Ar-Rahman · Madani · ayah 40 of 78

Ar-Rahman 55:40

فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

“So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?”

Saheeh International

Essence

After 'no one is asked about his sin', the refrain names a favour of exact justice: on that Day no one is mistaken for another.

A reflection

Not a disaster that sweeps everyone away

Many people picture the Day of Judgement the way they picture a natural disaster. A flood, an earthquake, a wave: something enormous that arrives and sweeps everyone before it, the guilty and the innocent alike. Fear of the Day often carries that shape. It will be chaos, and we will all be caught in it.

This refrain, placed straight after "on that Day no one will be asked about his sin", corrects that picture with one precise word of commentary.

One great early commentary glosses the favour here as His justice among you: that He punished none of you except a criminal.

Read it slowly. None except a criminal. Not a wave. A sorting. Every person is known for exactly what they are, and nothing falls on anyone it does not belong to.

A classical commentary draws the contrast with this world directly. In this world, it says, a small band may escape a general punishment because they are obscure, unnoticed. And of course the reverse is true too. Earthquakes and wars do not check who deserves them. The innocent are buried with the guilty, and the guilty sometimes walk out of the rubble.

On that Day neither can happen. No one hides in obscurity, and no one is caught by mistake.

That is why this is counted as a favour. A Day of judgement that was indiscriminate would be terrifying for everyone. A Day of exact judgement is terrifying only for the guilty, and a relief for everyone else.

It changes how a believer can look towards it. Not as a storm to be survived by luck, but as a court in which the judge cannot be deceived and cannot make an error.

Which of the favours of your Lord will you deny? This one: that on that Day you will be judged as yourself, and only as yourself.

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.