This ḥadīth affirms that deeds will be weighed on the Day of Resurrection, and the Book of Allah testifies to the same. Allah, Exalted is He, says: “We shall set up the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection, so no soul will be wronged in the least. Even if it be the weight of a mustard seed, We shall bring it forth, and sufficient are We as Reckoners” (al-Anbiyāʾ 21:47).

He, majestic and sublime, also says: “Whoever does an atom’s weight of good shall see it; and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil shall see it” (al-Zalzalah 99:7–8). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Shield yourselves from the Fire, even if only with half a date.”

Thus, the weighing on the Day of Resurrection is a weighing of perfect justice in which there is no injustice whatsoever. A person will be requited according to the surplus of his good or evil deeds. The scholars state: if a person’s good deeds outweigh his bad deeds, he is among the people of Paradise; if his bad deeds outweigh his good deeds, he deserves punishment in the Fire; and if his deeds are equal, he will be among the people of the aʿrāf (the Heights), who remain between Paradise and the Fire for a period determined by Allah, yet will ultimately enter Paradise.

The weighing is tangible, carried out with an actual balance possessing two pans: the records of bad deeds are placed in one pan and the records of good deeds in the other. If the good deeds are more, they make their pan heavy and the bad deeds light; and the opposite holds true when the bad deeds are more.