6. Rise of the Sun from the West

Allah says, “When some of the signs of Allah approach, then a soul that did not believe, their belief will not do them any good.” The tafsir of this ayah is the rise of the sun from the west.

Do they then wait for anything other than that the angels should come to them, or that your Lord should come, or that some of the Signs of your Lord should come (i.e. portents of the Hour e.g., arising of the sun from the west)! The day that some of the Signs of your Lord do come, no good will it do to a person to believe then, if he believed not before, nor earned good (by performing deeds of righteousness) through his Faith. Say: “Wait you! We (too) are waiting.”

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, the Day of Judgment will not occur until the sun rises up from the west. When that happens, everyone would believe. That is when belief would not give them any good.  [Bukhaari]

If someone becomes a Muslim in that moment, their imaan will not do any good. That means, if someone who claims to be a believer but was not doing good, their good will not do them any good after the sun rises from the west. Therefore, after the sun rises from the west, your record of deeds will remain the same. If you were doing righteous deeds, the reward of those deeds would continue even if the sun rises from the west.

AlQurtubi explains this. He says that when the sun rises from the west, people would know it is the end. Therefore, it is just like death. When people are dying and they see the angel of death - can they make tawbah (repentence)? It is too late, the same thing here. When the sun rises from the west, people will know it is the end of the world. The door of tawbah is closed. No more tawbah will be accepted.