In the Qur’a-n we recite that...
In the Qur’a-n we recite that, in order to deceive others, a group of disbelievers say: “… follow our path and we will certainly bear (the burdens of) your sins’. …” [^1] This verse is an answer to them. Question: Taking this verse which says in Hereafter the burden of everybody is on one’s own shoulder and it does not harm others, can we say we should leave alone the sinners, [^1] Sura Al-'Ankabu-t, No.
29, verse 12 because they themselves will carry the burden of their own sins and it does not relate to us? Answer: This verse does not justify the silence before unlawful things, because undue silence itself is a sin upon those who commit this action. Our duty is to bid the right and forbid the wrong, but if they did not follow it, their sin would not be upon us. The Qur’a-nic term /wizr/ means the heaviness and a load. The Arabic word /mu?qalah/ means the weight of a load.
The word /himl/ refers to the load on the back while /haml/ refers to the load in the womb. (Mufrada-t by Ra-gib) This Qur’a-nic sentence: “And no one laden bears the burden of another. …” is one of the basic fundamentals in Islamic convictions. In fact, on one side, it relates to the justice of Allah that He counts everybody pledged in his own action, rewards his righteous efforts and endeavours, and gives retribution for his sins.
On the other side, it points to the severity of the divine punishment on the Day of Hereafter when nobody agrees to carry the burden of the sin of another person, even though he had been fond of him extraordinarily. Being attentive to this meaning has a great effect in man’s self-improvement, because whoever is careful of himself he never tends to corruption with the pretext that his entourage or his environment is polluted.
He does not count the pollution of the environment as a justification for his own pollution, because everybody carries his own burden. On the other side, it gives man such a conception and understanding that the reckoning of Allah with societies is not a total and a lamp reckoning, but everybody will be reckoned separately and independently.
That is, if he has done his duty both in relation to his purification and struggle against corruption, there will be no fear and horror on him, although all humankind totally, except him, are polluted with infidelity, polytheism, injustice, and sins. Principally, no training program will be effective without attracting the attentions to this basic principle.