Surah Al-Mu'minun, Ayah 63

The Justice of Allah and the Frivolity of the Idolators

Allah tells us of His justice towards His servants in this world, in that He does not task any person except according to his capacity, i.e., He does not burden any soul with more than it can bear. On the Day of Resurrection He will call them to account for their deeds, which He has recorded in a written Book from which nothing is omitted. He says:

وَلَدَيْنَا كِتَابٌ يَنطِقُ بِالْحَقِّ

(and with Us is a Record which speaks the truth,) meaning, the Book of deeds

وَهُمْ لاَ يُظْلَمُونَ

(and they will not be wronged.) means, nothing will be omitted from their record of good deeds. As for evil deeds, He will forgive and overlook many of them in the case of His believing servants. Then Allah says, denouncing the disbelievers and idolators of the Quraysh:

Commentary

بَلْ قُلُوبُهُمْ فِي غَمْرَ‌ةٍ (But their hearts are in ignorance) Lexically غَمْرَ‌ةٍ means deep water where a person may drown or be overwhelmed. For this reason the word is also used to signify a covering or something that conceals an object. In this verse the word means the ignorance in which the hearts of the infidels are submerged and hidden so that no light can reach them.

وَلَهُمْ أَعْمَالٌ مِّن دُونِ ذَٰلِكَ

And they have deeds, other than that - 23:63

It means that in addition to their rejection of the Oneness of Allah, and their denial of the true faith, they engage themselves in other sinful deeds.

One whose discovery of God is such that he is awe-struck by Him becomes different from other men, in that his God-fearing mentality makes him extremely serious. His seriousness guarantees that he fully realises the weight of divine proofs and he submits to God completely. In the present world, there are two ways in which a man may exert himself — one is the way of the world and the other is the way of the Hereafter. Those who possess the above-mentioned qualities, are exactly those who strive towards the Hereafter. However, in the present world, to strive towards the Hereafter is an extremely difficult task. It is one in which a man is prone to different types of shortcomings. But, Almighty God’s requirement of every man is exactly commensurate with his capacity to fulfill it. Everybody’s capacity and performance are both completely within the knowledge of God and this very fact ensures that, on the Day of Judgement, everyone will receive whatever concession he is justifiably entitled to and everyone will receive the reward which he actually deserves.