Al-Waqi'ah · Makki · ayah 24 of 96

Al-Waqi'ah 56:24

جَزَآءًۢ بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ

“As reward for what they used to do.”

Saheeh International

Essence

After nine gifts, one line gives the reason, and the word for it means a return that exactly matches what it answers.

A reflection

Who the account was settled for

There is a moment at the end of a long account when the collector rules a line under the column and closes the book. Nothing is owed in either direction. The man who paid has not given the collector a present, and the collector has not done him a favour. Something that was outstanding is now simply not.

The word in this ayah comes out of that world.

The lexicons say the root means one thing standing in the place of another and matching it. To jazā a debt is to pay it off. In Madina the debt collector was the mutajāzī, the one who comes to settle accounts. And a man who is jāzīka is enough for you: you need nobody else.

So jazāʾ is a return that fully answers the deed. Good for good and evil for evil, with nothing left over on either side.

Now ask the question this ayah forces, because it is the one most of us never ask.

Who gained? Nine gifts have been listed, and the reason given is the deeds of the people receiving them. So was Allah paying off a debt He owed?

He is "the Free of all need" (35:15). "If you do good, you do good for yourselves" (17:7). "Whoever is grateful is grateful only for himself" (31:12). Nothing was owed, and nothing was gained.

Which means the settling in this ayah runs in one direction only. The account being closed is the servant's, not the Lord's, and the closing of it is itself a gift.

And this is where the whole long description of couches and cups turns round and faces the reader. Every item in it was for the person receiving. The prayers that bought it were also for the person praying, and did nothing for Allah at all.

So the modern hunger for meaning has an unflattering answer available in this one word. People want their lives to add up. They want somebody to rule a line under the column. And the ayah says that the ruling of the line is coming. The whole transaction was arranged for the benefit of the one being paid.

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.