Thus 21st ayat / verse of Surah Al-Jathiya plainly and clearly spells out the basis of divine Justice:
اَمۡ حَسِبَ الَّذِيۡنَ اجۡتَـرَحُوا السَّيِّاٰتِ اَنۡ نَّجۡعَلَهُمۡ كَالَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا وَعَمِلُوا الصّٰلِحٰتِ ۙ سَوَآءً مَّحۡيَاهُمۡ وَمَمَاتُهُمۡ ؕ سَآءَ مَا يَحۡكُمُوۡنَ
(45:21) Do the evil-doers imagine that We shall make them equal to those who believe and do good, making their lives and deaths alike? How vile is their judgement!
This is the moral reasoning for the truth of the Hereafter. The difference of good and evil in morals and of goodness and wickedness in deeds necessarily demands that the good and the evil people should not meet with one and the same end, but the good should be rewarded for their good and the wicked punished for their evil deeds. Otherwise, if the good and the evil end up similarly, the distinction of virtue and vice in morals becomes meaningless and God becomes unjust. The people who follow evil ways in the world do want that there should be no accountability and no rewards and punishments, for this concept goes against their enjoyment of life, but it is against the justice and wisdom of the Lord of the worlds that He should treat the good and the evil alike, and should not care to see how the righteous believer has lived his life in the world and how the sinful unbeliever has been enjoying it. One of them kept himself subjected to moral restrictions all his life, rendered the rights of those to whorl they were due, restrained himself from the unlawful benefits and pleasures, and continued to incur losses for the sake of the truth; the other fulfilled his desires in every possible wary: neither recognized the rights of God nor hesitated froth violating the rights of the people, but watt un collecting benefits and good things of life in every possible way. Can it be expected of God that He would overlook the difference between the lives of the two kinds of men? If the end of both be the same, no greater injustice could be conceived. (For further explanation, sec Yunus: 4, Hud: 106 An-Nahl: 38 39, AI-Hajj: E N. 9, An-Naml: E,N. 86, Ar-Rum: 7-8, Suad: 28 and E.N. 30 on it).
The vey next ayat / verse clarifies the fate of the evil and reward for the righteous:
وَ خَلَقَ اللّٰهُ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالۡاَرۡضَ بِالۡحَقِّ وَلِتُجۡزٰى كُلُّ نَفۡسٍۢ بِمَا كَسَبَتۡ وَهُمۡ لَا يُظۡلَمُوۡنَ
(45:22) Allah created the heavens and the earth in Truth that each person may be requited for his deeds. They shall not be wronged.
Let us see how other scholars interpret this verse:
Tafsir Ibn-Kathir:
The Life and the Death of the Believers and the Disbelievers are not Equal: Allah the Exalted states here that the believers and the disbelievers are never equal. Allah said in another Ayah, (Not equal are the dwellers of the Fire and the dwellers of the Paradise. It is the dwellers of Paradise that will be successful.) (59:20)
Allah said here, (Or do those who earn evil deeds think) those who commit and practice evil, (that We shall hold them equal with those who believe and do righteous good deeds, in their life and their death) treat them equally in the present life of the world and in the Hereafter
(Worst is the judgement that they make.) `worst is the thought that they have about Us and about Our justice, thinking that We will ever make the pious and the wicked equal in the Hereafter or this life.'
At--Tabarani recorded that Shu`bah said that `Amr bin Murrah narrated that Abu Ad-Duha said that Masruq said that Tamim Ad-Dari once stood in voluntary prayer through the night until the morning only reciting this Ayah, (Or do those who earn evil deeds think that We shall hold them equal with those who believe and do righteous good deeds) Allah said in reply: (Worst is the judgement that they make.)
Muhammad Asad Explanation:
The meaning is twofold: "that We consider them to be equal with those who.. .", etc., and "that We shall deal with them in the same manner as We deal with those who...", etc. The reference to the intrinsic difference between these two categories with regard to "their life and their death" points not merely to the moral quality of their worldly existence, but also, on the one hand, to the inner peace and tranquility with which a true believer faces life's tribulations and the moment of death, and on the other, to the nagging anxiety which so often accompanies spiritual nihilism, and the "fear of the unknown" at the time of dying.
Yusuf Ali Explanation:
Three meanings can be deduced. (1) The evil ones are not in Allah's sight li ke the righteous ones; neither in life nor in death are they equal; in life the righteous are guided by Allah and receive His Grace, and after death His Mercy, while the others reject His Grace, and after death receive condemnation. (2) Neither are the two the same in this life and in the after-life; if the wicked flourish here, they will be condemned in the Hereafter; if the good are in suffering or sorrow here, they will receive comfort and consolation in the Hereafter. (3) The real life of the righteous is not like the nominal life of the wicked, which is really death; nor is the physical death of the righteous, which will bring them into eternal life, like the terrible death of the wicked which will bring them to eternal misery.
Qur'an Wiki:
The surah clearly distinguishes between those who commit evil and those who do good as a result of being believers. There is no way that they can be judged in the same way. They are different in God's sight. Furthermore, God has established His universal law on the basis of truth and justice.
This verse may be understood to refer to those among the people of earlier revelations who deviated from their scriptures and indulged in sin, but who nonetheless continued to think of themselves as believers. They might have thought themselves to be on the same level as Muslims who do good deeds. They might also have considered that the two groups are equal in God's sight, both in this life and in the life after death when people are given their reward or punishment. This may also be taken as a general discourse defining how people are judged on God's scales. It shows that believers who do good deeds are definitely in a higher position. It says that putting the evildoers and the righteous on the same level, either in this life or in the next, conflicts with the basic and permanent rule upon which the universe is founded, namely, the truth. Thus the truth is fundamental to both the universe and the Divine law. Consequently, both the universe and human life are set to progress by means of this truth. This manifests itself in the distinction between evildoers and those who do good in all respects, and in the individual judging of people on the basis of what each has earned through life. Justice is, thus, administered to all.
May Allah help us understand Qur'ān and help us to act upon the commandments of Allah contained therein and continue the way of the righteous and not that of the evil doers. Aameen.
For more Selected Verses, please refer to our reference page: Selected Verses from the Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.
An effort has been made to gather explanation / exegesis of the surahs of the Qur'ān from authentic sources and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. In that the exegesis of the chapters of the Quran is mainly based on the "Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an" by one of the most enlightened scholars of the Muslim World Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi.
In order to augment and add more explanation as already provided, additional input has been interjected from following sources:
- Towards Understanding the Quran
- Tafsir Ibn Khatir
- Muhammad Asad Translation
- Javed Ahmad Ghamidi / Al Mawrid
- Al-Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation
- Verse by Verse Qur'an Study Circle
In addition the references of other sources which have been explored have also been given above. Those desirous of detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to these sites.
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