Surah An-Nisa, Ayah 42

Allah Wrongs Not Even the Weight of a Speck of Dust

Allah states that He does not treat any of His servants with injustice on the Day of Resurrection, be it the weight of a mustard seed or a speck of dust. Rather, Allah shall reward them for this action and multiply it, if it were a good deed. For instance, Allah said,

وَنَضَعُ الْمَوَزِينَ الْقِسْطَ

(And We shall set up balances of justice) Allah said that Luqman said,

يبُنَىَّ إِنَّهَآ إِن تَكُ مِثْقَالَ حَبَّةٍ مِّنْ خَرْدَلٍ فَتَكُنْ فِى صَخْرَةٍ أَوْ فِى السَّمَـوَتِ أَوْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ يَأْتِ بِهَا اللَّهُ

(O my son! If it be (anything) equal to the weight of a mustard seed, and though it be in a rock, or in the heavens or in the earth, Allah will bring it forth). Allah said,

In يَوْمَئِذٍ يَوَدُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُ‌وا ، the text mentions the state of utter despair faced by disbelievers on the Last Day. That day they would wish to go extinct rather than face its ordeal, to become a patch of the earth underneath, or wish that the earth would crack open, suck them in leaving nothing on top but dust mingled with dust, so that they would be delivered of the scrutiny and retribution of that fateful time. (The statement: لَوْ تُسَوَّىٰ بِهِمُ الْأَرْ‌ضُ (42) has been translated here literally to express, in some measure at least, the power and poignancy of the original Qur'anic expression, as: 'shall wish that the earth be levelled with them.)

The same wish appears in Suratun-Nisa' where it was said: وَيَقُولُ الْكَافِرُ‌ يَا لَيْتَنِي كُنتُ تُرَ‌ابًا

. This will be on the plains of Resurrection when the disbelievers will see that all animals have been turned into dust after having exchanged the retribution of each other's excesses. They too, would pine for an end like this wishing to have become all dust.

Finally, the verse says: وَلَا يَكْتُمُونَ اللَّـهَ حَدِيثًا (And they shall not conceal anything from Allah - 42). It means that these disbelievers will be unable to keep anything about their beliefs and deeds concealed from Allah. Their own hands and feet will confess. The prophets will testify and, of course, present there will be everything on record in their Books of Deeds.

Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ was asked: "At one place, the Holy Qur'an says: 'And they shall not conceal anything from Allah' (4:42); while, at another place, it says: 'By Allah, Our Lord, we were no mushriks' (6:23) - Is there, as it seems, any contradiction between the two verses?" To this he replied: What will happen is that when the disbelievers will begin to see that nobody except true Muslims is being admitted into the Paradise they would decide to refuse point-blank that they had ever committed shirk or any other evil deed, in the hope that the plan works and results in their salvation. But, soon after this refusal of theirs, the very parts of their body would testify against them, which would totally frustrate their plan to conceal the truth about their deeds. That will be the time when they will confess every-thing. Hence: "They shall not conceal anything from Allah".

A dayee or a messenger of Truth happens to be just an ordinary person at the start of his mission. He is not surrounded by any pomp and show. That is why he is rejected by the prominent leaders and intellectuals of society: they fail to apprehend that a man devoid of any outward splendour could be so important that God might choose him to communicate His message to mankind. But when Doomsday approaches and the divine court is ready to deliver its verdict, they will be bewildered to see that that very ordinary man, whom they had rejected as being of no value, has been given the honour of becoming God’s witness and has been set above the nations. In that court the rejecters will stand in the enclosure of the accused, while that ordinary man rejected by them will occupy the seat of God’s spokesman. It will be such a terrible and hard moment for the defaulters that they will wish that the earth would rend itself asunder and swallow them up. But their repentance and sense of humiliation will not at that point serve any purpose. The whole record of their speech, actions and thoughts will be with God and they will be told that their rejection of truth was not due to ignorance but pride, that they considered themselves superior to the preacher of truth, and that the acceptance of reality, despite its having been laid before them, appeared to them like setting their own greatness at naught.