If the word “scales” is in the plural in the Qur'an...

If the word “scales” is in the plural in the Qur'an, this is because the friends of God, the true exemplars of humanity who furnish the measure against whom all persons should be measured, are several. A good act has two dimensions, one being its outward effect and the other its relationship to the one who performs it.

When examined with respect to the first dimension, its external beneficial effect, the act is seen to have “practical goodness.” When is examined with respect to the second dimension, the spiritual causes that gave rise to it, it is seen to have a “goodness of agent.” Islam thus establishes criteria for the deeds and conduct of man. Not every deed is acceptable; a deed acquires moral value only when it arises from a pure motive.

It is basing one's choices and acts on pure motives, pleasing to God, that enables man to develop himself morally, and it is according to those motives that he is judged. Sometimes man bows his head in submission to the urgings of his instinctual self acts accordingly. On other occasions he is heedful of God, the source of all being, and reins in his self, satisfied with what God has given him.

In the former case he will have permitted the negative dimensions of his nature to flourish, and in the latter case he will have contributed to the growth of his positive and truly human dimensions. How might these two types of motivation be regarded as equal: one leading to a deed characterized by pure spirituality, and the other to a deed tainted with hypocrisy and deceit? Those who are heedful of God never forget that God watches vigilantly over their behavior at all times.

The Qur'an says: “You are never in a state, nor do you ever recite a verse of the Qur'an or engage in any other action, without My being instantly aware of it. Not a single atom in the heavens and the earth is hidden from your Lord; whatever exists, whether smaller than an atom or bigger than it, is recorded in a clear book (divine knowledge)” (10:61).

Criteria for Establishing the Worth of a Deed Many people imagine that the worth of a deed depends on the extent of the benefits to which it gives rise. They therefore assign the highest value to a deed which appears to have greatest quantitative benefit. Such judgements of value are based on external and socially determined criteria, and the intention underlying a given act is never taken into consideration.