Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:30
The Day every soul will find what it has done of good present [before it] and what it has done of evil, it will wish that between itself and that [evil] was a great distance. And Allah warns you of Himself, and Allah is Kind to [His] servants."
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 explanation of His word, Mighty and Exalted is He: يَوْمَ تَجِدُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا عَمِلَتْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ مُحْضَرًا وَمَا عَمِلَتْ مِنْ سُوءٍ تَوَدُّ لَوْ أَنَّ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَهُ أَمَدًا بَعِيدًا ("On the Day when every soul will find present whatever good it has done, and whatever evil it has done — it will wish that there were a far distance between itself and that evil")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by this: and Allah warns you of Himself on a Day when every soul will find the good it has done present and fully brought forth — "and whatever evil it has done, it will wish that there were a far distance between itself and that evil," that is to say: a far-removed final goal; for your destination, O people, on that Day is to Him; so fear Him for your own sake on account of your sins.
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Qatāda used to say concerning the meaning of His word "brought present (muḥḍaran)" the following:
6840 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "On the Day when every soul will find the good it has done brought present," he says: fully brought present.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: Some of the grammarians have claimed that the meaning of it is: "and remember the Day when you will find." And he said: it only came in this way because the Qurʾān descended solely with command and admonition, as though it were said to them: "remember such and such," for it occurs in the Qurʾān in more than one place: "and fear such-and-such a Day, and such-and-such a time."
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As for "mā" (what) that stands with "ʿamilat" (it has done), it has the meaning of "that which," and it is not permissible for it to be a conditional word (jazāʾ), because of the fact that "tajidu" (it will find) passes over to it as a transitive verb. As for His word "and whatever evil it has done (wa-mā ʿamilat min sūʾin)," it is coupled to His word "mā" the first, and "ʿamilat" is a relative complement in the nominative sense, because it is said: "tawaddu" (it will wish). The explanation of the words is thus: on the Day when every soul will find that which it has done of good brought present, and that which it has done of evil — it will wish that there were a distance between itself and that.
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And "al-amad" is the final goal that one arrives at. To this belongs the word of al-Ṭirimmāḥ:
"Every living being completes the number of the lifespan, and it perishes when its term (amaduh) runs out."
He means: the final goal of his life-term. And indeed:
6841 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word "and whatever evil it has done, it will wish that there were a far distance between itself and that evil": a far place.
6842 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: "a far distance," he said: a term.
6843 — Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me, saying: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, saying: ʿAbbād ibn Manṣūr related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word "and whatever evil it has done, it will wish that there were a far distance between itself and that evil," he said: it would gladden one of them that he should never meet that deed of his; that would be his wish. But in the world it was a sin whose pleasure he tasted.
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The explanation of His word: وَيُحَذِّرُكُمُ اللَّهُ نَفْسَهُ وَاللَّهُ رَءُوفٌ بِالْعِبَادِ ("And Allah warns you of Himself, and Allah is full of compassion toward the servants") (3:30)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, says: and Allah warns you of Himself: that you should not anger Him against you by committing that which angers Him against you, so that you would meet Him on the Day when every soul will find the good it has done brought present, and whatever evil it has done — it will wish that there were a far distance between itself and that evil — while He is wrathful with you, so that there would befall you of His painful punishment (ʿadhāb) what you could not endure. Then He, Mighty and Exalted is He, informed that He is full of compassion toward His servants and merciful to them, and that part of His compassion toward them is: His warning them of Himself, and His instilling in them fear of His punishment, and His forbidding them from that which He has forbidden them of acts of disobedience to Him, as:
6844 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, on the authority of Ibn ʿUyayna, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word "and Allah warns you of Himself, and Allah is full of compassion toward the servants," he said: part of His compassion toward them is that He warned them of Himself.