Surah Fussilat (Ha Mim) Section 3 – One’s Own Eyes, Ears Etc. Shall Bear Witness Against One’s Self
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One’s own eyes, ears, etc. shall bear witness about one’s own conduct during his life on earth
Surah Fussilat (Ha Mim) Verses 19 – 25
وَيَوْمَ يُحْشَرُ أَعْدَاءُ اللَّهِ إِلَى النَّارِ فَهُمْ يُوزَعُونَ
And on the day when shall be collected together the enemies of God, unto the fire, then they shall be ranked in groups. (41:19)
حَتَّىٰ إِذَا مَا جَاءُوهَا شَهِدَ عَلَيْهِمْ سَمْعُهُمْ وَأَبْصَارُهُمْ وَجُلُودُهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
Until they come unto it (the Hell), shall bear witness against them, their ears and their eyes and their skins as to what they used to do. (41:20)
وَقَالُوا لِجُلُودِهِمْ لِمَ شَهِدْتُمْ عَلَيْنَا قَالُوا أَنْطَقَنَا اللَّهُ الَّذِي أَنْطَقَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ وَهُوَ خَلَقَكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
And they shall say unto their skins: “Why witness ye against us?” They shall say: “Caused us to speak God who maketh everything speak, and He it is Who created you for the first time,1and unto Him ye shall (all) be returned. (41:21)
وَمَا كُنْتُمْ تَسْتَتِرُونَ أَنْ يَشْهَدَ عَلَيْكُمْ سَمْعُكُمْ وَلَا أَبْصَارُكُمْ وَلَا جُلُودُكُمْ وَلَٰكِنْ ظَنَنْتُمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَعْلَمُ كَثِيرًا مِمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ
And ye covered not yourselves (merely) lest that your ears and your eyes and your skins should bear witness against you, but (it was) that ye thought that God knoweth not most of what ye did. (41:22)
وَذَٰلِكُمْ ظَنُّكُمُ الَّذِي ظَنَنْتُمْ بِرَبِّكُمْ أَرْدَاكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُمْ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ
And that your (evil) conjectures which ye did conject about your Lord hath tumbled you into ruin, so ye are become of the losers. (41:23)
فَإِنْ يَصْبِرُوا فَالنَّارُ مَثْوًى لَهُمْ وَإِنْ يَسْتَعْتِبُوا فَمَا هُمْ مِنَ الْمُعْتَبِينَ
And if they be patient, yet the fire shall be their abode: or if they seek favour, yet then they shall not be of the favoured (ones). (41:24)
وَقَيَّضْنَا لَهُمْ قُرَنَاءَ فَزَيَّنُوا لَهُمْ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَحَقَّ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقَوْلُ فِي أُمَمٍ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ مِنَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنْسِ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا خَاسِرِينَ
And We have appointed for them intimate companions so for them have they made fair seeming what is before them and what is behind them, and the sentence2proved just against them, as it did among the peoples of the jinn and the human beings that have passed away before them; verily they were the losers. (41:25)3
Commentary
Verse 22
May refer to the doctrine that God’s knowledge comprehends particular objects viz. deeds of the individuals. His knowledge is confined to general and universal objects and ideas. (A.P.).
Verse 23
The Sixth Holy Imam said that ‘A believer should fear God's wrath so much that he must imagine himself being cast into the hell-fire and must be hopeful for God’s mercy so much that he must be imagining himself to be of the fellows of Paradise.’ And said that ‘God is there with the thought of man and if the thought be good, He rewards the individual and if that be evil, the thinker is punished.’ The Holy Prophet said that ‘There is not one sent in humanity, who bears good thoughts and God is not with him, to remind him’ and recited this verse.
Verse 24
It is a sarcastic announcement. ‘If they only wait, then they would surely find the hell-fire their abode and if they seek grace then it will be too late.’
Verse 25
As the happiness increases in a congenial society of the partners in the joy, so also the regret, sorrow and grief is multiplied and deepened and gets more effective when the partners in evil are put together to multiply the feeling of grief and regret by not only the individual himself suffering the chastisement but also by being affected by witnessing the misery around.
Regarding the jinns see verse 6:131.
