“And fear the Day when you shall return to Allah, and every soul shall be compensated for what they earned, and none shall be dealt with unjustly.” 2:281

The day to be feared is awesome indeed. Believers’ hearts dread the events of that day when all will be made to stand in front of God to face the reckoning of their deeds. This verse serves as a fitting comment on a passage devoted to the liquidation of past unfair dealings.

This fear is the powerful ‘voice within’ which Islam kindles in the deepest recesses of people’s minds and hearts to act as a potent guiding force in life. Thus Islam proves yet again how vigorous, well-integrated, practical and merciful it is, and demonstrates that its overriding aim and objective is the happiness and well-being of man as an individual, and human society as a whole.

[In The Shade Of The Qur'an, volume 1, page 468]

“Have you not considered how Allah presents an example, [making] a good word like a good tree, whose root is firmly fixed and its branches [high] in the sky? It produces its fruit all the time, by permission of its Lord. And Allah presents examples for the people that perhaps they will be reminded.” 14:24-25

Ali ibn Abi Talhah narrated that Abdullah ibn Abbas commented that Allah’s statement “an example, [making] a good word] refers to testifying to La ilaha illallah, while “like a good tree,” refers to the believer, and “whose root is firmly fixed,” refers to La ilaha illallah being firm in the believers’ heart.

“And its branches [high] in the sky,” refers to the believer’s deeds, good statements and good actions. The believer is just like the beneficial date tree, always having good actions ascending at all times, by day and by night (Hadith of Ibn Umar in Bukhari).

[Tafsir ibn Kathir, volume 5, page 339-340]

The good word of truth is indeed like a great firm tree, yielding its fruits, solid, unaffected by wind and undisturbed by the storm of evil. It cannot be uprooted by evil tyranny, even though there may be times when it seems to be exposed to grave danger. As it stands high, it looks on evil, injustice and tyranny from above, even though it sometimes seems to the short-sighted that evil squeezes it into a narrow corner. Its fruits are yielded time after time, because its seeds grow within good souls, generation after generation.

This is the reality of life, even though it may appear to come very slowly. Real goodness does not die or fade away, even though it may be pressed hard by evil which seems to possess enormous power. These are examples that exist in reality, but people often forget due to the pressures of life.

[In the Shade of the Qur'an, volume 10, page 260-261]