The Manifestation of Truthfulness on the Day of Resurrection

The subject of the verse is not explaining the benefit of truthfulness on the Day of Resurrection, because the Day of Resurrection is a day of results, not action: “Today is action without reckoning, and tomorrow is reckoning without action”;(370) this world is the container of obligation (taklīf) and action, and the Hereafter is the container of results and final reckoning, not obligation.(371) Otherwise, there would have to be law (sharīʿa) and prophethood (nubuwwa) and messengership (risāla) in the Resurrection as well, along with factors of glad tidings and warning so that people would obey, whereas the reality is not such.

Furthermore, in the Hereafter there is nothing but truth and truthfulness (ṣidq), since all are in the presence of one another and falsehood (kadhib) cannot be seriously carried out at all. False reporting can only be seriously carried out when the person himself does not know that this is a false report; or he is heedless; or he has knowledge contrary to it; but if he himself knows and others also know and the scene of the event is clear, falsehood will not be seriously carried out at all, except for someone who engages in jest rather than decisive speech (qawl faṣl).

Now, if the title of falsehood is applied to the reports of some of the inhabitants of Hell, such as the verse “On the day when We gather them all together, We shall say to those who ascribed partners [to Allah] ‘Where are your partners that you used to claim?’ Then their only excuse will be to say, ‘By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists.’ Look, how they forswear themselves, and what they used to fabricate has forsaken them!”(372) and the verse “If you could see when they are made to stand before the Fire, whereupon they will say, ‘If only we were sent back and did not deny the signs of our Lord, and were among the faithful!’ Rather, what they used to hide before has become evident to them. But were they to be sent back they would revert to what they were forbidden, and they are indeed liars”,(373) this is from the perspective of the manifestation of worldly dispositions (malakāt), not the serious carrying out of falsehood, because based on “and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it”,(374) the text of the action is witnessed.

On the Day of Resurrection, all secrets are revealed and no one has the ability to make false reports in a serious manner. Therefore, there is no choice there but truthfulness, even though truthfulness on that day is not beneficial, because it will not have the title of righteous action (ʿamal ṣāliḥ). Even Satan, whose work is nothing but falsehood and deception, becomes truthful on that day, but it is of no benefit to him: “When the matter is all over, Satan will say, ‘Indeed Allah made you a promise that was true and I [too] made you a promise, but I failed you.”(375)

The point is that assuming the truthful report of Satan and the like is mentioned in the Resurrection, only that truthfulness in the Resurrection is beneficial which has occurred in this world, and this is a comprehensive and universal principle of truth, and there is no room for the question and answer of al-Zamakhsharī in al-Kashshāf.(376)