and do not make excuses today...

and do not make excuses today; you shall be recompensed only what you did (66:7); then every soul shall be paid back in full what it has earned, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly. (2:281); then be on guard against the fire of which men and stones are fuel (2:24); Then let him summon his council, We too would summon the tormentors (of the hell) (96:17-18); On the day that every soul shall find present what it has done of good and what it has done of evil . . . (3:30); . . .

they eat nothing but fire into their bellies . . . (2:174); . . . surely they only swallow fire into their bellies . . . (4:10). There are many verses of the same import. Then there is the verse 50:22, which by itself is enough to convince one of this principle: Certainly you were heedless, of it, but now We have removed from you your veil, so your sight today is sharp.

The words, "you were heedless of it", indicate that there was something present in this world, to which the guilty one has not paid any attention; "removed from you your veil" means that, but for that veil, he could have seen that reality even in this worldly life.

What the man would see on the Day of Resurrection was present even in this earthly life; otherwise, it would not be logical to say that previously you were inattentive to it, or that it was hidden from your eyes, but now that the cover has been removed, you may see it clearly. There is no allegory or metaphor in these verses. Try to explain in plain Arabic the principle which we have mentioned just now. You will not find a more explicit way than the one used in these verses.

Then, how can they be explained away as allegories? The divine talk here points at two realities:- First: Recompense: What a man will get in hereafter - reward or punishment, paradise or hell - shall be in recompense of the good or evil he would have done in this life. Second: Embodiment of the deeds: Many verses indicate that the good or evil deeds themselves turn into their own pleasant or unpleasant recompense.

(Or, that the recompense is an insepar­able concomitant of the deeds themselves.) It is hidden from our eyes in this life, but we shall see it clearly on the day of reckoning. These realities are not really two. But we had to explain it in this way to bring it nearer to the minds. The Qur’ân too says that it uses similitudes to make people understand. QUR’?N: but He does not cause to err by it (any) except the transgressors: "al–Fisq” ( = transgression, sinfulness ).