Tafsir of Surat al-Zalzalah.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows: This is Thursday, the ninth of the month of Muharram in the year 1416, and it is the second session of this year in which we begin by explaining the words of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: :
Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: : On that Day, it will tell its news. This is the answer to the condition.
: And what is meant by this is what Allah, the Exalted, mentioned in His saying: .
And His saying: : means the great earthquake that has never had a like before. For this reason, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: meaning because of the intensity of their astonishment. And despite what befalls them, you will find them as if they are drunk, but they are not drunk, rather they are in a state of extreme fear. But because of the intensity of the terror, a person becomes as if he is drunk, not knowing how to act or what to do.
: And what is meant by them are the people of the graves, for indeed , they will come out of their graves to the Lord of the worlds, Mighty and Majestic, as Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said: .

What is this earthquake?
Because it will shake, and it will be as Allah, the Exalted, said: as if he is drunk. So he will say, "What happened to it? What is its state?" because of the intensity of the terror.
meaning: On that Day, when the earth is shaken.
meaning: It will inform about what the people did upon it, whether good or evil. It is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that when the mu'adhdhin calls the adhan, no tree, no stone, no rock, and nothing else hears his voice except that it will testify for him on the Day of Resurrection. So the earth will testify about what was done upon it, whether good or evil. And this testimony is for the purpose of establishing the justice of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and that He, Glorified and Exalted is He, does not punish people except for what they did. Otherwise, Allah, the Exalted, is encompassing of all things, and it is sufficient for Him to say to His servants, (Exalted and Majestic is He): "You did such and such, and you did such and such." But this is from the perspective of establishing justice and preventing the denial of the criminal, for the criminals will deny that they were associating partners with Allah. Allah, the Exalted, said: , because when they see the people of the oneness of Allah have been purified from the punishment and saved from it, they will deny shirk in the hope that they might be saved. But their mouths will be sealed, and their hands will speak, and their legs will testify, and their skins as well, and their tongues, all of them will testify against the person about what he did. And at that time, he will not be able to persist in his denial, but he will acknowledge and confess, except that regret will not benefit him at that time.
And His saying: : meaning: Because Allah inspired it, meaning: He permitted it to tell its news. And He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is capable of all things. When He commands a thing with a command, it must happen. Allah addresses inanimate objects, and the inanimate objects speak, as Allah, the Exalted, said: , and Allah, the Exalted, said to the Pen: , and Allah, the Exalted, said: .
So Allah, Mighty and Majestic, when He directs speech to something, even if it is inanimate, it addresses Allah and speaks. For this reason, He said: , "On that Day": meaning on that Day the earth will shake with its earthquake, and the people will come out in groups. "In groups" means scattered groups. They will come out, each heading toward his destination. So the people of Paradise, may Allah make me and you among them, will head toward it, and the people of the Fire, may Allah protect us from it, will be driven toward it.
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So the people will come out in groups and bands, in different categories that differ greatly, as Allah, the Exalted, said: .
The person will be given his book, either in his right hand or in his left hand, and then he will be reckoned based on what is in this book. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, will reckon him. As for the believer, Allah, the Exalted, will be alone with him and will question him about his sins, saying: "You did such and such, and you did such and such, and you did such and such," until he acknowledges and confesses. When he sees that he is ruined, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: . And as for the disbeliever, may Allah protect us from it, he will not be treated in this manner, but he will be called out before the witnesses: .
And His saying: : This is a possessive construction, and the possessive construction implies generality. Its apparent meaning is that they will see the small and large deeds, and that is the case, except for what Allah has forgiven beforehand through good deeds or supplication or the like. This will be erased, as He, the Exalted, said: .
So the person will see his deed, he will see his small and large deeds, until the matter becomes clear to him, and he will be given his book, and it will be said: . For this reason, it is obligatory for the person not to proceed with anything that does not please Allah, Mighty and Majestic, because he knows that it is written against him and that he will be reckoned for it.
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"Whoever": This is a conditional particle that implies generality, meaning: Any person who does the weight of an atom, whether of good or of evil, will see it. And "the weight of an atom" means: the weight of an atom. And what is meant by "atom" is the small ants, as is known. It is not meant by "atom" the atom commonly known today, as some have claimed, because this atom commonly known today was not known at that time. And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, does not address people except with what they understand. And the atom was mentioned because it is the example of smallness, as He, the Exalted, said: . Otherwise, it is known that whoever does even less than an atom will find it. But because the atom is the example of smallness, Allah, the Exalted, said: .
And His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: : indicates that what is weighed is the deeds. And the scholars differed on this issue:
Some of the scholars say: What is weighed is the deed.
And some of them say: What is weighed is the scrolls of deeds.
And some of them say: What is weighed is the doer himself.
And each has evidence. As for the one who said: What is weighed is the deed, he argued with this verse: . And this opinion, as you see, has evidence from the Qur'an and from the Sunnah. But there is a difficulty with this, that the deed is not a body that can be placed in the scale, but the deed is a deed that has ended and ceased. But the answer to this is to say: It is upon the person to believe in what Allah and His Messenger have informed about of the unseen matters, even if his mind is perplexed by it, meaning he is amazed and says, "How is this?"
So it is upon us to believe, because the power of Allah, the Exalted, is above what we imagine. This is the first answer to this objection.
Do you know the objection now?
And it is: How is the deed weighed, when it is a meaning and a motion that has ended?
It is said: It is obligatory for the Muslim to submit and surrender, and not to say "how," because the matters of the unseen are above what we imagine. This is one point.
Second: That Allah, the Exalted, makes these deeds bodies that are placed in the scale, and they become heavy or light. And Allah, the Exalted, is capable of making abstract things bodies, as it is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that death will be brought in the form of a ram and stood between Paradise and the Fire, and it will be said: Why are they loved? Why are they loved? even though it is in the form of a ram, and death is a meaning and not a body, but Allah, the Exalted, makes it a body on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be said: . And with this, the objection to this opinion is resolved. What is the opinion?
It is that what is weighed is the deed.
Good. As for the one who said: What is weighed is the scrolls of deeds, they argued with the hadith of the man with the card who is brought on the Day of Resurrection, and it is said: "Look at your deed." So the records are extended to him, written in them is the evil deed, great records. When he sees that he is ruined, he is given a small card in which is "There is no god but Allah." He says: "O Lord, what is this card with these records?" And it is said to him: and it is "There is no god but Allah."
So they said: This is evidence that what is weighed is the scrolls of deeds.
Good. And as for those who said: What is weighed is the doer himself, they argued with the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him): , and this indicates that what is weighed is the doer.
It is said: We take the first opinion, that what is weighed is the deed, but perhaps some people's scrolls of deeds are weighed, and some people are weighed by themselves.
If someone were to say: On this view, the one who is weighed is the worker, does it follow that the weight is based on the physical bodies of people in this world, such that the person with the large, massive body will have a heavy scale on the Day of Resurrection?
The answer is: No, it is not based on the bodies of this world. The fat, thick, large, broad-bodied man will be brought on the Day of Resurrection, and his weight with Allah will not be as much as a mosquito’s wing. This is what Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So the criterion for the weight of the body, or the lack of weight, on the Day of Resurrection is the good deeds with which he comes.
Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says:
In this verse, indeed in this entire surah, there is warning and fear regarding the shaking of the earth.
In it, there is exhortation to good deeds.
In it, it is stated that a deed is not lost, no matter how small, even if it is the weight of a speck of dust or less; it is inevitable that a person will see it and be informed of it on the Day of Resurrection.
We ask Allah the Exalted to conclude for us and for you with goodness, happiness, righteousness, and success, and to make us among those who come to the Most Merciful as a delegation. Indeed, He is capable of all things. Now, to the questions.