8. This means that when the Balance is fixed on the Day of Judgement, 'truth' and weight will be identical. The more truth one has to one's credit, the more truth one has to one's credit, the more the weight in one's scale; and vice versa. One will be judged solely on the basis of this weight. In other words, no consideration other than truth will enter into the calculation. A life of falsehood, however long it lasted, and however full of worldly achievements, will carry no weight at all. Weighed in the Balance, the devotees of falsehood will discover that their life-long deeds do not even weigh so much as a birds feather. The same point has been expatiated upon in (al-Kahf 18:103-5) : 'Shall We tell you of those who are greatest losers in respect of their deeds? It is those whose efforts have been wasted in this life while they kept believing that they were acquiring good by their deeds. they are those who deny the Signs of their Lord and the fact of their having to meet Him (in the Hereafter). So their works are in vain and we shall attach no weight to them on the Day of Judgement.'
9. For a full appreciation of this point it is necessary, to remember that
man's deeds will be classified into positive and negative categorics. The positive
category will consist of knowing the truth, believing in it, acting upon it,
and striving to make it prevail. It is such acts alone which will have weight
in the Hereafter. Conversely, whenever someone follows and goes after lusts
or blindly follows other humans or satans, his acts will be reckoned as 'negative'.
Such acts will not only be of no value at all, but will also have the effect
of reducing the total weight of one's positive acts.
Thus, a man's success in the Hereafter requires that his good acts outweigh
his evil ones to such an extent that even if his evil acts cause the effacement
of some of his good acts, he should still have enough left in his credit to
ensure his scale is inclined towards the positive. As for the man whose evil
acts outweigh his good acts, he will be like the bankrupt businessman who, even
after spending all his assets, remains under the burden of debt.