The Scales

[ابوالوليد المسلم]

The Scales (1)

‘Abdullah ibn Hamoud al-Furaih

The Scales (1)

After the reckoning and the tense moment, the scales are put up to weigh the deeds and the scrolls that have been taken. Among them are those with superior deeds on the scale and those who are superceded on the scales. We ask Allah for help

Al Qurtubi (may Allah be pleased with him) says: “if the reckoning have been dealt with, the deeds are weighed after that. The weighing of the deeds must be after the reckoning because the reckoning are for the amount of deeds and the weight is for showing its amount so that it can be a judgement by itself”[1]

what are the scales?
Linguistically: what measures how heavy or light things are

According to the Shariah: it is a real scale that has two pans. Allah Almighty puts it on the Day of Resurrection for weighing the deeds of the slaves. It is an accurate scale that does not increase or decrease. Nobody can assess this scale except Alllah Almighty

the scales are confirmed in the book, the Sunnah and the concensus:
From the book, His words Almighty:

{وَنَضَعُ الْمَوَازِينَ الْقِسْطَ لِيَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ فَلَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْئًا ۖ وَإِن كَانَ مِثْقَالَ حَبَّةٍ مِّنْ خَرْدَلٍ أَتَيْنَا بِهَا ۗ وَكَفَىٰ بِنَا حَاسِبِينَ}
“And We place the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection, so no soul will be treated unjustly at all. And if there is [even] the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it forth. And sufficient are We as accountant.” [Al Anbiya: 47]

This verse proves the accuracy of the scales

From the Sunnah: there is the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) connected to this. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “(There are) two words which are dear to the Beneficent (Allah) and very light (easy) for the tongue (to say), but very heavy in weight in the balance. They are: ''Subhan Allah wa-bi hamdihi'' and ''Subhan Allah Al-`Azim.”[2]

The pious predecessors (may Allah be pleased with them) agreed upon the evidence for that.

[1] Look at: At-Tadhkirah (page: 309)

[2] Narrated by Al Bukhari number (7563). Narrated by Muslim number (2694)

[ابوالوليد المسلم]

The Scales (2)

‘Abdullah ibn Hamoud al-Furaih

The Scales (2)

the scales are sensitive with two sensitive pans
Proof to that: the Hadith of the card, the Hadith of Abdullah ibn Omar (may Allah be pleased with them) who said: the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Indeed Allah will distinguish a man from my Ummah before all of creation on the Day of Judgement. Ninety-nine scrolls will be laid out for him, each scroll is as far as the eye can see, then He will say: 'Do you deny any of this? Have those who recorded this wronged you?' He will say: 'No, O Lord!' He will say: Do you have an excuse?' He will say: 'No, O Lord!' So He will say: 'Rather you have a good deed with us, so you shall not be wronged today." Then He will bring out a card (Bitaqah); on it will be: "I testify to La Ilaha Illallah, and I testify that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger." He will say: 'Bring your scales.' He will say: 'O Lord! What good is this card next to these scrolls?' He will say: 'You shall not be wronged.' He said: The scrolls will be put on a pan (of the scale), and the card on (the other) pan: the scrolls will be light, and the card will be heavy, nothing is heavier than the Name of Allah.’”[1]

Al Albani (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “the Hadiths for this are Mutadafir (connected) if not Mutawatir (continuous)”

The position of the witness in the Hadith are his saying: “'The scrolls will be put on a pan (of the scale), and the card on (the other) pan.” In this there is proof that the pans are sensitive.


[1] Narrated by Ahmad number (6994). Narrated by At-Tirmidhy number (2639). Narrated by Ibn Majah number (4300). Ibn Hibban and Al Hakim authenticated it. Adh-Dhahaby agreed with it and authenticated it and also At-Tirmidhy. Al Albany authenticated it in Al Sahiha (135)

[ابوالوليد المسلم]

‘Abdullah ibn Hamoud al-Furaih

The Scales (3)

what is weighed?
The people of knowledge have disputed about what is weighed based on (different) sayings:

The first saying: what are weighed are: the deeds

They proved this with: the previous Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him). The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “(There are) two words which are dear to the Beneficent (Allah) and very light (easy) for the tongue (to say), but very heavy in weight in the balance. They are: ''Subhan Allah wa-bi hamdihi'' and ''Subhan Allah Al-`Azim”

The Hadith of Abu Al Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Nothing is heavier on the believer's Scale on the Day of Judgment than good character.”[1]

The second saying: that what is weighed is: the worker

They proved this with: the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “On the Day of Resurrection, a huge fat man will come who will no weight, the weight of the wing of a mosquito in Allah's Sight.”[2]

There is the Hadith of Ibn Masood (may Allah be pleased with him) that he had thin legs. The wind blew and exposed them so the people laughed at him. The Messenger of Allah(peace be upon him) said: “What are you laughing at?” They said, “O Prophet of Allah, because his legs are so thin.” He said, “By the One in Whose hand is my soul, they will weigh more heavily in the Balance than Mount Uhud.”[3]

The third saying: that what are weighed are: the scrolls

They proved this with: the hadith about the card and it was mentioned recently.

What is clearer: Allah knows best: that all of that weighs the deeds, workers and scrolls because of all of the collective evidence for them.

Ibn Katheer (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “it is possible to gather this evidence so that all of that is authentic throughout the weighing of deeds, occasionally weighing their situation and occationally weighing the one who committed them (the deeds). Allah knows best.[4]. The Hafiz Al Hikmi chose this.[5]


[1] Narrated by Ahmad number (27553). Narrated by Abu Dawud number (4799). Narrated by At-Tirmidhy number (2002). He said it is a a correct authentic Hadith

[2] Narrated by Al Bukhari number (4729). Narrated by Muslim number (2785)

[3] Narrated by Ahmad number (3991)

[4] Look at: his Tafseer (3/202)

[5] Look at: Maarij Al Al Qubool (2/272)

[ابوالوليد المسلم]

The Scales (4)

‘Abdullah ibn Hamoud al-Furaih

The Scales (4)

is there one scale or many scales?
The verses that mention the scales in them came as a group. Among them, His words Almighty:

{وَنَضَعُ الْمَوَازِينَ الْقِسْطَ لِيَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ}

“And We place the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection” [Al Anbiya: 47]

The word for the scales came as a singular (word) in the Sunnah such as in the previous Hadith: “By the One in Whose hand is my soul, they will weigh more heavily in the Balance than Mount Uhud”:

So are they one scale or many scales?
Our Sheikh Ibn Othaimeen (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “the scholars differed; are the scales one or many?”

Some of them said: many based on the communities, people or deeds, because in the Qur'an they were not mentioned except in plural. As for its singular (word) in the Hadith, that is based on the gender (of the word). Some of them said: it is one scale because it was mentioned in the Hadith as a singular. As for being plural in the Qur'an, that is based on what is being weighed. Either of the two issues can be expected. Allah knows best

[ابوالوليد المسلم]

The Scales (5)

‘Abdullah ibn Hamoud al-Furaih

The Scales (5)

the deeds that will increase the weighing on the scale
There are deeds that make the scales heavier on the Day of Resurrection so glad tidings for the ones whose scales become heavy then.

Among the deeds are those that came with proof from the following:
1-A good ending
It is the heaviest of deeds on the scale. We need this deed in many of our daily affairs. We ask Allah to guide us to the best of character. (None) guides to the best of them except Him; and to keep away from the bad (deeds). (None) keeps the bad (deeds) away except Him. Abu Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Nothing is heavier on the believer's Scale on the Day of Judgment than good character”[1]

2-Saying: “''Subhan Allah wa-bi hamdihi'' and ''Subhan Allah Al-`Azim”
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “(There are) two words which are dear to the Beneficent (Allah) and very light (easy) for the tongue (to say), but very heavy in weight in the balance. They are: ''Subhan Allah wa-bi hamdihi'' and ''Subhan Allah Al-`Azim”[2]

3-Saying: Alhamdulillah
Abu Malik Al Ashari (may Allah be pleased with him) said: the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Purity is half of iman (faith). ‘Al-hamdu lillah (all praise and gratitude belong to Allah)’ fills the scales, and ‘subhan-Allah (how far is Allah from every imperfection) and ‘Al-hamdulillah (all praise and gratitude belong to Allah)’ fill that which is between heaven and earth”[3]

4-Saying “La Ilaha Illalah”
Proof to that is the previous Hadith about the card. In it: “The scrolls will be put on a pan (of the scale), and the card on (the other) pan: the scrolls will be light, and the card will be heavy, nothing is heavier than the Name of Allah.”[4]

From that also, there is the narration of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “If somebody keeps a horse in Allah's Cause motivated by his faith in Allah and his belief in His Promise, then he will be rewarded on the Day of Resurrection for what the horse has eaten or drunk and for its dung and urine.”[5]

“Shaba’a” means: his (stomach) is filled with it. “Riyya” what he is quenched with. “Rutha, Bowel” what comes from the faeces and bowels; they are rewarded for, not that they are weighed by themselves.

After the scales…we reach the end of this tense day, wait for the results, the high hopes and the decision. We ask Allah for good hopes and a home for the righteous

Before I explain to you the way of gathering people and their passing over the Sirat, I must apologise to you dear reader for cutting the time sequencing in order to write about a great topic from the topics that will cross over you on the Day of Resurrection. That is the basin. Even if we have given a glimpse into it in the discussion of the moment and the worries and sorrows of people, they will drink from the basin and there will be another point then which came in the words of the people of knowledge for this basin. This is after the Sirat and it clarifies the position of the dispute and difference, except that was is important to us is to talk about the pages (of detail) of the basin and some of its research. This is from (the things) that did not bring about details earlier. For you is this simple research in the Chapter on “the basin.” May Allah protect you

[1] Narrated by Ahmad number (27553). Narrated by Abu Dawud number (4799). Narrated by At-Tirmidhy number (2002). He said it is a a correct authentic Hadith

[2] Narrated by Al Bukhari number (4729). Narrated by Muslim number (2785)

[3] Narrated by Muslim number (233)

[4] Look at: page (93)

[5] Narrated by Al Bukhari number (2853)