سورة الأعراف

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) narrates from his father Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), who said: I asked my father Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) about the word of Allah the Exalted: فَمَنْ ثَقُلَتْ مَوازینُهُ فَأُولئِکَ هُمُ المُفْلِحُونَ [Then as for him whose measure (of good deeds) is heavy, those are they who shall be successful]. He said: "It was revealed concerning us."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): The Noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said to Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him): "O Ali! You are the judge of this Ummah and the one in charge of their reckoning, and on the Day of Resurrection you are the greatest pillar of Allah. Indeed, the return is to you, the reckoning is upon you, the path is your path, the scale and measure is your measure, and the standing-place is your standing-place."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): In some of the ziyarats of our master Ali (peace be upon him) it has come [and he is addressed thus]: Peace be upon you, O scale by which deeds are weighed. And in another ziyarat it has come: Peace [be upon you, O] superior scale and best criterion of measurement.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): فَمَنْ ثَقُلَتْ مَوازِینُهُ وَ مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوازِینُهُ [Then as for him whose measure is heavy, and him whose measure is light]; nothing is intended but the reckoning, and good deeds and bad deeds are weighed, and the good deeds are the heaviness of the scale and the bad deeds are the lightness of the scale.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Ali (peace be upon him) said: "Truthfulness is the sword of Allah on His earth and in His heaven; wherever it falls, it cleaves in two. Now if you wish to know whether you are truthful or a liar, look into your own heart and pay attention to your claim, and align it with the scale of Allah, for Allah says: وَ الْوَزْنُ یَوْمَئِذٍ الحَقُّ [And the measuring out on that day will be just] — on the Day of Resurrection deeds are weighed by the truth and are examined. Whenever your inner self is one with your claim, your truthfulness is established."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said: The meaning of the verse فَمَنْ ثَقُلَتْ مَوازِینُهُ فَأُولئِکَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ وَ مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوازِینُهُ [As for him whose measure is heavy, those are the successful ones, and as for him whose measure is light] is the smallness or greatness of the reckoning. On that day, people will be in various ranks and stations. Some of them will be given an easy reckoning and will return joyfully to his family (Inshiqaq/8-9). Some of them will enter Paradise without any reckoning, because they did not involve themselves in the affairs of the world at all; the reckoning there is only for one who involved himself in it here. And some of them will be called to account for the smallest and most trivial things, and thereafter will enter the flame of the Fire. And some of them are the leaders of disbelief, the chiefs of misguidance and the masters of oppression and wretchedness; therefore on the Day of Resurrection no measure will be set up for them (Kahf/105). This group, on the Day of Resurrection, before their Lord, will be devoid of any weight, worth or attention, because in this world they paid no attention whatsoever to the command and prohibition of the Truth until the Day of Resurrection. And they will remain in Hell forever! The burning flames of the Fire will strike their faces like swords, and in the Fire they will have grim, scowling faces (Muminun/103-104).

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ الْوَزْنُ یَوْمَئِذٍ الحَقُّ [And the weighing on that day is just]; the recompense is in accordance with the deeds — if the deed is good, one sees a good recompense, and if the deed is evil, an evil recompense is given to him. And this [interpretation] is the saying of Allah: فَمَنْ ثَقُلَتْ مَوازِینُهُ فَأُولئِکَ هُمُ المُفْلِحُونَ [As for him whose measure is heavy, those are the successful ones]. And وَ مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوازِینُهُ فَأُولئِکَ الَّذِینَ خَسِرُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ بِما کانُوا بِآیاتِنا یَظْلِمُونَ [And as for him whose measure is light, those are they who have lost their souls because they wronged Our signs]; [what is meant by their having wronged the divine signs is that] they deny the Imams (peace be upon them).

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Muhammad said: I heard Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) say: Good is heavy upon the people of this world in the same measure as its heaviness in their scales on the Day of Resurrection, and evil is light upon the people of this world — the worldly ones consider evil light to the same extent as its lightness in the scales of the Day of Resurrection.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Abu Salim said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) say: "Five things — how heavy they are in the scale: saying the four tasbihat — سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَ اللَّهُ أَکْبَرُ [Glory be to Allah, and praise be to Allah, and there is no god but Allah, and Allah is the Greatest], and a righteous child of a Muslim who dies and he is patient over the death of that child and reckons it with Allah."

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): Good deeds appear in a beautiful form, and evil deeds appear in an ugly form.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) — narrated in Tafsir Imam Askari (peace be upon him) from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), who said: "Indeed, on the Day of Judgement Allah will raise up peoples whose scales of deeds are filled with evil deeds. They will be told: 'These are your evil deeds — so where are your good deeds? If there are none, then you are sinners!' They will say: 'Our Lord, we do not know of any good deeds we have.' Then suddenly a call will come from Allah the Mighty and Majestic: 'O My servants! If you yourselves do not find any good deeds, I will show them to you and I will multiply your good deeds for you.' Then Allah will bring a small scroll and cast it into the pan of their good deeds, and it will outweigh their evil deeds by more than the distance between the heavens and the earth. Then it will be said to one of them: 'Take the hand of your father, your mother, your brothers, your sisters, your friends, your relatives, your servants, and your companions, and enter them into Paradise!' The people of the gathering will say: 'O Lord, we have seen their sins — but what were their good deeds?' Allah the Mighty and Majestic will say: 'O My servants! One of these went to his brother regarding the remainder of a debt that his brother owed him, and said to him: Take it, for I love you because of your love for Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him)! And his companion said to him: I have given you this debt because of your love for Ali (peace be upon him), and whatever you wish of my property is yours.' So Allah counted this act as a matter of gratitude for the two of them, and because of it He wiped away the sins of both, and placed that within their books of deeds and their scales, and He made Paradise obligatory for the two of them and for their parents." Then he said: "O Buraydah! Because of hatred for Ali (peace be upon him), a number of people greater than the pebbles that are cast at the Jamarat will enter the Fire; so beware lest you be among them."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) was asked about what will be weighed on the Day of Resurrection. He said: "The scrolls will be weighed."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): As for His statement — the Blessed and Exalted — "We shall set up the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection, so no soul shall be dealt with unjustly in the least" (Anbiya/47), that is the scale of justice by which creatures will be taken to account on the Day of Resurrection, and Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, will requite the creation, one against another, by means of the scales; and in a hadith other than this, the scales are the prophets and their successors (peace be upon them).

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): My love and the love of my Ahl al-Bayt is beneficial in seven stations whose terrors are immense — at the time of death, in the grave, at the rising from the grave, at the receiving of the record of deeds, at the reckoning, at the scale, and on the Sirat.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): On the Day of Resurrection, no deed better than good character is placed in anyone's scale.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): As for the believer, his deed is brought in the most beautiful form and placed in the pan of the scale, and his good deeds outweigh his bad deeds; and this is the meaning of the verse: فَمَنْ ثَقُلَتْ مَوازِینُهُ فَأُولئِکَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ [Then as for him whose measure of good deeds is heavy, those are they who shall be successful] — they are the [very ones] who are saved.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) — Abdullah ibn Umar said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "On the Day of Resurrection a man will be brought to the Scale, and ninety-nine scrolls will be brought for him, each scroll stretching as far as the eye can see, filled with his errors and sins. These scrolls will be placed on one pan of the Scale. Then a small slip of paper the size of a fingertip will be brought out for him, on which is written the testimony لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ [there is no god but Allah] and that Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) is His servant and messenger, and this paper will be placed on the other pan, and the weight tips in favour of this small piece of paper."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Dawud (peace be upon him) asked his Lord to show him the Scale. When he saw it, he fainted; then he came to and said: "O my Allah! Who is able to fill the pan of his Scale with good deeds?" He said: "O Dawud! When I am pleased with a servant, I fill the pan of his Scale with a single date."

Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him): O servants of Allah! Know that for the polytheists no Scales will be set up, nor will any records be unrolled. The record of deeds is unrolled only for the Muslims.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): When the Day of Resurrection comes, two believing servants will stand for the reckoning, both of them from the people of Paradise — one who was poor in the world and one who was rich in the world. The poor one will say: "O Lord, why have You kept me standing here? By Your might! You know that in the world You gave me no authority in which I could act justly or unjustly, and You did not grant me wealth from which I could either pay its due or withhold it, and my sustenance in the world reached me only in bare sufficiency, as You knew and decreed for me. Have You kept me standing here for that reason?" Allah the Exalted will say: "My servant has spoken the truth — let him go, so he may enter Paradise." The other one is kept back until sweat pours from him such that if forty camels drank of it, it would suffice them. Then he enters Paradise, and the poor one says to him: "What held you back?" He says: "The length of the reckoning; one matter after another kept being brought against me, being forgiven, then I was questioned about something else, until Allah the Mighty and Majestic covered me with mercy from Him and joined me to those who repented. Who are you?" He says: "I am the poor man who was with you just now." He says: "The blessings have changed you [so that I did not recognise you]."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Allah the Mighty and Majestic calls every creature to account except the one who associates partners with Allah the Mighty and Majestic — he is not called to account, and the order is given for him to go into the Fire.

Imam Ali, Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him): The servant is made to stand before Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and Allah says: "Compare My blessings upon him with his deeds." Then the blessings engulf all of his deeds, and they say: The blessings have engulfed all of his deeds! Then Allah says: "Grant him My blessings, and compare his good and evil."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): When Allah gathers the creatures on the Day of Resurrection, and the people of Paradise enter Paradise and the people of Hell enter Hell, a caller calls out from beneath the Throne: "Forgive one another the wrongs (haqq al-nas, the rights of people) between you, and your reward is upon Me."

Imam Ali, Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him): Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) ascended the pulpit in Kufa, praised Allah and extolled Him, then said: "O people! Indeed sins are of three kinds," and then he fell silent. So Habbah al-Urani said to him: "O Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)! You said sins are of three kinds and then fell silent?" He replied: "I did not mention them except to explain them, but shortness of breath came over me and stood between me and speaking. Yes, sins are of three kinds: a sin that is forgiven, a sin that is not forgiven, and a sin regarding whose perpetrator I am both hopeful and fearful." They said: "O Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)! Explain them to us." He said: "Yes! As for the forgiven sin, it is [that of] a servant whom Allah the Exalted has punished for his sin in this world, and Allah is more forbearing and generous than to punish His servant twice. As for the sin that is not forgiven: it is the wrongs that people commit against one another, for when Allah the Blessed and Exalted became manifest to His creation (that is, through the prophets and the proclamation of His law) He swore an oath upon Himself and said: "By My might and My majesty! I shall not overlook the wrong of any wrongdoer, even if it be the striking of one hand against another, or the rubbing of one hand [against another], or the butting of a horned sheep against a hornless one." And Allah exacts retribution for some servants from others until no wrong remains with anyone against anyone, then Allah raises them for the reckoning. As for the third sin, it is a sin that Allah has concealed for His servant and has granted him repentance from it, so he has become fearful of his sin and hopeful of his Lord; and we are for him as he is for himself — we hope for mercy for him and we fear the punishment upon him."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Allah scrutinises the servants in the reckoning on the Day of Resurrection only in accordance with the measure of intellect He has given them in this world [He calls them to account with precision and scrutiny].

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): The first thing for which the servant is called to account is the prayer.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): [Yunus ibn Ammar said: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:] The registers on the Day of Resurrection are three registers: a register in which the blessings are recorded, a register in which the good deeds are recorded, and a register in which the evil deeds are recorded. Then the register of blessings will be set against the register of good deeds, and the blessings will absorb all the good deeds and swallow them up, and the register of evil deeds will remain. Then the believing son of Adam will be called for the reckoning, and the Quran will come before him in the most beautiful form and will say: 'O Lord! I am the Quran, and this is Your believing servant who wearied himself in reciting me, and prolonged his night with reciting me in a pleasant and measured tone, and whose eyes overflowed with tears during the night prayer. Just as You made me pleased, make him pleased too.' He (peace be upon him) said: Then Allah, the Mighty, the Compeller, says: 'O My servant! Open your right hand,' and Allah fills it with His good pleasure and fills his left hand with His mercy. Then it will be said to him: 'This Paradise is permitted for you, so recite and ascend.' So whenever he recites one verse, he ascends one degree.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): I shall be beside the scale of deeds on the Day of Resurrection, and whoever's sins outweigh his good deeds, I shall bring forward the blessings (salawat) that he has sent upon me until I make his good deeds heavier by them.