deeds until, when death attendeth upon one of them, he saith: Lo! I repent now; nor yet for those who die while they are disbelievers. For such We have prepared a painful doom.

Surah An-Nisa (Women) 4:18 · Open the passage

2 Repentance is not accepted from those who persist in committing sins and do not return to their Lord until the death agonies come upon them, and then one of them says: I repent now. Nor is repentance accepted from those who die denying and rejecting the oneness of God and the message of His Messenger Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace. For those who persisted in sin until they died, and the deniers who die as disbelievers, We have prepared a painful punishment.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar - An-Nisa 4:18 our rendering · Open the passage

3 And We brought the Children of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh with his hosts pursued them in rebellion and transgression, till, when the (fate of) drowning overtook him, he exclaimed: I believe that there is no Allah save Him in Whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of those who surrender (unto Him).

Surah Yunus (Jonah) 10:90 · Open the passage

4 Now, Pharaoh? Now that death has come down upon you, you confess your servitude to God, when you disobeyed Him before His punishment came down upon you, and you were one of the corrupters who turned people away from His path! Repentance is of no use to you at the hour of the death agony, when you see death and the punishment.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar - Yunus 10:91 our rendering · Open the passage

5 Forgiveness is only incumbent on Allah toward those who do evil in ignorance (and) then turn quickly (in repentance) to Allah. These are they toward whom Allah relenteth. Allah is ever Knower, Wise.

Surah An-Nisa (Women) 4:17 · Open the passage

6 ... and He did not give weight to the killer's repentance and remorse before he is caught, while He did give weight to the brigand's repentance before he is caught ...

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya - I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in 'an Rabb al-'Alamin, p. 39 our rendering · Open the passage

7 ... I am the Owner, I am the Judge. No one of the people of Paradise shall enter Paradise while anyone of the people of the Fire holds a claim of wrong against him, even a slap; and no one of the people of the Fire shall enter the Fire while anyone of the people of Paradise holds a claim of wrong against him, even a slap ... He said: We said to him: How, when we come to God barefoot, naked and uncircumcised? He said: "Out of good deeds and bad deeds."

Ibn Abd al-Barr - Jami' Bayan al-'Ilm wa-Fadlih, p. 677 our rendering · Open the passage

8 Whosoever goeth right, it is only for (the good of) his own soul that he goeth right, and whosoever erreth, erreth only to its hurt. No laden soul can bear another's load, We never punish until we have sent a messenger.

Surah al-Isra (The Night Journey) 17:15 · Open the passage

9 Whoever is guided and follows the path of truth, the reward of that returns to him alone; and whoever turns aside and follows the path of falsehood, the punishment of that returns to him alone. No sinful soul bears the sin of another sinful soul. And God punishes no one until the proof has been established against him by the sending of messengers and the sending down of books.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar - al-Isra 17:15 our rendering · Open the passage

10 Rights are of two kinds: the right of God and the right of a human being. The right of God admits no compromise settlement, such as the prescribed penalties, the alms, the expiations and the like; the settlement between a servant and his Lord lies in carrying them out, not in neglecting them ... As for the rights of human beings, these are the ones that admit settlement, waiver, and compensation.

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya - I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in 'an Rabb al-'Alamin, p. 84 our rendering · Open the passage

11 And slay not the life which Allah hath forbidden save with right. Whoso is slain wrongfully, We have given power unto his heir, but let him not commit excess in slaying. Lo! he will be helped.

Surah al-Isra (The Night Journey) 17:33 · Open the passage

12 Whoso slayeth a believer of set purpose, his reward is hell for ever. Allah is wroth against him and He hath cursed him and prepared for him an awful doom.

Surah An-Nisa (Women) 4:93 · Open the passage

13 It has been related from Ibn Abbas what indicates that he intended severity by this statement. ... that Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with him, used to say: there is repentance for one who has killed a believer. Then a man came to him and asked: is there repentance for one who has killed a believer? He said: No, nothing but the Fire. When the man had left, those sitting with him said: This is not how you used to answer us; you used to tell us that one who kills a believer deliberately has a repentance that is accepted, so what is the matter today? He said: I think he is a man in a rage who wants to kill a believer. So they sent someone after him and found him to be just that.

Ibn al-Jawzi - Nawasikh al-Qur'an, p. 388 our rendering · Open the passage

1 If thou couldst see when they are set before the Fire and say: Oh, would that we might return! Then would we not deny the revelations of our Lord but we would be of the believers!

Surah al-An'am (The Cattle) 6:27 · Open the passage

2 Nay, but that hath become clear unto them which before they used to hide. And if they were sent back they would return unto that which they are forbidden. Lo! they are liars.

Surah al-An'am (The Cattle) 6:28 · Open the passage

3 It is not so. Rather, there became clear to them on the Day of Resurrection what they had known in themselves of the truth of what the messengers brought in this world, even while they showed their followers the opposite of it. And were it supposed that they were returned to this world and granted respite, they would go back to their obstinacy in unbelief and denial. And they are liars in their saying: were we returned to this world we would not deny the signs of our Lord, and we would be of the believers.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar - Surah al-An'am 6:28 our rendering · Open the passage

4 And in the Book of God, Mighty and Majestic: {And if they were sent back they would return unto that which they are forbidden. Lo! they are liars.} A questioner asks and says: how were they liars when they had not yet returned? [And] they would only be liars once they returned. ... Or one says: {Lo! they are liars} means the lying and unbelief they came to the Day of Resurrection with, for those who entered the Fire were liars and unbelievers.

Al-Akhfash al-Awsat (d. 215 AH) - Ma'ani al-Qur'an, p. 329 our rendering · Open the passage

5 Because this saying of theirs comes after they have been raised, have learned the matter of the Resurrection, and have seen the Fire with their own eyes. The meaning is that most of those among the Jews and the idolaters who saw plainly had already known that the command of God is true, yet inclined to ease and to the thought that the matter was still deferred for a term, as Iblis did, who had witnessed of God's proofs what nothing surpasses. So God, Mighty and Majestic, made it known that were they sent back they would return, because they disbelieved after the proof had become binding upon them.

Abu Ishaq al-Zajjaj (d. 311 AH) - Ma'ani al-Qur'an wa-I'rabuh, p. 239 our rendering · Open the passage

6 This day no soul is wronged in aught; nor are ye requited aught save what ye used to do.

Surah Ya-Sin 36:54 · Open the passage

7 And they cry for help there, (saying): Our Lord! Release us; we will do right, not (the wrong) that we used to do. Did not We grant you a life long enough for him who reflected to reflect therein? And the warner came unto you. Now taste (the flavour of your deeds), for evil-doers have no helper.

Surah Fatir (The Originator) 35:37 · Open the passage

8 These unbelievers cry out from the severity of the punishment in the Fire of Hell, calling for help: Our Lord, bring us out of the Fire of Hell and return us to the world, that we may do righteous work other than what we used to do in our worldly life, believing instead of disbelieving. So He says to them: did We not give you, in this life, a sufficient measure of years, in which whoever would take heed could take heed, and the Prophet, God bless him and grant him peace, came to you - and even so you did not remember and did not take heed? ...

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar - Surah Fatir 35:37 our rendering · Open the passage

9 And His saying: (And if they were sent back they would return unto that which they are forbidden) ... And this shows that they are moulded upon evil, habituated to contravening what is forbidden and what is commanded.

Abu Bakr al-Baqillani (d. 403 AH) - I'jaz al-Qur'an, p. 96 our rendering · Open the passage

10 And notice the restriction in the third premise: 'non-resistant'. So whoever answers the argument with 'the evidence is plain and the denier is being obstinate' has not addressed it at all — he has addressed a different argument.

12. The Heaviest Question in the Chapter — §5 Divine Hiddenness · Open the passage

1 And when the girl-child that was buried alive is asked

Surah al-Takwir (The Overthrowing) 81:8-9 · Open the passage

2 And when the infant girl buried alive is asked on the Day of Resurrection — a question to console her and to rebuke the one who buried her: for what sin was she buried?

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar · Surah al-Takwir (The Overthrowing) 81:8-9 our rendering · Open the passage

3 Do you know who the bankrupt is? They said: The bankrupt among us is one who has no coin and no goods. He said: The bankrupt of my nation is one who comes on the Day of Resurrection with prayer, and fasting, and alms, and comes having insulted this one, and slandered that one, and consumed the wealth of this one, and shed the blood of that one, and struck this one. So this one is given from his good deeds, and that one from his good deeds; and if his good deeds run out before what he owes is settled, their sins are taken and cast upon him, then he is cast into the Fire.

Abu Hurayra · Muslim · Sahih Muslim 2581 · Sahih (authentic) our rendering

4 Whoever has done his brother a wrong, let him obtain release from him for it, for there is neither dinar nor dirham there, before it is taken for his brother from his good deeds; and if he has no good deeds, his brother's bad deeds are taken and cast upon him.

Abu Hurayra · al-Bukhari · Sahih al-Bukhari 6534 · Sahih (authentic) our rendering

5 redress after death is compensation, not justification. And it is exactly what Adams drew attention to: that the afflicted be made whole after his affliction is one thing, and that there be in the affliction itself a good justifying the permission of it is quite another. And whoever offers compensation as an answer to the question of justification has changed the question.

12. The heaviest question in the field · Open the passage

6 Then too, it does not answer 'why did the pain happen' at all; it answers a different question: will it be left without redress? And the difference between the two questions is everything — and whoever runs them together has promised what he does not deliver.

12. The heaviest question in the field · Open the passage

1 Say: Unto Allah belongeth all intercession. His is the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth. And afterward unto Him ye will be brought back.

Surah Az-Zumar (The Troops) 39:44 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

2 Say, O Messenger, to these idolaters: to Allah belongs all intercession; His is the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. The whole matter belongs to Allah alone, and none may intercede with Him except by His leave, … so intercession must be sought from the One who owns it, and worship must be devoted to Him alone.

Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar (The Simplified Exegesis) · Surah Az-Zumar (The Troops) 39:44 our rendering · Open the passage

3 On that day no intercession availeth save (that of) him unto whom the Beneficent hath given leave and whose word He accepteth.

Surah Ta Ha 20:109 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

4 The mediation of no mediators will avail them then.

Surah Al-Muddaththir (The Cloaked One) 74:48 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

5 Both of these verses concern the Children of Israel. They used to say that they were the sons of the prophets and the sons of their sons, and that our fathers will intercede for us; so Allah informed them that intercession will not avail them, and that no soul will pay anything on behalf of another.

Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi · Al-Burhan fi Ulum al-Qur'an (The Proof in the Sciences of the Qur'an), p. 123 our rendering · Open the passage

6 And We set a just balance for the Day of Resurrection so that no soul is wronged in aught. Though it be of the weight of a grain of mustard seed, We bring it. And We suffice for reckoners.

Surah Al-Anbiya (The Prophets) 21:47 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

7 Lo! Allah wrongeth not even of the weight of an ant; and if there is a good deed, He will double it and will give (the doer) from His presence an immense reward.

Surah An-Nisa (Women) 4:40 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

8 O ye who believe! spend of that wherewith We have provided you ere a day come when there will be no trafficking, nor friendship, nor intercession. The disbelievers, they are the wrong-doers.

Surah Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2:254 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage

9 And that no one will attain an atom of good or more except by His bounty and His mercy, nor an atom of evil or more except by His justice and His wisdom.

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti · Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur'an (The Perfection in the Sciences of the Qur'an), p. 93 our rendering · Open the passage

10 He says: he is not wronged by being made to bear another's sin. And the words that deny deprivation mean that nothing is cut away from him, so that his good deeds are diminished. One says hadamahu and ihtadamahu when he deprives a man of his due.

Muhammad ibn Uzayr al-Sijistani · Gharib al-Qur'an, known as Nuzhat al-Qulub (The Rare Words of the Qur'an, known as The Delight of Hearts), p. 492 our rendering · Open the passage

11 Lo! Allah forgiveth not that a partner should be ascribed unto Him. He forgiveth (all) save that to whom He will. Whoso ascribeth partners to Allah, he hath indeed invented a tremendous sin.

Surah An-Nisa (Women) 4:48 — Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930) · Open the passage