And as for the verses concerning the life hereafter...

And as for the verses concerning the life hereafter, they too are misrepresented as allegories and metaphors. But both types of verses are too clear in this meaning to allow such misinterpretations. We shall explain the verses about the first life under ch. 7. As for the life hereafter, many verses show that the same good or bad deeds which man commits in this life, shall be returned to him, as their own reward or punishment, on the day of requital.

Allah has mentioned this fact in many verses: • . . . 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.