Overview (Verses 6 - 12)

Man’s Hard Labour
 
In such an atmosphere of conscious obedience, man is addressed from on high: “O man! You have been toiling towards your Lord, and you shall meet Him.” (Verse 6) “O man!” your Lord has made you in a perfect way. He has given you your humanity which distinguishes you from the rest of creation. Your humanity endows you with certain characteristics which should have made you more conscious of your Lord, and more obedient and submissive to Him than both the sky and the earth. He has given man of His own spirit and endowed him with the ability to communicate with Him, receive His light, ennoble himself with God’s grace in order to achieve the highest degree of perfection attainable by man. This is no little distinction.
 
“O man! You have been toiling towards your Lord and you shall meet Him.” (Verse 6) Man certainly labours hard in this life, shouldering his responsibilities and exerting himself. All this he does in order to return, in the end, like all the rest of creation, to God. Man labours even for what he enjoys! Nothing in this life comes easily or without effort: if sometimes no physical labour is needed, then surely some mental and emotional effort is required. In this the rich and poor are alike, although the labour exerted may differ in kind and form. This address reminds man that labouring hard is the lot of all in this life on earth. But when we meet our Lord, we will fall into two groups: one will suffer hardship incomparable to that suffered on earth; and the other, consisting of those who have demonstrated their obedience and true submission, will enjoy a rest in which the suffering of this life will be forgotten.
 
“He who is given his record in his right hand will in time have a lenient reckoning, and return rejoicing to his people.” (Verses 7-9) He who is given his book in his right hand is the happy one who was true to his faith. God is pleased with him and rewards him well. He will have a lenient reckoning, that is to say that he will not be called to account for what he did in this life. This is abundantly clear in the traditions of the Prophet. `A’ishah, the Prophet’s wife, quotes him as saying: “He who is called to account will suffer affliction.” Continuing her report, she pointed out that God says, ‘He... shall have a lenient reckoning.’ God’s Messenger answered: ‘That is not what is meant by reckoning and accountability. Lenient reckoning signifies no more than showing him his record. He who is called to account on the Day of Judgement will suffer affliction.’“ [Related by al-Bukhari, Muslim, al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasa’i.]
 
`A’ishah also related: “I heard God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) saying in his prayers ‘My Lord, make my reckoning a lenient one’. When he had finished his prayers I asked him, ‘What is the lenient reckoning?’ He answered: ‘He who receives lenient reckoning will have his record looked into and will be forgiven, but he who is called to account on that day will perish.” [Related by Ahmad.]
 
This is, then, the lenient reckoning accorded to him who receives his record in his right hand. He shall win “and return rejoicing to his people,” who will also have won and arrived in heaven ahead of him. We deduce from this statement that those who accept the faith in this life and adhere to the right path will gather together in heaven. Everyone ends up with those whom he loves. We also have an image of the winner’s all-important test: he returns with his face overflowing with happiness.
 
This image is the opposite of what happens to the afflicted one who has to account for his evil deeds and receives his record with reluctance. “But he who is given his record behind his back will in time call down destruction upon himself and will enter the fire of hell.” (Verses 10-12)

The Qur’an usually makes a distinction between receiving one’s record with one’s right or left hand. Here we have a new image: the record is given from behind one’s back. There is no reason to prevent anyone being given his record in his left hand and from behind his back at the same time. It is an image of one who feels great shame and hates to be confronted with what he has done. We have no real knowledge of the nature of this record or how it is given in one’s right or left hand or behind one’s back. But we can comprehend from the first expression the reality of being a winner, and from the second the reality of doom. This is indeed what we are meant to appreciate. These various forms of expression are used mainly to drive the point home to us and to enhance its effects. For exact knowledge of what will happen and how it will happen belongs only to God.
 
So, the unfortunate one who lived his life on earth labouring hard but disobeying God and indulging in what is forbidden will know his destiny. He realizes that what lies in front of him is more suffering and hard labour with the only difference being that this time the suffering is greater, uninterrupted and endless. So, he calls destruction upon himself, for he sees his own destruction as the only means of salvation from what will befall him. When man seeks refuge in his own destruction, then he is certainly in a helpless position. His own non-existence becomes his strongest desire. His hopelessness is beyond description. This is the meaning implied by the Arab poet al-Mutanabbi in his poem which starts with what may be rendered in English as: “Suffice it a malady that you should think death a cure. It says much that doom should be eagerly desired.” It is certainly a case of indescribable distress and misery. “And [he] will enter the fire of hell.” (Verse 12) This is the end from which he wishes to escape by means of his own destruction; but there is no way out.