Al ‘Adl – Justice of The Day of Judgment

The Day of Judgment is the day of justice. And one of the names of Allah is al ‘Adl. Allah will not wrong anyone; He will give everyone what they deserve.

Allah says: “And fear a Day when you will be returned to Allah. Then every soul will be compensated for what it earned, and they will not be treated unjustly.” (2:281)

This scale of justice is very delicate. Allah will give you what belongs to you, even if it is one grain. Allah says: “Indeed, Allah does not do injustice, [even] as much as an atom’s weight; while if there is a good deed, He multiplies it and gives from Himself a great reward.” (4:40)

Luqmaan ‘alayhis salaam said, when advising his son: “[And Luqman said], ‘O my son, indeed if wrong should be the weight of a mustard seed and should be within a rock or [anywhere] in the heavens or in the earth, Allah will bring it forth. Indeed, Allah is Subtle and Acquainted.” (31:16)

Allah says: “So whosoever does good equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it. And whosoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it.” (99:7-8) 

The first advice that Luqmaan gave his son was la tushrik billah (don’t associate anyone with Allah), then the second advice was the kindness towards the parents. Immediately before that, even before salah, Luqmaan ‘alayhis salaam said what we just mentioned. He wanted to develop in his son the muraaqabah of Allah subhaana wa ta’aala – the fact that Allah is over watching you.

It’s very important that we instill this concept in our hearts and in the hearts of our children – that Allah is watching you. As parents, we try to watch our parents and see where they’re going and what they’re doing, etc. No matter how hard you try, there are some things you won’t know; we are limited. The strongest protection for them is that they have fear of Allah. If they have that quality in them, they are going to fear Allah even if you are not around.

Trying to protect our children by having them fear us is not the way – because when we are not around, why would they fear us? If we can have them fear Allah, that is more powerful. They will know Allah is watching them wherever they are.

It was narrated as a saying of Luqmaan alHakeem, that Luqmaan ‘alayhis salaam had told his son, “O my son, if you want to sin, go ahead and do it, but do it where Allah cannot see you.” Therefore, to develop the awareness that Allah is watching everything that we do, it is a very powerful tool.