Al-Ahqaf · Makki · ayah 19 of 35

Al-Ahqaf 46:19

وَلِكُلٍّ دَرَجَـٰتٌ مِّمَّا عَمِلُوا۟ ۖ وَلِيُوَفِّيَهُمْ أَعْمَـٰلَهُمْ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ

“And for all there are degrees [of reward and punishment] for what they have done, and [it is] so that He may fully compensate them for their deeds, and they will not be wronged.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Everyone stands on a step that matches what they did, and every deed is weighed out in full: no good shaved off, no wrong added.

A reflection

Weighed to the last grain

Yuwaffiyahum, He pays them in full, comes from a root that means completing. The lexicons say a silver coin was wāfin when it weighed its full weight, and a measure wāfin when nothing was missing. Collecting a debt in full, leaving nothing owed, was istawfā. The image is established.

The concise commentaries spell out what 'they will not be wronged' means. Nothing is taken from the good deeds of those who did good. Nothing is added to the bad deeds of those who did wrong. A narration-based commentary adds two more guarantees. No one is punished except for his own sin, not for what he did not do. No one carries another's sin.

Picture a jeweller buying back an old gold ring from a widow who needs the money. He places it on a digital scale and turns the screen so she can read it: to the hundredth of a gram. He does not round down. He pays her for exactly what is there. She has been cheated before; she watches the numbers closely. When she leaves, she thanks him twice, not for the money but for the scale facing her.

The ayah describes Allah's justice in those terms, but more exactly than any scale. Every good deed is credited at its full weight. Every wrong is counted as it was, not inflated.

This matters most to two kinds of people. To the one who fears being punished for more than he did, it says: nothing will be added. To the one who feels his quiet good has gone unweighed, it says: nothing will be shaved off. The scale faces you. You may read it with confidence.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.