Quran Serves as Divine Measure of Human Actions: Lecturer

IQNA – A Quranic scholar in Tehran has said that the Day of Judgment, as described in Surah Al-Qari‘ah, will weigh every human action by divine standards, with the Quran itself serving as the ultimate measure of good and evil.

Speaking at a Quranic reflection session held Sunday night at the University of Tehran Mosque, Quranic scholar Hani Chitchian explained that Surah Al-Qari‘ah—the 101st chapter of the Holy Quran—depicts the Day of Resurrection as a scene of intense reckoning where people’s deeds are weighed.

“The reckoning of human deeds takes place through a measure, or as the surah puts it, ‘mizan’—an instrument for weighing. The Quran itself is the first and foremost standard for this evaluation,” he said.

He emphasized that the surah illustrates the overwhelming impact of that day, describing “Al-Qari‘ah” literally as a “striking calamity.” The term, he noted, signifies a blow so powerful that it transforms the very nature of what it strikes—symbolizing how divine truth shatters falsehood and exposes the essence of all actions.

According to Chitchian, Al-Qari‘ah is mentioned in two other Quranic chapters—Surah Ar-Ra‘d (13:31) and Surah Al-Haqqah (69:4)—both referring to the destruction that befell earlier nations such as ‘Ad and Thamud when they denied their prophets.

He explained that in those contexts, “Al-Qari‘ah” conveys the calamities that failed to awaken hardened hearts, while in Surah Al-Qari‘ah itself, the term carries its full spiritual force.

He said the surah demonstrates how on the Day of Judgment, a divine “blow” will separate the weighty from the weightless—those whose deeds hold moral gravity from those devoid of sincerity or righteousness. “It will be like a sieve,” he noted, “separating the substantial from the hollow.”

Chitchian added that worldly standards of virtue often differ from those upheld in the Hereafter. “What people consider virtuous or successful in this world may not hold weight in God’s scales,” he said, pointing to the Quranic imagery of mountains scattered like carded wool as an example of how even what seems solid and immovable in this life can prove weightless in the next.

The weekly Quranic reflection series focuses on the short chapters in the 30th part (Juz’ Amma) of the Quran, offering thematic and linguistic analysis for students and worshippers seeking a deeper understanding of divine revelation.

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