Al-Mutaffifin · Makki · ayah 17 of 36

Al-Mutaffifin 83:17

ثُمَّ يُقَالُ هَـٰذَا ٱلَّذِى كُنتُم بِهِۦ تُكَذِّبُونَ

“Then it will be said [to them], "This is what you used to deny."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Denial kept the Day at a distance, pointed at as "that"; now the same thing stands in front of them, and it is called "this".

A reflection

From "those" to "this"

Earlier in the surah the cheats were pointed at from a distance: ulāʾika, those people (83:4). Here the thing they denied is pointed at up close: hādhā, this.

That is how denial works. It keeps things far away. The Day is 'that': something for later, for other people, for sermons. It sits at the far end of the room, where it can be waved at and ignored.

Picture a student who has spent the whole term saying the exam is ages away. Revision is for later. The syllabus is for people who panic. Then comes the morning. The hall is silent, the clock ticks, and the invigilator says, 'You may now turn over your papers.' The exam has not changed. Only the distance has gone. It is no longer 'the exam'. It is this paper, on this desk, now.

The ayah describes that moment on the scale of eternity. Everything that was 'that' becomes 'this'. The scales, the record, the standing and the Fire have all moved. They were at the far end of the room, and now they are right in front of them.

The mercy of the ayah is that it tells us now, while the distance still exists. We can close it ourselves, by bringing the Day near in our minds each morning. Or we can wait for it to be closed for us.

A useful habit is to change the pronoun. Instead of thinking about 'the Day of Judgement', think 'the day I will stand'. Instead of 'the record', think 'my page'. The shorter the distance in our language, the more honestly we live towards it.

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.