۞ يَوْمَ تَأْتِى كُلُّ نَفْسٍۢ تُجَـٰدِلُ عَن نَّفْسِهَا وَتُوَفَّىٰ كُلُّ نَفْسٍۢ مَّا عَمِلَتْ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ
˹Consider˺ the Day ˹when˺ every soul will come pleading for itself, and each will be paid in full for what it did, and none will be wronged. [16:111]
This ayah is Allah opening a window for us to the unseen. It lets us walk through this scene from the akhirah to experience it and understand the gravity of it. This will be the moment when you will reap the investment you made in the dunya, either by losing everything or by seeing the returns from a good investment.
No matter how much money or power or nuclear weapons you have, you will still be alone on the Day of Judgement. Every person will be pleading for themselves, even the prophets and messengers – all except our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ who will be pleading for his ummah.
Your limbs will testify against you
The word _tujaadil_ means to argue. People will dispute with Allah and claim other reasons for their bad deeds, e.g. peer pressure from the wrong crowd, the whispers of Shaytan, etc.
This is when their limbs will start to testify against them. Your feet will say, he’s a liar, he used to go to this place so often; your hands will say, he used to do this or that action; your eyes will say what you looked at of your own volition.
This will only happen if you are lying; if you are telling the truth there will be no need for it. Imagine having the guts to lie in front of Allah, even until this last moment. This is why these people deserve punishment forever, because they are not willing to change even right up to the end.
There won’t be a jury on the Day of Judgement, the only judge will be Allah and He is _al-Hakam al-‘Adl_, the All-Just Judge. Justice will be served 100%. There won’t be any fabrication in the files, or blackmail and threats like we see in the people’s courts which persecute people who stand up for the truth. This is Allah’s court, where criminals will be put in their place in Jahannam.
Everyone will face their reckoning
The ayah goes on to say everyone will be paid in full for what they did. When they read their files, Allah will ask, have my angels written down anything you never did, or forgotten anything you did do? And the answer will be no. This is why Prophet Muhammad ﷺ used to make dua for an easy reckoning.
اللهُمَّ حَاسِبْنِي حِسَابًا يَسِيرًا
O Allah, bring me to account with an easy reckoning.” [Ahmad]
Everyone will be rewarded according to their actions.
فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًۭا يَرَهُۥ
فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًۭا يَرَهُۥ ٧ وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍۢ شَرًّۭا يَرَهُۥ
So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it. And whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it. [99:7-8]
The difference is that Allah will multiply every atom of good by ten, seventy, seven hundred, or however much He wants. But out of His mercy, evil deeds will only be counted once.
_I know the last of the inhabitants of Paradise to enter it and the last of the inhabitants of Hell to come out of it. He is a man who would be brought on the Day of Resurrection and it will be said: Present his minor sins to him, and withhold from him his serious sins. Then the minor sins would be placed before him, and it would be said: On such and such a day you did so and so and on such and such a day you did so and so. He would say: Yes. It will not be possible for him to deny, while he would be afraid lest serious sins should be presented before him. It would be said to him: In place of every evil deed you will have a good deed. He will say: My Lord! I have done things I do not see here. I indeed saw the Messenger of Allah laugh till his front teeth were exposed._ [Muslim]
May Allah forgive our major and minor sins and make us among those who have an easy hisab. Ameen.
Based on the Ramadan Reflection by Shaykh Haytham Tamim on night 9. Transcribed by Hana Khan.