بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
Allah says in the Qur’an:
“The Day every soul will find what it has done of good present [before it] and what it has done of evil, it will wish that between itself and that [evil] was a great distance. And Allah warns you of Himself, and Allah is Compassionate to [His] servants.” [3:30]
Allah gives a description of how our deeds will be placed in front of us on the day of judgement. As we know everything is recorded; all our good and bad deeds, how ever big or small are recorded. The phrase “min kheyrin” (from the good deeds) tells us that it includes all the good deeds even the good actions that are not even done on purpose. Sometimes we do good without even realising it, Allah still writes it down as a hasanah.
However, this also applies to bad deeds. Bad deeds that we are not conscious of will also be brought in front of our eyes. For these people they will wish that there was a lifetime between them and these sins. It’s almost as if the people are saying that they wish they had another life to never commit anything of what they were shown. Allahs follows this up with a warning of Himself – to remind us that confronting Him with these sins will be an even bigger trial.
Although Allah paints this scary picture in the middle of the ayah, He then adds something beautiful, something we should not take for granted. He tells us, that He is compassionate to His people. After beginning with hope of the good deeds we don’t realise we do, He ends with hope – the fact that Allah leans more towards mercy than punishment.
May Allah make us of those that are conscious of the bad deeds we commit and of those who make a lot of Istighfar. Let us not forget: the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “By the One in Whose Hand my soul is! If you did not commit sins, Allah would replace you with a people who would commit sins and seek forgiveness from Allah; and Allah will certainly forgive them.” [Muslim]
Allah knows best.