16:111 An-Nahl (The Bee)

في يوم القيامة حين { تَأْتِي كُلُّ نَفْسٍ تُجَادِلُ عَنْ نَفْسِهَا } كلٌّ يقول نفسي نفسي لا يهمه سوى نفسه، ففي ذلك اليوم يفتقر العبد إلى حصول مثقال ذرة من الخير. { وَتُوَفَّى كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا عَمِلَتْ } من خير وشر { وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ } فلا يزاد في سيئاتهم ولا ينقص من حسناتهم { فَالْيَوْمَ لَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْئًا وَلَا تُجْزَوْنَ إِلَّا مَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ }

"يوم تأتي كل نفس تجادل " أي تحاج "عن نفسها" ليس أحد يحاج عنها لا أب ولا ابن ولا أخ ولا زوجة "وتوفي كل نفس ما عملت" أي من خير وشر "وهم لا يظلمون" أي لا ينقص من ثواب الخير ولا يزاد على ثواب الشر ولا يظلمون نقيرا.

The One who is forced to renounce Islam will be forgiven if He does Righteous Deeds afterwards

This refers to another group of people who were oppressed in Makkah and whose position with their own people was weak, so they went along with them when they were tried by them. Then they managed to escape by emigrating, leaving their homeland, families and wealth behind, seeking the pleasure and forgiveness of Allah. They joined the believers and fought with them against the disbelievers, bearing hardship with patience. Allah tells them that after this, meaning after their giving in when put to the test, He will forgive them and show mercy to them when they are resurrected.

يَوْمَ تَأْتِى كُلُّ نَفْسٍ تُجَـدِلُ

((Remember) the Day when every person will come pleading) meaning making a case in his own defence.

عَن نَّفْسِهَا

(for himself.) means, no one else will plead on his behalf; not his father, not his son, nor his brother, nor his wife.

وَتُوَفَّى كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَّا عَمِلَتْ

(and every one will be paid in full for what he did,) meaning whatever he did, good or evil.

وَهُمْ لاَ يُظْلَمُونَ

(and they will not be dealt with unjustly.) meaning there will be no decrease in the reward for good, and no increase in the punishment for evil. They will not be dealt with unjustly in the slightest way.

Mention the day when every soul will come pleading arguing for itself not concerned for any other soul — this is the Day of Resurrection — and every soul will be repaid the requital of what it has done and they will not be wronged at all.

Sequence of Verses

Warnings of punishment against disbelief (kufr) - whether original or apostacy (irtidad) - appeared in previous verses. After that, in the first (106) of the initial three verses cited above, it has been pointed clearly that 'Iman or the declaration of faith is a wealth that could work wonders for a kafir (disbeliever) or murtadd (apostate) who - if he were to come up with an honest and true 'Iman - all his past sins would stand forgiven.

In the second verse (107), the last day of Qiyamah was mentioned for the reason that all this phenomena of reward and punishment has to occur after that. In the third verse (108), it was said that the real punishment of disbelief and sin will, though come after the Qiyamah, yet there are some sins the punishment of which is faced in a certain degree within the present world.