Al-Mutaffifin 83:14–20

sins has destroyed their innate capacity to distinguish right from wrong. Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ narrates that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: "Surely, when the servant commits a sin, a black dot appears on his heart. If he repents from it, his heart is polished clean. However, if he increases in the sin, the blackness continues to increase. That is the statement of Allah: كَلَّا ۖ بَلْ ۜ رَانَ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِم 'No! But that which they used to commit has covered their hearts with rust. [ 83:14] '." [ Baghawi, Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Nasai, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban and al-Hakim have recorded it, and Tirmidhi has rated it as sahih, as quoted by Mazhari ]. The particle kalla كَلَّا ، in Arabic grammar, is called harf-ur-ra’ d` 'particle of disapproval, particle of repelling or averting'. In the preceding verses, mention was made of the attitude of the unbelievers towards the Qur'anic verses, in that when they are recited to them, they say, " (These are) tales of the ancients." [ 13]. The present verse uses kalla كَلَّا to repel the false idea of the ignoramus [ that Qur'an is the tale of the ancients ]. In fact, [ the heavy ] load of their sins have eclipsed the light and innate capacity to separate the right and the wrong. This capacity is innate and inborn in man. The verse purports to say that their rejection is not based on any logical or intellectual evidence, but their hearts have become blind, as a result they are unable to see the good and the bad.

إِنَّهُمْ عَن رَّبِّهِمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ لَّمَحْجُوبُونَ (No! Indeed they will be screened off from their Lord on that Day...83:15). This will be their punishment for their failure to recognise Allah in the world. The unbelievers will remain deprived of seeing their Lord on the Day of Judgment, and a screen will fall between them and their Lord. Imams Shafi` i and Malik said that in this verse is a proof that the believers and friends of Allah will be able to see Him. Otherwise, the wording that the unbelievers will be screened off from their Lord on that Day will have no real sense.

Special Note

According to some of the learned predecessors, this verse is a proof that man, by virtue of his innate nature, is forced to love Allah. Therefore, all unbelievers in the world, no matter how deeply they are steeped in their form of disbelief or hold false beliefs regarding the [ Supreme ] Being and attributes of Allah, there is a common denominator in their hearts. They love, respect and honour Allah. They worship Him according to their belief system in quest of Him and His pleasure. Because they have taken the wrong road, they are unable to reach their destination, but they are, nonetheless, in search of the same destination of truth. If they did not have the desire to see their Lord, it would not have been said, in their punishment, that they will remain deprived of seeing Allah, because if a person is not desirous [ rather he is hateful ] of seeing Him, it would be no punishment for him.

كَلَّا إِنَّ كِتَابَ الْأَبْرَارِ لَفِي عِلِّيِّينَ (No! The record of deeds of the righteous is in ` illiyyun....83:18). According to some authorities, ` illiyyun is the plural of ` uluww and it signifies the 'highest point'. According to Farra', this is the name of a place. It is not a plural, but on the measure of plural. When analysing the word sijjin in the foregoing paragraphs, the traceable Tradition of Sayyidna Bath' Ibn ` Azib ؓ was cited to prove that ` illiyyin is a place on the seventh heaven beneath the Divine Throne where the souls of the believers and their registers of deeds are kept. The phrase: كِتَابٌ مَّرْقُومٌ(A register inscribed...83:20) is not the interpretation of illiyyin, but rather an explication their records of deeds, as in the verse that precedes it: