وَمَن جَآءَ بِٱلسَّيِّئَةِ فَكُبَّتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ فِى ٱلنَّارِ هَلْ تُجْزَوْنَ إِلَّا مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ 90
Translations
And whoever comes with an evil deed - their faces will be overturned into the Fire, [and it will be said], "Are you recompensed except for what you used to do?"
Transliteration
Wa man jaa bi al-sayyiah fa kubbat wujuhuhum fi al-nar hal tujzawna illa ma kuntum ta'malun
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah describes the fate of those who bring evil deeds on the Day of Judgment—their faces will be cast into the Fire, a vivid description of their humiliation and punishment. The concluding rhetorical question emphasizes divine justice, affirming that people receive only the recompense they earned through their own actions, as explained by Ibn Kathir and Al-Qurtubi. This establishes the principle of personal accountability and the perfect correlation between deeds and their consequences in the afterlife.
Revelation Context
This ayah appears in Surah An-Naml (the Ant), a Meccan surah focused on signs of Allah's power and the certainty of the Day of Judgment. It follows the previous verse (27:89) about those who bring good deeds, creating a parallel structure that contrasts the reward of the righteous with the punishment of the wicked—a recurring theme in Meccan revelation addressing disbelievers' denial of resurrection and accountability.
Related Hadiths
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: 'Each soul will know what it has sent forward and kept back' (Quran 82:5, which complements this theme). Additionally, in Sahih Muslim, the Prophet emphasized that 'No soul knows what has been prepared for them of joy as a reward for what they used to do,' highlighting the reciprocal nature of deeds and consequences.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah reminds believers that Allah's justice is perfect and inescapable—we will face the precise consequences of our actions on the Day of Judgment. For modern readers, it serves as a powerful motivation to audit our deeds carefully, knowing that every action, no matter how hidden, has a reckoning before Allah.