Transliteration:( Thumma latus alunna yauma-izin 'anin na'eem )
After death, there are three stages of accountability:
Some special servants of Allah Almighty, such as the Prophets, certain saints, and minor children, will not be questioned in this manner. Allah Almighty says, "Then they shall enter the Paradise and they shall be provided therein without measure" (S40:V40), indicating that these individuals are exempt from such questioning.
The Prophets will be questioned specifically about their followers. For example, Hazrat Isa (peace be upon him) will be asked, "Did you say to the people?" (SS:V116), referring to the teachings he imparted. A testimony will be taken from the Holy Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in favor of all the other Prophets, as mentioned in the verse, "O Beloved Muhammad! We will bring you as a witness and a guardian against all those" (S4:V41).
The questions posed will encompass every blessing, whether physical or spiritual. This includes blessings such as the provision of cold water, shelter under trees, and the comfort of sleep, as stated in the Hadith. Every bounty, whether acquired or bestowed, will be scrutinized.
Bounties can be categorized into two types:
Acquired Bounties: These are blessings obtained through personal effort, such as wealth or power. Questions regarding these will focus on where they were obtained, how they were spent, and how gratitude was expressed for them.
Bestowed Bounties: These blessings come purely from the Grace of Allah, such as our limbs, the moon, the sun, etc. For these, only two questions will be asked: how they were used and how gratitude was shown for them.
In Tafseer (interpretation), it is stated that NAEEM (favour) refers to the person and personality of the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). The verse emphasizes that we will be questioned about whether we obeyed the Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) or not. He is the origin of all blessings, and those who truly succeed are those who make him the object of their hearts. All bounties are mercies for him, while for those whose hearts are devoid of devotion to him, even the greatest blessings become inconveniences. For example, the wealth of Hazrat Uthman (رضي الله عنه) is a mercy, whereas the wealth of Abu Jahl is a source of hardship and punishment.
The tafsir of Surah Takathur verse 8 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Takathur ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 8.
(102:8) Then, on that Day, you will be called to account for all the bounties you enjoyed.[4]
4. “Then” in this sentence does not mean that accountability will be held after the culprits have been cast into Hell, but it means: Then We give you the news that you will be questioned about these comforts of life, and obviously this questioning will be held at the time of accountability in the divine court. Its main argument is that in several Ahadith it has been reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him) that the believers and the disbelievers, both will have to account for the blessings granted by Allah. However, the people who did not show ingratitude but spent their lives as grateful servants of Allah, will come out successful from the accountability, and those who proved thankless to Allah for His blessings and committed ingratitude by word or by deed, or by both; will emerge as failures.
Jabir bin Abdullah says: The Prophet (peace be upon him) once visited us and we served him with fresh dates and gave him cool water to drink. Thereupon he said: These are of the blessings about which you will be questioned. (Musnad Ahmad, Nasai, Ibn Jarir, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Marduyah, Abd bin Humaid, Baihaqi in Ash-Shuab).
Abu Hurairah has reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) once asked Abu Bakr and Umar to accompany him to the place of Abul-Haitham bin at-Taihan Ansari. Thus, he took them to the oasis of Ibn at-Taihan. The latter brought a bunch of dates and placed it before them. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Why didn’t you pluck the dates yourself? He said: I thought you would yourselves select and eat dates of your choice. So, they ate the dates and drank cool water. At the end, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: By Him in Whose hand is my life: this is of the blessings about which you will be questioned on the Resurrection Day, the cool shade, the cool dates, the cool water. (This tradition has been narrated in different ways by Muslim, Ibn Majah, Abu Daud, Tirmidhi, Nasai, Ibn Jarir, Abu Yala and others, on the authority of Abu Hurairah. In some of which the name of the Ansari companion has been mentioned and in some he has been referred to as a person from among the Ansar. This incident has been related with several details by Ibn Abi Hatim from Umar and by Imam Ahmad from Abu Asib, the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) freed slave. Ibn Hibban and Ibn Marduyah have related a tradition from Abdullah bin Abbas, which shows that an almost similar thing had happened in the house of Abu Ayyub Ansari.
These Ahadith make it explicit that not only the disbelievers but the righteous believers too will be questioned. As for the blessings which Allah has bestowed on man, they are unlimited and countless. There are many blessings of which man is not even conscious. The Quran says: If you try to count the blessings of Allah, you will not be able to calculate them. (Surah Ibrahim, Ayat 34). Countless of them are the blessings which Allah has granted directly to man, and a large number of these are the blessings which man is granted through his own skill and endeavor. About the blessings that accrue to man in consequence of his own labor and skill, he will have to render an account as to how he acquired them and in what ways he spent them. In respect of the blessings directly bestowed by Allah, he will have to give an account as to how he used them. And in respect of all the blessings, on the whole, he will have to tell whether he had acknowledged that those blessings had been granted by Allah and whether he had expressed gratitude for them to Allah with his heart, and by word and deed, or whether he thought he had received all that accidentally, or as a gift from many gods, or whether he held the belief that although those were the blessings of One God, in their bestowal many other beings also had a part, and for that very reason he had taken them as his gods and worshipped and thanked them as such.
[1983]- i.e., the comforts of worldly life and whether you were grateful to Allāh for His blessings.
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