2. Although the consensus is that no one knows the meaning of these letters (huruf al muqatta`at), Ibn `Abbas and Sa`id b. Jubayr are reported to have said that these particular letters mean: "Allah is Supreme" (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir). Qadi (`Ayad) strongly disagrees with this meaning, objecting that this kind of interpretation, without the backing of a principle behind it, opens up the way for the Batiniyyun (the Esotericists) to interpret the Qur'an whimsically (Razi).

3. "Constriction" is the literal translation of the textual word "haraj." However, Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Qatadah and Suddi have all said that it is "doubt" that is meant; to which Ibn Jarir adds that constriction comes from doubts. Zamakhshari, the grammarian, supports him.

Muslim has a hadith which says,

وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ أَمَرَنِي أَنْ أُحَرِّقَ قُرَيْشًا ، فَقُلْتُ : رَبِّي إِذًا يَثْلَغُوا رَأْسِي

"Allah ordered me to set the Quraysh on fire (with my preaching). I said, ‘My Lord, they will break my head into pieces'" (Qurtubi).

Alternatively haraj could be rendered as ‘to be disheartened.' The verse then would mean that the Prophet (saws) is being told not to be disheartened in his mission, unmindful of the poor response (Thanwi, Shabbir and others).

As Allah (swt) said elsewhere (15: 97):

وَلَقَدْ نَعْلَمُ أَنَّكَ يَضِيقُ صَدْرُكَ بِمَا يَقُولُونَ [الحجر : 97]

"We are aware that what they say constricts your heart."

At another place it said (16: 127):

وَاصْبِرْ وَمَا صَبْرُكَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ وَلَا تَحْزَنْ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا تَكُ فِي ضَيْقٍ مِمَّا يَمْكُرُونَ [النحل : 127]

"Be patient. And your patience is not but for Allah. And do not feel sorry for them, nor feel constricted over what they plot."

If this meaning is accepted, then the whole verse could be rendered as: "Let there be no constriction in your heart that you have to warn them thereby" (Rashid Rida).

4. Az hari has said that siesta (qaylulah) with the Arabs is the mid afternoon cessation of activities, not necessary accompanied by sleep. The implication simply is that the chastisement visited them unawares (Razi, Qurtubi).

5. The translation of the textual "qalu" as "admit" has the backing of Zamakhshari and Ibn al Anbari (as in Razi).

6. A hadith (of Ibn Mas`ud in Ibn Humayd: Ibn Kathir) says that no community was destroyed before it had admitted its sins (Ibn Jarir).

That is, when they saw that the chastisement was about to overtake them, they admitted that they were sinners (Au.).

7. The statement that Allah will question the nations to which Messengers were sent, seems to contradict with another Qur'anic statement which says (28: 78):

وَلَا يُسْأَلُ عَنْ ذُنُوبِهِمُ الْمُجْرِمُونَ [القصص : 78]

"And the criminals will not be questioned about their crimes."

The answer is, in the Hereafter people will pass through several stages and phases. In some places they would be questioned about their deeds, in others they would not (Qurtubi).

The first thing that a Muslim would be questioned about on the Day of Judgment is his five daily prayers. Says a hadith:

أول ما يحاسب العبد يوم القيامة الصلاة فإن صلحت صلح سائر عمله وإن فسدت فسد سائر عمله

"The first thing a man would be questioned on the Day of Judgment is concerning his Prayers. If on examination they are found acceptable, he will be successful. If found wanting, rest of his deeds will fail him."

Tirmidhi has recorded a Hasan Sahih hadith which says:

لا تزول قدما عبد يوم القيامة حتى يسئل عن عمره فيم أفناه وعن علمه فيم فعل وعن ماله من أين اكتسبه وفيم أنفقه وعن جسمه فيم أبلا

"A man's feet ill not move until he is questioned about four things: his life, as to where he exhausted it; his knowledge, as to how he acted by it; his wealth, as to how he earned it and how he spent it; and, his youth, as to how he spent it." Hence another Sahih hadith in Jami` Saghir, which says:

الْكَيِّسُ مَنْ دَانَ نَفْسَهُ وَعَمِلَ لِمَا بَعْدَ الْمَوْتِ

"Intelligent is he who took account of his self and worked for what he is to face after death (Rashid Rida).

8. Hence the Prophet's question at the end of the last sermon at `Arafat:

وأنتم مسؤولون عني فما أنتم قائلون قالوا نشهد أن قد بلغت وأديت ونصحت فقال بإصبعه السبابة يرفعها إلى السماء ويسلتها إلى الأرض اللهم اشهد اللهم اشهد ثلاثا

"You will be asked on the Day of Judgment whether I delivered the message to you; how will you answer? The Companions answered: ‘We shall say that you delivered the message, that you did justice (to Allah's trust entrusted to you), and that you strived in all seriousness and sincerity.’ Thereupon, the Prophet pointed to the heavens and then down to the earth and said: ‘O Allah, be witness. O Allah, be witness,’ three times" (Shafi`).

9. Imam Razi uses this opportunity to refute the notion that Allah is in a particular direction or place. He does not agree with those who interpret Allah's "presence" as His "knowledge," since, according to him, when the apparent meaning is possible, tafsir rules do not allow for a metaphorical meaning.

10. The rendering here follows one of the several possible interpretations. The word "wazn" of the text has also been interpreted as "judgment" by Mujahid. The whole verse would then mean, "that day's judgment is a true (event)," or, "that day's weighing is a true (event)." `Ubayd b. `Umayr and Mujahid have reported that a man of massive size would be brought forth that Day, but he will weigh no more than the weight of the wing of a mosquito (Ibn Jarir). A hadith of similar meaning is in the Sahihhayn (Ibn Kathir: H. bin Ibrahim).

A hadith about `Abdullah ibn Mas`ud (whose thin legs were exposed when he climbed a tree) reports the Prophet as having said:

مَا تَعْجَبُونَ، فَوَ الَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَهُوَ أَثْقَلُ فِي الْمِيزَانِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مِنْ أُحُدٍ

"Are you surprised (at his thin legs)? By Him in whose Hands is my soul, they will weigh in the Scales heavier than Mount Uhud" (Ibn Kathir).

The hadith is in Ahmad (H. bin Ibrahim).

Ibn Kathir also writes that it is possible that sometimes deeds would be weighed and at others, those men who committed those deeds. And, adds Shafi`, sometimes words would be weighed while at others the records themselves.

Mawdudi comments: "This means that when the Balance is fixed on the Day of Judgment, ‘truth' and weight will be identical. The more truth one has to one's credit, the more the weight in one's scale; and vice versa. One will be judged solely on the basis of this weight. In other words, no consideration other than truth will enter into calculation. A life of falsehood, however long it lasted, and however full of worldly achievements, will carry no weight at all. Weighed in the Balance, the devotees of falsehood will discover that their life long deeds do not weigh so much as a bird's feather."

11. Although deeds are insubstantial things, they would be given substantial forms in order to be weighed. That would happen in the same manner as the chapters al Baqarah and Aal `Imran, which would appear in the form of birds, interceding on behalf of those who recited them, or good deeds appearing in the form of a beautiful person, etc. (Ibn Kathir).

12. A hadith preserved in Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban and Hakim (who declared it Sahih), says:

يصاح برجل من أمتي على رؤوس الخلائق يوم القيامة فينشر له تسع و تسعون سجلا كل سجل مد البصر ثم يقال له أتنكر من هذا شيئا فيقول : لا يا رب فيقول ألك عذر أو حسنة فيهاب الرجل فيقول : لا يا رب فيقول بلى : إن لك عندنا حسنات و أنه لا ظلم عليك فيخرج له بطاقة فيها اشهد أن لا إله إلا الله و أن محمدا عبده و رسوله فيقول : يا رب ما هذه البطاقة مع هذه السجلات فيقول : إنك لا تظلم قال فيوضع السجلات في كفه و البطاقة في كفه فطاشت السجلات و ثقلت البطاقة - هذا حديث صحيح الإسناد و لم يخرجاه - المستدرك - (1 / 710)

"A man from my Ummah will be brought up before the creations on the Day of Judgment and his 99 volumes (of evil deeds), each of length as far as the sight goes, would be laid before him. He will be asked, ‘Can you deny any of these? Did the recorders do you any wrong?' He will reply, ‘No, my Lord.' He will be asked, ‘Do you have a good excuse or a good deed?' The man, much depressed will reply, ‘No my Lord.' Allah will say, ‘Rather, We have for you good things, and you shall not be wronged.' Then a little card would be brought out which would have the words written on it: ‘I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and messenger.' The man will cry out, ‘My Lord, of what use this little card against the 99 volumes?' He will be told, ‘You shall not be wronged.' The card will be placed in one pan and the 99 books in the other, and lo, the pan would prove heavier than those volumes" (Shawkani).

It is possible, adds Alusi, that the testimony that will outweigh the 99 registers would be the last thing the man had said before he was overtaken by death.

In fact, the chapter heading under which Tirmidhi mentions this hadith also implies this. The title there is: "Chapter on: ‘Whoever died bearing the testimony that there is no deity worthy of worship save Allah.'" In other words, the man of the hadith was an unbeliever who embraced Islam just before his death, and, therefore, did not have any other good deed in his account save the testimony, but the testimony over weighed his 99 volumes of evil deeds (Rashid Rida).

13. Rashid Rida writes: This part of the sentence implies that – not only the deeds of the believers – but the deeds of the unbelievers would also be weighed. This is supported by other verses; e.g. (23: 103 105):

وَمَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ فَأُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ خَسِرُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ فِي جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدُونَ (103) تَلْفَحُ وُجُوهَهُمُ النَّارُ وَهُمْ فِيهَا كَالِحُونَ (104) [المؤمنون : 103 ، 104]

"Then, those whose scales go down, they it is who incurred a loss unto themselves; abiding in Jahannum. Fire will eat their faces and they shall (abide) therein with disfigured faces.

Ibn Taymiyyah seems to have committed an error, continues Rashid Rida, in saying that there will be no weighing of deeds of the unbelievers. They will be ushered into Hell straightaway. After all, are there not kinds and kinds of unbelievers? Were Abu Jahal and Abu Talib unbelievers of the same class? In every age there are unbelievers who are quite close to Islamic way of life against those who are the most corrupt. Can they both be consigned to the same compartment in Hell? Allah has said: "Verily, Allah shall not do injustice by a mustard seed." True, a hadith says that they are rewarded for their deeds in this world itself. But, it does not mean that their deeds will not be weighed at all. Rather, it is quite possible that the exact level in Paradise or Hell should be determined by the weight of the deeds of the believers and the unbelievers alike.

Probably Rashid Rida means that some unbelievers' exact level in Jahannum would be determined from the weight of their deeds. But, there would be many who will enter Hell fire before the weighing, is a fact supported by several Qur'anic verses. Perhaps he also believed that there are some among the unbelievers who have a little amount of faith in their hearts, and who, as a result of it, perform some good deeds (Au.).

14. That is, We gave you various mental faculties and physical powers to build, control and dispose the material world around you in the manner it suits you (Au.).