“On the Day when every soul will find whatever good it has done brought before it, and whatever evil it has done, it will wish that there were a vast distance between it and its evil. Allah warns you of Himself, and Allah is Most Compassionate to His servants.”

Implicit in Allah’s informing us of His knowledge and power is the fact that deeds will necessarily be recompensed. This will take place on the Day of Resurrection, when souls will be repaid in full for their deeds. For this reason, He says, “On the Day when every soul will find whatever good it has done brought before it.”

That is, it will be presented complete and in full, without so much as an atom’s weight being diminished. As Allah Most High says, “Whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it.” Good is a comprehensive term encompassing every righteous deed, great or small, that draws one nearer to Allah. Similarly, evil is a comprehensive term encompassing every wicked deed, great or small, that incurs Allah’s displeasure.

“And whatever evil it has done, it will wish that there were a vast distance between it and its evil”—that is, an immense distance, because of its profound regret and intense sorrow. The servant should therefore beware of evil deeds over which he will inevitably grieve most bitterly, and he should abandon them while he still can, before he says, “Alas for me, for having neglected my duty toward Allah!”; “On that Day, those who disbelieved and disobeyed the Messenger will wish that the earth were leveled over them”; “On the Day when the wrongdoer will bite his hands and say, ‘If only I had taken the path with the Messenger! Woe to me! If only I had not taken so-and-so as a close friend!’”; and, “Until, when he comes to Us, he will say, ‘If only you and I had been as far apart as east and west! What an evil companion!’”

By Allah, abandoning every desire and pleasure—even if the soul finds it difficult to abandon them in this world—is easier than enduring those horrors and bearing those disgraces. Yet, because of his wrongdoing and ignorance, the servant considers only what lies immediately before him. He lacks the mature judgment needed to consider the consequences of things, pursue what will benefit him both now and in the Hereafter, and refrain from what will harm him both now and in the Hereafter.

Allah Most High then repeated His warning of Himself, out of compassion and mercy toward us, lest a long period pass over us and our hearts become hardened. He thereby combines encouragement, which gives rise to hope and righteous deeds, with deterrence, which gives rise to fear and the abandonment of sins. He says, “Allah warns you of Himself, and Allah is Most Compassionate to His servants.” We therefore ask Him to enable us always to remain wary of Him, so that we never do anything that displeases or angers Him.