83:1وَيْلٌ لِّلْمُطَفِّفِينَ
Woe to the defrauders, who use short measures,
Agha Ali Puya Commentary
Commentary on Quran 83:1
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:1]
Mutaffif is he who gives short measure, and short weight, thus cheating his fellow-men. Islam enjoins honesty and justice in all dealings. Do as you would like to be done by. Give in full what is due from you.
When this surah was revealed the Holy Prophet went to the market place, recited it to the merchants and told them:
"If giving less than due becomes a usual practice among a community, famine, drought and bad harvests afflict them as a punishment."
83:2الَّذِينَ إِذَا اكْتَالُوا عَلَى النَّاسِ يَسْتَوْفُونَ
who, when they measure [a commodity bought] from the people, take the full measure,
Agha Ali Puya Commentary
Commentary on Quran 83:2
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:2] (see commentary for verse 1)
83:3وَإِذَا كَالُوهُمْ أَو وَّزَنُوهُمْ يُخْسِرُونَ
but diminish when they measure or weigh for them.
Agha Ali Puya Commentary
Commentary on Quran 83:3
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:3] (see commentary for verse 1)
83:4أَلَا يَظُنُّ أُولَئِكَ أَنَّهُم مَّبْعُوثُونَ
Do they not know that they will be resurrected
Agha Ali Puya Commentary
Commentary on Quran 83:4
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:4]
The mighty day is a day of reckoning when the defrauders shall have to answer for every act of theirs which they did to violate the commands of Allah. Those who have been cheated may not know the loss they suffered but the all-knowing Lord knows everything. The record of the wicked is preserved in Sijjin. The root word sijn means "a prison" which suggests that everything done by the wicked is "imprisoned" (recorded) in a register from where nothing can ever escape (be found missing).
83:5لِيَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ
on a tremendous day,
Agha Ali Puya Commentary
Commentary on Quran 83:5
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:5] (see commentary for verse 4)
83:6يَوْمَ يَقُومُ النَّاسُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
a day when mankind will stand before the Lord of all the worlds?
Agha Ali Puya Commentary
Commentary on Quran 83:6
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:6] (see commentary for verse 4)
83:7كَلَّا إِنَّ كِتَابَ الْفُجَّارِ لَفِي سِجِّينٍ
Indeed, the record of the vicious is in Sijjeen.
Agha Ali Puya Commentary
Commentary on Quran 83:7
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:7] (see commentary for verse 4)
83:8وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا سِجِّينٌ
And what will show you what is Sijjeen?
Agha Ali Puya Commentary
Commentary on Quran 83:8
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:8] (see commentary for verse 4)
83:9كِتَابٌ مَّرْقُومٌ
It is a written record.
Agha Ali Puya Commentary
Commentary on Quran 83:9
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:9] (see commentary for verse 4)
83:10وَيْلٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِّلْمُكَذِّبِينَ
Woe to the deniers on that day,
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:10]
Those who deny the day of reckoning will be in a most miserable condition on the day of judgement. Refer to the commentary of Anam: 25.
83:11الَّذِينَ يُكَذِّبُونَ بِيَوْمِ الدِّينِ
who deny the Day of Retribution;
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:11] (see commentary for verse 10)
83:12وَمَا يُكَذِّبُ بِهِ إِلَّا كُلُّ مُعْتَدٍ أَثِيمٍ
and none denies it except every sinful transgressor.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:12] (see commentary for verse 10)
83:13إِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِ آيَاتُنَا قَالَ أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ
When Our signs are recited to him, he says, ‘Myths of the ancients!’
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:13] (see commentary for verse 10)
83:14كَلَّا بَلْ رَانَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِم مَّا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ
No, that is not the case! Rather, their hearts have been sullied by what they have been earning.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:14]
The Holy Prophet said that the heart of man, as created by Allah, is pure, but every time he does an ill-deed, it marks a stain on his heart. If he does not repent and thereafter live a righteous life, the stains deepen and spread more and more until the heart is sealed (Baqarah: 7)
Imam Muhammad bin Ali al Baqir said:
"The heart of a believer is as good-natured (spotless) as whiteness, but when he sins a stain appears on it, which disappears if he turns repentant to Allah and sins no more. In the event of continued sinning the stain spreads and covers the whole heart. He is lost and then no word of guidance brings him to the right path."
Imam Jafar bin Muhammad as Sadiq said:
"The hearts of those who pay no attention to the commands of Allah and persist in sinning, step by step, reach a state of decay and disintegration from which no recovery is ever possible."
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Willing surrender to the life of sin is the cause of the disintegration of soul, so it is the sinner who is responsible for his disgrace on the day of judgement.
83:15كَلَّا إِنَّهُمْ عَن رَّبِّهِمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ لَّمَحْجُوبُونَ
Indeed, they will be alienated from their Lord on that day.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:15]
On the day of judgement the tarnished, blackened and sealed hearts of the sinners because of total loss of reflectivity, will not receive the light of the glory of Allah-a deprivation of the highest magnitude. The fire of punishment will be to them the only reality which they will perceive.
83:16ثُمَّ إِنَّهُمْ لَصَالُو الْجَحِيمِ
Afterward they will enter hell,
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:16] (see commentary for verse 15)
83:17ثُمَّ يُقَالُ هَذَا الَّذِي كُنتُم بِهِ تُكَذِّبُونَ
then told, ‘This is what you used to deny!’
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:17] (see commentary for verse 15)
83:18كَلَّا إِنَّ كِتَابَ الْأَبْرَارِ لَفِي عِلِّيِّينَ
Indeed, the record of the pious is in Illeeyun.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:18]
Illiyun literally means the high places, in contrast to the sijjin in verse 7. It is a place where the record of the righteous is kept. It contains every detail of the deeds of the righteous. Those nearest to Allah will be witnesses to the records of the righteous. See commentary of Nisa: 41; Nahl: 89 and Bani Israil: 71; Bara-at: 105. On the day of judgement a witness will be called for every people and the Holy Prophet will be called as witness over all these witnesses. Whatever is recorded is witnessed by those described as muqarrabun in verse 21 and alin in verse 75 of Sad. The angels are excluded from alin because they prostrated themselves before Adam and verse 75 of Sad clearly says that alin are those who do not prostrate before Adam, because it was the knowledge of their "names" which made Adam superior to the angels. See commentary of Baqarah : 30 to 38. So the witnesses are the Holy Prophet, the prophets of Allah and the Imams of the Ahl ul Bayt all of whom always preached goodness and invited people to follow the right path and because of whom they came to know what was good and how to follow the right path. As the recording commenced with the creation, only those who existed right from the beginning are the witnesses nearest to Allah. As alin they existed before Adam (see above noted verses).
The Holy Prophet said:
"I was the prophet of Allah when Adam was yet in the process of creation.
I and Ali are from one and the same light."
83:19وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا عِلِّيُّونَ
And what will show you what is Illeeyun?
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:19] (see commentary for verse 18)
83:20كِتَابٌ مَّرْقُومٌ
It is a written record,
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:20] (see commentary for verse 18)
83:21يَشْهَدُهُ الْمُقَرَّبُونَ
witnessed by those brought near [to Allah].
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:21]
83:22إِنَّ الْأَبْرَارَ لَفِي نَعِيمٍ
The pious shall be amid bliss,
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:22]
See commentary of Qiyamah: 22 and Dahr: 11 and 12.
Tasnim is the name of a spring of paradise whose water is pure and superior to all kinds of drinking liquids. It will be used by muqarrabin who comprise those human souls who are nearest to Allah because of their highest degree of submission to Allah. It is to be noted that these muqarrabin cannot mean angels as angels do not eat or drink. It is stated in verses 69 to and 70 of Hud that Ibrahim brought a roasted calf for the angels who visited him while going to the people of Lut but they did not eat it. Eating and drinking has not been mentioned in connection with the angels in the Quran.
83:23عَلَى الْأَرَائِكِ يَنظُرُونَ
observing, [as they recline] on couches.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:23] (see commentary for verse 22)
83:24تَعْرِفُ فِي وُجُوهِهِمْ نَضْرَةَ النَّعِيمِ
You will perceive in their faces the freshness of bliss.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:24] (see commentary for verse 22)
83:25يُسْقَوْنَ مِن رَّحِيقٍ مَّخْتُومٍ
They will be served with a sealed pure wine,
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:25] (see commentary for verse 22)
83:26خِتَامُهُ مِسْكٌ وَفِي ذَلِكَ فَلْيَتَنَافَسِ الْمُتَنَافِسُونَ
whose seal is musk—for such let the viers vie—
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:26] (see commentary for verse 22)
83:27وَمِزَاجُهُ مِن تَسْنِيمٍ
and whose seasoning is from Tasneem,
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:27] (see commentary for verse 22)
83:28عَيْنًا يَشْرَبُ بِهَا الْمُقَرَّبُونَ
a spring where those brought near [to Allah] drink.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:28] (see commentary for verse 22)
83:29إِنَّ الَّذِينَ أَجْرَمُوا كَانُوا مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يَضْحَكُونَ
Indeed the guilty used to laugh at the faithful,
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:29]
According to the well-known commentator, Khashshaf, once when Imam Ali, along with some poor believers, was going to meet the Holy Prophet, a party of hypocrites, standing before a shop, laughed and mocked at them these verses were revealed to condemn those hypocrites.
According to Ibn Abbas "those who are guilty" refers to the hypocrites, and "those who believe" refers to Imam Ali. Sa-id bin Sad Balkhi, a great Sunni scholar, has also confirmed the above noted interpretation.
83:30وَإِذَا مَرُّوا بِهِمْ يَتَغَامَزُونَ
and when they passed them by they would wink at each other,
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:30] (see commentary for verse 29)
83:31وَإِذَا انقَلَبُوا إِلَى أَهْلِهِمُ انقَلَبُوا فَكِهِينَ
and when they returned to their folks they would return amused,
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:31] (see commentary for verse 29)
83:32وَإِذَا رَأَوْهُمْ قَالُوا إِنَّ هَؤُلَاءِ لَضَالُّونَ
and when they saw them they would say, ‘Indeed those are the astray!’
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:32] (see commentary for verse 29)
83:33وَمَا أُرْسِلُوا عَلَيْهِمْ حَافِظِينَ
Though they were not sent to watch over them.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:33] (see commentary for verse 29)
83:34فَالْيَوْمَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنَ الْكُفَّارِ يَضْحَكُونَ
So today the faithful will laugh at the faithless,
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:34]
On the day of restoration of true values the hypocrites will surely be a laughing stock and the righteous believers will look down upon the downfall of the disbelievers from the exalted places of dignity and honour.
83:35عَلَى الْأَرَائِكِ يَنظُرُونَ
observing from their couches:
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:35] (see commentary for verse 34)
83:36هَلْ ثُوِّبَ الْكُفَّارُ مَا كَانُوا يَفْعَلُونَ
Have the faithless been requited for what they used to do?
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 83:36] (see commentary for verse 34)
