Allah tells us of His justice towards His servants in this world, in that He does not task any person except according to his capacity, i.e., He does not burden any soul with more than it can bear. On the Day of Resurrection He will call them to account for their deeds, which He has recorded in a written Book from which nothing is omitted. He says:
and with Us is a Record which speaks the truth, meaning, the Book of deeds
and they will not be wronged. means, nothing will be omitted from their record of good deeds. As for evil deeds, He will forgive and overlook many of them in the case of His believing servants.
Then Allah says, denouncing the disbelievers and idolators of the Quraysh:
Nay, but their hearts are covered, meaning because of negligence and misguidance,
from this. means, the Qur’an which Allah revealed to His Messenger.
and they have other deeds, besides which they are doing.
Al-Hakam bin Aban narrated from Ikrimah, from Ibn ‘Abbas that
and they have other deeds, means, evil deeds apart from that, i.e., Shirk,
which they are doing. means, which they will inevitably do.
This was also narrated from Mujahid, Al-Hasan and others. Others said that this phrase means:
they have other deeds, besides which they are doing. It was decreed that they would do evil deeds, and they will inevitably do them before they die, so that the word of punishment may be justified against them.
A similar view was narrated from Muqatil bin Hayyan, As-Suddi and ‘Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam. This is a clear and appropriate meaning. We have already quoted from the Hadith of Ibn Mas'ud:
“By Him besides Whom there is no other God, a man may do the deeds of the people of Paradise until there is no more than a forearm's length between him and it, then the decree will overtake him and he will do the deeds of the people of Hell, then he will enter Hell”
Until when We seize those of them who lead a luxurious life with punishment; behold, they make humble invocation with a loud voice.
means, when the punishment and vengeance of Allah comes to those who are living a happy life of luxury in this world and overtakes them,
behold, they make humble invocation with a loud voice.
means, they scream their calls for help. This is like the Ayat.
And leave Me Alone (to deal) with the beliers, those who are in possession of good things of life. And give them respite for a little while. Verily, with Us are fetters, and a raging Fire. 73:11-12
He said, “They boasted about the Ka'bah and said, “We are its people who stay up talking at night.’ They used to boast and stay up and talk at night around the Ka'bah. They did not use it for the proper purpose, and so in effect they had abandoned it.”