فَسَوفَ يُحاسَبُ حِسابًا يَسيرًا
He shall soon receive an easy reckoning.
EXPOSITION
This verse is similar to the verses in Sūrat al-Layl, As for him who gives and is God-wary and confirms the best promise, We shall surely ease him into facility (92:5-7). To be given one’s book in the right hand is a sign of an easy reckoning and easing him into facility. A reckoning that does not scrutinise every detail, but rather judges one’s actions with tolerance and mercy.
The sins that they had repented for and regretted will have vanished from their record. Not only that, even other minor sins and lapses that they overlooked but never managed to repent for or overcome, they will find them struck from their record (53:32).
As stated in Sūrat al-Muddaththir: Every soul is hostage to what it has earned, except the people of the right hand (aṣḥāb al-yamīn). [They will be] in gardens, questioning concerning the guilty: ‘What drew you into hell?’ (74:38-42). The aṣḥāb al-yamīn are not sinless Infallibles, and have committed their own mistakes, however, after having experienced the easy reckoning and the mercy and forgiveness of God, they ask the people of hell in bewilderment, what drew them to hell despite the overwhelming mercy that they themselves had experienced. What terrible crimes had they committed that barred them entry to God’s kingdom of mercy?
It is in the light of such mercy that we should understand the report from Imam al-Sajjād (a): ‘The astonishing thing is not about the one who is saved, as to how he is saved. The truly astonishing thing is about the one who perishes, how he should perish, given the vastness of God’s mercy!’
The difficulty of the reckoning also depends on the level of intellect a person has. The more a person is capable of knowing, the greater his responsibility. It is reported in a hadith from Imam al-Bāqir (a), that he said: ‘God will be exacting in His accounting of men on the Day of Judgement according to the intellectual capacity that He granted them in this world.’ God will not take to task a child like an adult, or an insane man like a sane one. One who had the intellectual potential and the opportunity to learn about religion and God, has more responsibility than the one who did not have such opportunities. Every person is taken to account in accordance with what they are given, Allah does not task any soul except [according to] what He has given it (65:7).
This is contrary to the people destined for hell, who will be held accountable for everything they have done, and will face the most detailed and protracted of reckonings, as stated in 18:49: The book will be set up. Then you will see the guilty apprehensive of what is in it. They will say: ‘Woe to us! What a book is this! It omits nothing, big or small, without enumerating it.’ They will find present whatever they had done. They will face a full and comprehensive audit of all their actions, giving account of how they earned and spent every penny (102:8).
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- From Abū al-Jārūd, that Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said that the Prophet said: ‘Everyone who is taken to account will suffer.’ Someone said: ‘Messenger of God, what about the word of God, mighty and glorious: He shall soon receive an easy reckoning?’ He said: ‘That refers to a presentation [of actions], meaning [they will be] overlooked.’
Note: This hadith indicates that the easy reckoning is very different to reckoning that the people of hell will face, so much so that it is as if it cannot be called a reckoning at all, but merely a presentation of the (good) actions that they did.
- From ʿĀʾishah, that she heard the Messenger of God say in the course of one of his prayers: ‘God, grant me an easy reckoning.’ When he finished, she asked him: ‘Prophet of God, what is the “easy reckoning”?’ He replied: ‘That he should look at his book and his [evil] actions are overlooked. O ʿĀʾishah, he who is severely taken to account on that day, will perish.’
- From Abū ʿUbaydah al-Ḥadhdhāʾ, that Imam Bāqir (a) said whilst he was prostrating: ‘I ask You by Your beloved Muhammad, that You change my evil deeds to good ones and give me an easy reckoning.’
[1] Ibn Kathir, 8/351-352.
[2] See Tibyan, 10/309.
[3] Abū al-Qāsim al-Murtaḍā, al-Amālī (Qum: Maktabat al-Marʿashī al-Najafī, 1403 AH), 1/113; Bihar, 75/153.
[4] Mahasin, 1/195; Kafi, 1/11.
[5] Maani, p. 262; Nur 5/537. The last phrase may be an explanation added by the Imam or the transmitter. See also Bukhari, 1/34, 6/81; Muslim, 8/164; Abu Dawud, 2/56, h. 3093; Tirmidhi, 4/39-40, h. 2543, 5/106, h. 3393; which relate the similar hadith from ʿĀʾishah.
[6] Ahmad, 6/48; Suyuti, 6/329. See also Tibyan, 10/309-310; Tabrisi, 10/699.
[7] Kafi, 3/322; Wasail, 6/340, h. 8125. The hadith comprises of four such supplications, of which we have only quoted one here.