عَلِمَت نَفسٌ ما قَدَّمَت وَأَخَّرَت

Then a soul shall know what it has sent ahead and left behind.

EXPOSITION

This verse, almost identical to 75:13, is in a sense a conclusion to the first four verses, as if stating that when these previous phenomena relating to the hour of doom occur, actions will be sealed and every soul will know conclusively what it has earned for itself. Any action thereafter will be useless (6:158) for the Day of Judgement will have been established, and everyone shall now receive their book to their right (if felicitous) (69:19) or left (if wretched) (69:25).

The knowing of what a soul has sent ahead and left behind occurs on the Day of Judgement, and in particular, an individual book of deeds is handed out to each soul as it stands for accounting and is told to read its own book (18:49). That day man will be informed about what he has sent ahead and left behind (75:13); When hell is set ablaze and paradise is brought near, then a soul shall know what it has readied [for itself] (81:12-14).

What a soul has sent ahead are the deeds it committed in this world, and that will determine its final abode in the hereafter. And what it has left behind are the missed opportunities in the world to build for the hereafter, as well as the actions for which a soul laboured in this world but are of no value after death.

The deeds of a person sent ahead include the practices and ideas he introduces in society that influence and benefit or harm others, for he continues to receive its effects posthumously (36:12) as perpetual recompense-generating deeds. In a sense, therefore, these practices could also be listed under what the person left behind. This may appear to contradict other verses, such as 35:18, which clearly states that none shall bear the burden of another in the hereafter; however, this apparent contradiction is not real, because one who initiates an evil practice that others act upon receives his share from their evil practices as his own burden. In other words, there is no transfer of another’s burden of sin – this is his own share of the evil for misguiding others and encouraging its spread. And according to Mufīd, this is the meaning of the words, But surely they will carry their own burdens and other burdens along with their own burdens (29:13).^{‎[1]Mufid, 550.} The situation is similar when it comes to establishing a good practice.

The faithful are encouraged to convert any assets, i.e. blessings from God, in this fleeting world that they can spare, to the currency of the hereafter, so that it is preserved for eternity. O you who have faith! … spend from what We have provided you before death comes to any of you, whereat he will say: ‘My Lord, why did You not respite me for a short time so that I might have given charity and become one of the righteous!’ (63:9-10). This giving in charity is not limited to wealth but includes sharing one’s knowledge, time, and any act of kindness to others. Any good that you send ahead for your souls, you shall find it with Allah. Indeed Allah sees best what you do (2:110).

In the Quran, and in many traditions, the faithful are often reminded of the impermanence of this world and are encouraged to see themselves as travellers in a caravanserai about to return home. And just as it would pain an immigrant to leave behind what he failed to send ahead before his move, a soul too may regret on the Day of Judgement when it sees what it has sent ahead and left behind.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. It is related that the Prophet said: ‘Every creature will express remorse on the Day of Resurrection but its remorse will not benefit it.’

Daylamī, after quoting this tradition, remarks: ‘As for the felicitous, when he sees paradise and what Allah had prepared in it for His friends – the God-wary – he will regret that he has no actions like theirs, and he will wish he could have attained their rank in the highest paradise; and if he is from the wretched, when he sights the fire and its groaning and what Allah has prepared in it of painful punishment, he will scream and regret why he did not have less sins so that he could be saved … for the world is the farmland of the hereafter and to the degree you sow in the world you shall reap in the hereafter.’^{‎[2]Daylami, 1/89.}

2. A beggar rose during the time of the Prophet and asked for help. The people remained silent. Then a man gave him and others began giving him too. So the Prophet remarked: ‘One who initiates a good practice shall have its reward and the reward of all who imitate him, without anything reducing from their reward; and one who starts an evil practice and it is imitated, then on him is its burden and the equivalent of the burden of all who imitate him, without anything reducing from their burden.’ So Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān recited: Then a soul shall know what it has sent ahead and left behind [verse 5].^{‎[3]Tabrisi, 10/449; Nur, 5/520-21; Suyuti, 6/322; al-Ḥākim has rated it as a ṣaḥīḥ tradition.}
3. From Imam al-Ṣādiq (a): ‘Jesus the son of Mary said: “You struggle for the world though you are guaranteed sustenance in it without struggle, and you do not struggle for the hereafter [as much] when [you know] you shall not be given in it except by the actions [you perform here].”^{‎[4]Kafi, 2/319, h. 13.} And he said: “By truth, I say unto you: the world was created to be a farmland in which creatures farm for sweet and bitter, evil and good. As for the good [that is planted], it shall have a beneficial outcome on the Day of Accounting (yawm al-ḥisāb), and as for the evil, it shall cause hardship and wretchedness on the Day of Harvesting (yawm al-ḥaṣād).”’^{‎[5]Tuhaf, 510-511.}
4. From Imam al-Ṣādiq (a): ‘No [spiritual] reward continues to follow a man after his death except for three matters: a charity he began during his lifetime that continues to run after him, a good practice he establishes that continues to be acted upon after his death, and a righteous child who seeks forgiveness for him [after death].’^{‎[6]Bihar, 71/257.}

Note: In another tradition, the sources of posthumous spiritual rewards are six: charity, a good custom or practice that one establishes in a community, a righteous child, a water well that one digs, a tree that one plants, and the Quran that one reads from.^{‎[7]Bihar, 71/257.} And in some traditions: the knowledge a person leaves behind. The emphasis here, though, is that the good or bad practices that a person leaves behind will continue to benefit or cause him suffering until the Day of Judgement.^{‎[8]Nemuneh, 26/214.}

5. In a sermon from Imam Ali (a), he says: ‘What will then be your position when your affairs reach their end and graves are turned upside down? There every soul will examine what it has sent in advance, and they will be returned to Allah, their real master, and what they used to fabricate will forsake them [10:30].’^{‎[9]Nahj, sermon 226.}

[1] Mufid, 550.
[2] Daylami, 1/89.
[3] Tabrisi, 10/449; Nur, 5/520-21; Suyuti, 6/322; al-Ḥākim has rated it as a ṣaḥīḥ tradition.
[4] Kafi, 2/319, h. 13.
[5] Tuhaf, 510-511.
[6] Bihar, 71/257.
[7] Bihar, 71/257.
[8] Nemuneh, 26/214.
[9] Nahj, sermon 226.