Tafsir Zone - Surah 21: al-Anbiya' (The Prophets )

Tafsir Zone

Surah al-Anbiya' 21:47
 

Overview (Verse 47)

Accurate Scales Ensuring Absolute Justice
 

The present passage concludes with a final scene from the Day of Reckoning: “We shall set up just scales on the Day of Resurrection, so that no soul shall be wronged in the least. If there be but the weight of a mustard seed, We shall bring it [to account]. Sufficient are We for reckoning.” (Verse 47) The mustard seed here represents the smallest and lightest thing our eyes can see. Yet not even a mustard seed is overlooked or ignored. The scales that are used are so accurate that a single mustard seed makes a difference.
 
Let people, then, reflect on what they put forward for that day. Let hearts be attentive to the warnings, and let those who turn their backs or indulge in ridicule be warned. They may be able to evade punishment in this life, but on Judgement Day the reckoning takes every little thing into account. The scales then are so accurate that even a tiny seed can make all the difference.
 
Thus the accurate scales of the hereafter, the unfailing laws of the universe, the rules applicable to advocates of the faith and the laws of human nature converge in perfect harmony, operated by the hand of the Almighty. This testifies to the truth of God’s oneness, the theme that pervades this whole sūrah.