It is Allah Who has sent down the Book in Truth, and the Balance (by which to weigh conduct). And what will make thee realise that perhaps the Hour is close at hand? (17)
Tafsir
Just as a balance is meant for weighing material things, so in order to weigh intangible, ethereal realities God has revealed His book. God’s book is the touch-stone for distinguishing the Truth and separating it from falsehood. Everything will be tested by the standards set by God’s book, instead of God’s book being tested by the standards of other things. The wrong attitude adopted by the opponents of the Prophet Muhammad during his lifetime caused them to assess the book of God by the standards of their current religion, which had been based on the traditions of their community and the words and deeds of their leaders. In fact, the right approach for them would have been to judge their national traditions and the words and deeds of their leaders in the light of the book of God. They should have accepted whatever befitted the standards of the book of God and rejected all else. This assessment has to be done in this world by human beings themselves. In the Hereafter, this task will be carried out by God Himself. He is wise who weighs himself before he is weighed on Judgement Day, because the weighing on that Day will be for the purpose of the final decision and not in order to give any further opportunity for performing compensatory deeds.
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