وَٱلْوَزْنُ يَوْمَئِذٍ ٱلْحَقُّ ۚ فَمَن ثَقُلَتْ مَوَٰزِينُهُۥ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ
And the weighing [of deeds] that Day will be the truth. So those whose scales are heavy - it is they who will be the successful.
Introduction
This is āyah 8 of Sūrat Al-A'raaf (The Heights), the 39th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 8. Meccan verses tend to address faith, the oneness of God, and the hereafter.
This introduction is a starting point — the community and Bilal will enrich it over time.
Revelation & occasion
- Period
- Meccan
- Order revealed
- 39 of 114
- Surah
- Al-A'raaf (7)
The weighing that day is true. The weighing of deeds with the scales of self-purification is true, and the weighing of states with the scales of truthfulness is just. Hapless and deprived is he whose deeds are tainted with eye- service and whose states are mixed with self-admiration, for in the station of the scales these states will have no value and those deeds will have no weight. God says, “On the Day of Resur- rection, We shall assign them no weight” [18:105]. Among the traditions of ʿUmar is this: “Take an accounting of yourselves before you are brought to account, weigh your deeds before they are weighed, and prepare for the Greatest Exposure.” He is saying, “Weigh your own deeds before they are weighed against you, take an account of yourself and gaze upon your own works: What have you made ready for the Greatest Exposure and the gathering place of the resurrection?” This is why the Lord of the Worlds said, “Let every soul consider what it has forwarded for tomorrow” [59:18]. A report has come that an intelligent man has four hours in which to seek his felicity and adorn his days: the hour in which he takes an accounting of himself and weighs his own deeds and states, the hour in which he whispers secretly with the Real and shows his need to Him, the hour in which he takes care of his own livelihood, and the hour in which he takes his ease in whispered prayer and in what he has been given of this world. The weighing that day is true. The pirs of the Tariqah and the lords of recognition say that the scales are diverse. The soul and spirit have a scale, the heart and intellect have a scale, and recogni- tion and the secret core have a scale. The scale of the soul and spirit is commands and prohibitions, and its two pans are the Book and the Sunnah. The scale of the heart and intellect is reward, and its two pans are threats and promises. The scale of recognition and the secret core is approval, and its two pans are fleeing and seeking. Fleeing is to escape from this world and to cling to the after- world. Seeking is to leave aside the afterworld and seek the Patron.
Tafsir
Hafiz Ibn Kathir
Chains of transmission
Oral — isnād
- ~610–632 CERevelation & memorisation
Received by the Prophet ﷺ and preserved by the ḥuffāẓ (memorisers) among the Companions.
- 1st century AHMutawātir transmissionawaiting curation
Carried by mass-transmission through the generations of qurrāʾ.
- TodayLiving chainsawaiting curation
Continuous ijāzah chains link reciters today back to the Prophet ﷺ.
Verified isnād chains for this āyah will be added by curators.
Written — the manuscript record
- ~650 CEʿUthmānic codicesawaiting curation
The standardised muṣḥaf sent to the great cities (e.g. the Topkapı and Samarqand codices).
- 8th–10th c.Early Ḥijāzī & Kūfic foliosawaiting curation
Surviving leaves in Birmingham, Sanaa, Paris (BnF) and beyond.
- Modern printModern printawaiting curation
The 1924 Cairo edition → today: the standard printed muṣḥaf used worldwide.
A curated chain of manuscript images for this exact āyah — roughly one per century — is coming. Help us source and verify them.
And now — what do you think?
The text, its history and the classical commentary are laid out above. Share your own understanding, ask a question, or reason with others.
Community resources
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