Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:86
Then why do you not, if you are not to be recompensed,
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 discourse on the explanation of the saying of the Exalted: Why then not, if you are not to be judged (86)
The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: Why then not, O people, if you are not judged.
The exegetes differed concerning the explanation of His word (madīnīn). Some of them said: not called to account.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (Why then not, if you are not to be judged) — he says: not called to account.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, 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 word: (not judged) he said: called to account.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (Why then not, if you are not to be judged): that is to say: called to account.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning Allah's word (Why then not, if you are not to be judged): he said: they denied that they would be judged after death. He said: and He is the Sovereign on the Day of Judgment, the Day on which people are judged according to their deeds. He said: they are judged: they are called to account.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Abū Rajāʾ informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: (Why then not, if you are not to be judged) he said: not called to account.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Sulaymān related to us, saying: Abū Hilāl related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (Why then not, if you are not to be judged) he said: not resurrected, not called to account.
Others said: its meaning is: not resurrected.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Hawdha related to us, saying: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: (Why then not, if you are not to be judged): not resurrected on the Day of Resurrection — then do you return it [the soul], if you are truthful.
Others said: no, rather its meaning is: not recompensed for your deeds.
And the most correct of the statements concerning this is the statement of the one who said: not called to account and thus recompensed for your deeds — derived from their saying: as you judge, you are judged, and from Allah's word: Sovereign on the Day of Judgment.
