Surah 83. Al-Mutaffifin

Woe to the defrauders!

  - Mustafa Khattab

Woe to those that deal in fraud ⁶⁰¹¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

"Fraud" must here be taken in a widely general sense. It covers giving short measure or short weight, but it covers much more than that. The next two verses make it clear that it is the spirit of injustice that is condemned, giving too little and asking too much. This may be shown in commercial dealings, where a man exacts a higher standard in his own favour than he is willing to concede as against him. In domestic or social matters an individual or group may ask for honour, or respect, or services which he or they are not willing to give on their side in similar circumstances. It is worse than one-sided selfishness: for it is double injustice. But it is worst of all in religion or spiritual life: with what face can a man ask for Mercy or Love from Allah when he is unwilling to give it to his fellow-men? In one aspect this is a statement of the Golden Rule. 'Do as you would be done by'. But it is more completely expressed. You must give in full what it due from you, whether you expect or wish to receive full consideration from the other side or not.

Those who take full measure 'when they buy' from people,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Those who when they have to receive by measure from men exact full measure.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

but give less when they measure or weigh for buyers.

  - Mustafa Khattab

But when they have to give by measure or weight to men give less than due.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Do such people not think that they will be resurrected

  - Mustafa Khattab

Do they not think that they will be called to account? ⁶⁰¹²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Legal and social sanctions against Fraud depend for their efficacy on whether there is a chance of being found out. Moral and religious sanctions are of a different kind. 'Do you wish to degrade your own nature?' 'Do you not consider that there is a Day of Account before a Judge Who knows all, and Who safeguards all interests, for He is the Lord and Cherisher of the Worlds? Whether other people know anything about your wrong or not, you are guilty before Allah'.

for a tremendous Day-

  - Mustafa Khattab

On a Mighty Day

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

the Day 'all' people will stand before the Lord of all worlds?

  - Mustafa Khattab

A Day when (all) mankind will stand before the Lord of the Worlds?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

But no! The wicked are certainly bound for Sijjîn¹ 'in the depths of Hell'-

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Sijjîn is the name of a place (such as a confinement) in the depths of Hell.

Nay! Surely the Record of the Wicked is (preserved) in Sijjin ⁶⁰¹³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This is a word from the same root as Sijn, a Prison. It rhymes with and is contrasted with Illiyin in verse 18 below. It is therefore understood by many Commentators to be a place, a Prison or a Dungeon in which the Wicked are confined pending their appearance before the Judgment-Seat. The mention of the Iscribed Register in verse 9 below may imply that Sijjin is the name of the Register of Black Deeds, though verse 9 may be elliptical and may only describe the place by the significance of its contents.

and what will make you realize what Sijjîn is?-

  - Mustafa Khattab

And what will explain to thee what Sijjin is?

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

a fate 'already' sealed.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 This is based on the commentary of Ibn Kathîr.

(There is) a Register (fully) inscribed. ⁶⁰¹⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

If we take Sijjin to be the Register itself, and not the place where it is kept, the Register itself is a sort of Prison for those who do wrong. It is inscribed fully: i.e., no one is omitted who ought to be there, and for every entry there is a complete record, so that there is no escape for the sinner.

Woe on that Day to the deniers-

  - Mustafa Khattab

Woe that Day to those that deny

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

those who deny Judgment Day!

  - Mustafa Khattab

Those that deny the Day of Judgment. ⁶⁰¹⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The fact of Personal Responsibility for each soul is so undoubted that people who deny it are to be pitied, and will indeed be in a most pitiable condition on the Day of Reckoning, and none but the most abandoned sinner can deny it, and he only denies it by playing with Falsehoods.

None would deny it except every evildoing transgressor.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And none can deny it but the Transgressor beyond bounds the Sinner!

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Whenever Our revelations are recited to them, they say, 'Ancient fables!'

  - Mustafa Khattab

When Our Signs are rehearsed to him he says "Tales of the Ancients!" ⁶⁰¹⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. vi. 25; lxviii. 15; etc. They scorn Truth and pretend that it is Falsehood.

But no! In fact, their hearts have been stained by all 'the evil' they used to commit!

  - Mustafa Khattab

By no means! but on their hearts is the stain of the (ill) which they do! ⁶⁰¹⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The heart of man, as created by Allah, is pure and unsullied. Every time that a man does an ill deed, it marks a stain or rust on his heart. But on repentance and forgiveness, such stain is washed off. If there is no repentance and forgiveness, the stains deepen and spread more and more, until the heart is scaled (ii. 7), and eventually the man dies a spiritual death. It is such stains that stand in the way of his perceiving Truths which are obvious to others. That is why he mocks at Truth and hugs Falsehood to his bosom.

Undoubtedly, they will be sealed off from their Lord on that Day.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Verily from (the Light of) their Lord that Day will they be veiled. ⁶⁰¹⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The stain of evil deeds on their hearts sullies the mirror of their hearts, so that it does not receive the light. At Judgment the true Light, the Glory of the Lord, the joy of the Righteous, will be hidden by veils from the eyes of the Sinful. Instead; the Fire of Punishment will be to them the only reality which they will perceive.