Az-Zumar 39:31–41

Justice in the court of Resurrection: The form in which the right of the oppressed will be retrieved from the oppressor.

In verse 31, it was said: ثُمَّ إِنَّكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ عِندَ رَ‌بِّكُمْ تَخْتَصِمُونَ (After that, on the Day of Doom, you will surely place your disputes before your Lord). Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ says that the word:إِنَّكُمْ (innakum: surely you...) at this place includes - believers, disbelievers, Muslims - all of them, oppressor or oppressed. All of them will submit their cases in the court of their Lord, and He will have the right of the oppressed paid back by the oppressor whether a disbeliever, or believer. And the form in which these rights will be paid back will be what has mentioned in a narration of Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ that appears in the Sahih of al-Bukhari. According to this, the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، said, 'a person who has a right of someone due against him should either pay it off, or have it forgiven right here in this world and become halal, that is, stand absolved of any responsibility on that count. The reason is that there are not going to be any currencies of dirhams and dinars (or any others found in the mortal world) in the universe of the Hereafter. If the oppressor has some good deeds in his account, then, these deeds will be taken from him to the measure of the oppression he did, and will be given to the oppressed. And in case he has no good deeds with him, bad deeds and sins of the oppressed will be taken from him and put into the account of the oppressor.

And there is a narration of Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ in Sahih Muslim according to which the Holy Prophet ﷺ on a certain day asked his noble Sahabah, "Do you know who a pauper is?" The Sahabah said, ya rasulAllah, as for us, a pauper is one who has neither cash nor things needed (to run one's life).' He said, "The real pauper in my Ummah is a person who will come to the Day of Judgment with lots of good deeds, prayers, fasts, zakah and things like that, but such would the record (of his dealings with others) that he (in his mortal life) would have hurled invectives on someone, leveled false accusation against someone, devoured someone's property by unfair means, had someone killed, beaten or harassed. All those so oppressed will take their plaint before Allah, and the good deeds of the oppressor will be distributed over the oppressed. After that, when no good deeds are left, and the claims of the oppressed still remain to be settled, then, the sins of the oppressed will be passed on to the oppressor, and he will be thrown into the Jahannam. [ Hence, this person despite having everything, ended up being a pauper on the Day of Judgment - he is what a real pauper is!]

And Tabarani, citing a trustworthy authority, has reported from Sayyidna Abu Ayyub al-Ansari ؓ that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, "The first case presented in the court of Allah will be that of man and his wife and, by God, the tongue will be silent there, instead, hands and feet of the woman will bear witness as to blames she used to impute to her husband. Similarly, the hands and feet of the man will bear witness as to how he used to cause pain to his wife. After that, servants will be brought before their respective masters, and redress will be provided for their complaints. After that, people from common markets with whom one had one or the other dealing will be presented, and if one of them has been subjected to some injustice, his right will be duly vacated.'

All deeds will be given against oppressions and infringement of rights, but one's 'iman (faith) will not be given

After having reported all Hadith narrations cited above, it has been said in Tafsir Mazhari that the thing mentioned about giving the deeds of the oppressor in settlement of the rights of the oppressed means deeds other than 'iman (faith). The reason is that all oppressions and injustices are acts of sin. They are not kufr or disbelief. And the punishment of sinful deeds will be limited as against 'iman (faith) which is a limitless deed. Its reward too is limitless, that is, living in Jannah forever - even though, it may happen after having gone through the punishment of sins and staying in Jahannam for a certain period of time. The outcome is, when the good deeds of the oppressor - with the exception of 'iman (faith) - will finish once given to the oppressed to the last deed leaving nothing behind but 'iman, then, this 'iman will not be taken away from him forcibly. Instead, the rights of the oppressed will be paid back by putting the sins of the oppressed in the account of the oppressor. As a result, this person will, after he has undergone the punishment of his sins, will finally enter the Jannah, and then this state of his will be everlasting. The author of Tafsir Mazhari says that Imam al-Baihaqi has also said so.

In verse 32, it was said: كَذَّبَ بِالصِّدْقِ (rejects the truth) while in verse 33, it was said: الَّذِي جَاءَ بِالصِّدْقِ (As for the one who has come with the truth): At both these places, the word الصِّدْقِ : (as-sidq: the truth) means teachings brought by the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، whether it be the Qur'an, or be other teachings of ahadith in addition to the Qur'an. And the expression: صَدَّقَ بِهِ (saddaga bihi: and believed it to be true - 39:33) includes all believers who have testified to it.

Commentary

In the first verse (36), it was said: أَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِكَافٍ عَبْدَهُ (Is Allah not sufficient for (the protection of) His slave?). This verse was revealed in the background of an event. The disbelievers had threatened the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his noble Sahabah by saying that, should they act irreverently against their idols, they would never escape the curse of these idols, something very lethal to face. In reply, they were told: Is Allah not sufficient for His slave?

Therefore, some commentators have taken: عَبْدَه (abdahu: His slave) here to mean a particular slave of Allah, that is, the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Maulana Ashraf ` Ali Thanavi (رح) ، a summary of whose Tafsir appears in the original edition of Ma’ ariful-Qur'an, has also opted for this very Tafsir. Then there are other commentators who have taken abd or slave in its general sense. Another qira'ah (rendition) of this verse as: عِبَادہ (` ibadihi: His slaves) supports this position. And as for the subject itself, it is, after all, general in the sense that Allah Ta’ ala is sufficient for everyone among His slaves.

A lesson, and a good counsel

In verse 36, it was said: وَيُخَوِّفُونَكَ بِالَّذِينَ مِن دُونِهِ (And they are frightening you of those [ false gods whom they worship ] other than Him.), that is, 'the disbelievers frighten you with the displeasure of their false objects of worship'. Readers of this verse generally tend to pass by it thinking that it is talking about a particular event that relates to the threats of disbelievers and to the blessed person of the Holy Prophet t, hence they would not exert enough to find out the guidance that it has for us. Although, it is an open fact that anyone who threatens a Muslim on the ground that, should he not do such and such haram act or sin, his superiors at whose mercy he is, will be displeased with him, and may even hurt him is also included under this verse, even if the person giving a threat is a Muslim, and the person he is being threatened of is also no one else but a Muslim, virtually Muslims on both sides. And these are terrible times for all. This happens all over the world, in most jobs they do. They have to face a dilemma. Are they willing and ready to contravene the Divine laws (they are bound with)? Or else, are they prepared to become targets of the wrath and retribution of their superior officers? This verse gives a guideline good enough for all of them: Is Allah Ta’ ala not sufficient to protect you? Here you are. You make a resolve that you will abstain from committing sins exclusively for the sake of Allah. Then you simply do not care about any officer, any authority asking you to act counter to Divine laws. If you do just that, the help and support of Allah Taala shall be with you. The worst that can happen is that you may lose that job. So, what? Allah Ta’ ala will make some other arrangement for your sustenance. And for that matter, it is typical of a believer that he himself keeps trying to find a suitable job elsewhere after which he is placed in a position of leaving it immediately.