Tafseer of Jonas · Yunus · 10:30
There, [on that Day], every soul will be put to trial for what it did previously, and they will be returned to Allah, their master, the Truth, and lost from them is whatever they used to invent.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
**The statement concerning the interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: هُنَالِكَ تَبْلُو كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا أَسْلَفَتْ وَرُدُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ مَوْلاهُمُ الْحَقِّ وَضَلَّ عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ (30)**
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Qurʾān reciters differed over the reading of the words: هُنَالِكَ تَبْلُو كُلُّ نَفْسٍ — with a bāʾ — in the meaning of: "At that moment every soul will be tried by what it formerly did of good or evil."
Among those who read it thus and interpreted it so was Mujāhid.
17654 — Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning هُنَالِكَ تَبْلُو كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا أَسْلَفَتْ : he said: "It is tried."
17655 — Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibil related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
17656 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
A group of reciters from Kūfa and some from the Ḥijāz read: تَتْلُو كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا أَسْلَفَتْ — with a tāʾ.
The reciters who held to this reading also differed among themselves in its interpretation.
Some said: Its meaning and interpretation is: "At that moment every soul will follow what it prepared in this world for that day."
There has been transmitted in this connection a report attributed to the Prophet ﷺ, through a chain and narration that is not regarded as reliable, that he said: "On the Day of Resurrection there will be made visible for every people the gods they worshipped besides Allah, and they will follow them until they cause them to end up in the Fire." He said: "Then the Prophet ﷺ recited this verse: هُنَالِكَ تَتْلُو كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا أَسْلَفَتْ ."
Others said: The meaning is rather: "It reads aloud from the register of its good and evil deeds" — that is to say: it recites it, as Allah, exalted be His praise, says: وَنُخْرِجُ لَهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ كِتَابًا يَلْقَاهُ مَنْشُورًا (Surah Al-Isrāʾ, 17:13).
Still others said: "تَتْلُو" means: it beholds it.
Mention of those who said this:
17657 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word هُنَالِكَ تَتْلُو كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا أَسْلَفَتْ : "What it did. Tatlūh: it beholds it."
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct view concerning this is to say: these are two well-known readings, by each of which imams among the Qurʾān reciters have read; and they are close to one another in meaning. For whoever in the Hereafter follows that which he performed in this world is thereby led to his destination — and he then experiences there what he prepared of good or evil in this world. And whoever in the Hereafter undergoes the consequences of what he performed in this world undergoes those consequences only after he has arrived at the place to which his works from this world have brought him. In both cases he follows what he prepared of works and is tried thereby. So whoever reads as we have described — in whichever reading — has hit upon the correct course.
As for the words: وَرُدُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ مَوْلاهُمُ الْحَقِّ — that is to say: these polytheists (mushrikīn) are on that day brought back to Allah, Who is their Lord and Master, the True — no doubt of this — and not to those whom they claimed to be lords for them, namely the gods and the equals they set up alongside Him. وَضَلَّ عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ — that is to say: and there has vanished from them what they fabricated of slander and lies about Allah by claiming that their idols are partners of Allah and that they bring them near to Him (zulfā) — as in:
17658 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word وَرُدُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ مَوْلاهُمُ الْحَقِّ وَضَلَّ عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ : "What they called upon besides Him of equals and gods — what they fabricated as gods — that has vanished; and this is because they set them up as equals and gods alongside Allah, fabricating and lying."