Tafseer of Consultation · Ash-Shura · 42:17
It is Allah who has sent down the Book in truth and [also] the balance. And what will make you perceive? Perhaps the Hour is near.
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 the saying of the Exalted: اللَّهُ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ وَالْمِيزَانَ وَمَا يُدْرِيكَ لَعَلَّ السَّاعَةَ قَرِيبٌ (42:17) (Allah is the One who has sent down the Book with the truth, and the balance. And what will make you know? Perhaps the Hour is near.)
The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: (اللَّهُ الَّذِي أَنْـزَلَ) — Allah is the One who has sent down this (الْكِتَابَ) — that is, the Qurʾān — ( بِالْحَقِّ وَالْمِيزَانَ ) — He says: and He sent down the balance, and that is justice, so that He might judge between people with equity and adjudicate among them with the judgment of Allah which He has commanded in His Book.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to us, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: ( أَنـزلَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ وَالْمِيزَانَ ) he said: justice.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: ( الَّذِي أَنـزلَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ وَالْمِيزَانَ ) he said: the balance (al-mīzān): justice.
And His saying: ( وَمَا يُدْرِيكَ لَعَلَّ السَّاعَةَ قَرِيبٌ ) — the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and what thing will make you know and inform you that perhaps the Hour, in which the Resurrection takes place, is near.
