(40–42) “Indeed, Allah does not wrong anyone even by a speck’s weight. If it is a good deed, He multiplies it and bestows from Himself a tremendous reward. * How, then, will it be when We bring a witness from every nation and bring you as a witness against these people? * On that Day, those who disbelieved and disobeyed the Messenger will wish that the earth were leveled over them, and they will conceal nothing from Allah.”
Allah, Most High, tells us of His perfect justice and grace and declares Himself far above their opposites, whether slight or grave injustice. He says: “Indeed, Allah does not wrong anyone even by a speck’s weight”; that is, He neither detracts that amount from His servant’s good deeds nor adds it to his evil deeds. As Allah, Most High, says: “So whoever does a speck’s weight of good will see it, * and whoever does a speck’s weight of evil will see it.”
“If it is a good deed, He multiplies it”—tenfold or many times beyond that, according to the nature and benefit of the deed and the degree of sincerity, love, and excellence possessed by its doer.
“And bestows from Himself a tremendous reward”; that is, in addition to the reward for the deed itself, He enables the person to perform further good deeds and grants him abundant righteousness and plentiful good.
Allah, Most High, then says: “How, then, will it be when We bring a witness from every nation and bring you as a witness against these people?” That is: What will those circumstances be, and how momentous will that judgment be? The One who passes judgment is perfect in knowledge, justice, and wisdom; the purest of creation—the messengers—will testify against their nations; and those being judged will themselves acknowledge the truth. By Allah, this is the most comprehensive, just, and momentous of all judgments.
Those subject to judgment will then acknowledge it, in view of the utter perfection of His grace and justice and His complete worthiness of praise and acclaim. There, some people will attain happiness through triumph, prosperity, honor, and success, while others will fall into misery through disgrace, exposure, and humiliating punishment.
For this reason, He says: “On that Day, those who disbelieved and disobeyed the Messenger”—that is, they combined disbelief in Allah and His Messenger with disobedience to the Messenger—“will wish that the earth were leveled over them”; that is, that it would swallow them and they would become dust and cease to exist. As Allah, Most High, says: “And the disbeliever will say, ‘If only I were dust!’”
“And they will conceal nothing from Allah.” Rather, they will confess to Him what they did, and their tongues, hands, and feet will testify against them concerning their deeds. On that Day, Allah will repay them their full and just recompense, and they will know that Allah is the manifest Truth.
As for the reports stating that the disbelievers will conceal their disbelief and denial, this will occur at certain stages on the Day of Resurrection, when they imagine that their denial might protect them from Allah’s punishment. But once they recognize the realities and their limbs testify against them, the matter will become clear, leaving no place, benefit, or advantage in concealment.