﴿101 - 114﴾ “When the Trumpet is blown, there will be no ties of kinship between them that Day, nor will they ask about one another. Those whose scales are heavy—it is they who will prosper. But those whose scales are light—it is they who have lost their own souls, remaining in Hell forever. The Fire will scorch their faces, and they will be grimacing therein.”
The Exalted informs us of the terrors of the Day of Resurrection and the distressing and alarming events it will contain. When the Trumpet is blown for the Resurrection and all people are gathered at the appointed time of a known Day, such terror will befall them that they will forget their family ties, though these are the strongest of bonds; all other bonds will be forgotten even more readily. No one will ask another about his condition, for each will be preoccupied with himself, not knowing whether he will attain deliverance after which there is no misery, or suffer misery after which there is no happiness. The Exalted says: “On the Day when a man will flee from his brother, his mother and his father, his wife and his children. Each one of them that Day will have enough concern of his own.” (1).
On the Day of Resurrection there will be stations at which anguish intensifies and the impact of events becomes overwhelming. Among them is the Balance, by which a servant’s deeds are distinguished and his credits and liabilities are examined with perfect justice. Even the weight of an atom of good or evil will be made manifest. “Those whose scales are heavy”—because their good deeds outweigh their evil deeds—“it is they who will prosper,” for they will be saved from the Fire, deserve Paradise, and receive noble praise. “But those whose scales are light”—because their evil deeds outweigh their good deeds and their sins engulf them—“it is they who have lost their own souls.” Every other loss is easy in comparison with this loss. This is a grievous loss whose damage can never be repaired and whose missed opportunity can never be recovered: an eternal loss and everlasting misery. Such a person has lost his precious soul, through which he could have attained eternal happiness, and has thereby deprived it of enduring bliss in the presence of the Generous Lord.
“Remaining in Hell forever”: they will never leave it, for all eternity. As we have mentioned, this threat applies only to one whose sins have engulfed his good deeds, and this can only be an unbeliever. Accordingly, he will not be called to account in the manner of one whose good and evil deeds are weighed, for unbelievers have no good deeds. Rather, their deeds will be numbered and recorded; they will be confronted with them, made to acknowledge them, and disgraced by them. As for one who possesses the foundation of faith but whose evil deeds are so numerous that they outweigh his good deeds, even if he enters the Fire, he will not remain there forever, as the texts of the Quran and Sunnah establish.
The Exalted then described the evil fate of the unbelievers ⦗560⦘, saying: “The Fire will scorch their faces.” That is, it will envelop them from every side, reaching even the noblest parts of their bodies, while its flames lash their faces. “And they will be grimacing therein”: their faces will be scowling and their lips drawn back because of the severity of their suffering and the enormity of what they endure.