crawl, while others will be caught by hooks fixed to the sides of the bridge and flung into the Fire. These are matters of the unseen; a person must not subject them to the verdict of mere reason. All people will cross the ṣirāṭ: “There is not one of you but will pass over it; that is, with your Lord, a decree irrevocably determined. Then We shall deliver those who were mindful of Allah and leave the wrongdoers there, fallen on their knees.” (Maryam 71-72)

Good deeds will then be weighed. If a person’s good deeds outweigh his misdeeds, he succeeds; but if his sins outweigh his good deeds, he is ruined and doomed: “The weighing on that Day will be true. Those whose scales are heavy—it is they who will prosper; but those whose scales are light—it is they who have ruined themselves because they used to wrong Our signs.” (Al-Aʿrāf 8-9)

The Quran mentions the weighing and the Balance in many verses; this is part of Allah’s justice, for He does not wrong anyone. The Balance is real and has two pans: good deeds are placed in one pan and bad deeds in the other. Whoever’s good deeds are heavier has triumphed, and whoever’s bad deeds are heavier has lost: “We shall set up the just balances on the Day of Resurrection, and no soul will be wronged in the least. Even if it be the weight of a mustard seed, We shall bring it forth; and We suffice as Reckoners.” (Al-Anbiyāʾ 47)