What is the Mizan (the scales) on the Day of Judgement?

What the scale is

The word mizan in Arabic means the instrument by which things are weighed, and weighing is knowing the measure of a thing. In the religious sense, as the scholars define it, it is what Allah erects on the Day of Resurrection to weigh the deeds of His servants in order to recompense them — a sensory scale with two pans and a tongue (the pointer).

The Qur'an states it plainly:

"And We shall set up the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection, so no soul will be wronged at all. And if there is the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it forth. And sufficient are We as an accountant."— Qur'an 21:47

The point of the verse is precision: nothing is too small to be brought forward, because nothing is hidden from Allah. Elsewhere the Qur'an describes the two outcomes — whoever's scales are heavy is among the successful, and whoever's are light has lost his own soul (Qur'an 23:102–103).

The evidence for it

The Prophet ﷺ spoke of the scale in concrete terms, and his words are the strongest proof that it is real rather than figurative:

"Two words, light on the tongue, heavy on the scale, beloved to the Most Merciful: Glory be to Allah and praise Him; Glory be to Allah, the Most Great."— Sahih al-Bukhari 6682, from Abu Hurayrah

And about the legs of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه, which the Companions found thin and laughed at, the Prophet ﷺ said they would weigh heavier on the scale than Mount Uhud — a narration Ahmad recorded, which al-Albani graded hasan. The Prophet ﷺ also said of a large, fat man that he would not weigh with Allah the wing of a mosquito, then recited the verse about those whose deeds are void and for whom no weight is established on the Day of Judgement.

What is actually weighed

The texts speak of three things being weighed, and the scholars differed over which is meant — because the narrations point in different directions.

Ibn Uthaymin concluded that the weightiest and most correct view, and the one held by the majority, is that the deed is what is weighed. He answered the objection that a deed is a quality of the doer and not a physical body by saying that Allah turns these deeds into bodies — and that this is not strange for His power, since He brings death in the form of a ram and it is slaughtered between Paradise and Hell, though death is a meaning and not a body.

Ibn Kathir inclined to a reconciliation: that the person, the deed and the record are all weighed. Ibn Uthaymin also noted that the record sheets only become heavy or light by what they contain of deeds, so the reality in every case is the weighing of deeds.

One scale or many

The Qur'an uses the plural — "We shall set up the scales" — while the hadith says "heavy on the scale," in the singular. Ibn Uthaymin's preferred reading is that the scale is one, and the plural in the Qur'an is by consideration of what is weighed, since the deeds are many. Al-Shanqiti, in Adwa' al-Bayan, took the opposite view: the apparent meaning of the Qur'an is a plurality of scales for each person, one for each category of his deeds, and he cited Ibn Kathir's report that most held it to be a single scale, plural only because of the many things weighed.

Whether there is one scale for all nations or a scale for each nation is a question the scholars discussed without a text to settle it. The correct approach, as one commentator put it, is not to assert either position definitively.

The claim that it is only a metaphor

The Mu'tazilah held that there is no sensory scale at all, and that "the scale" means the justice of Allah — since He already knows the deeds of His servants and has counted them. Ibn Uthaymin rejected this on three grounds: it contradicts the apparent wording, it contradicts the consensus of the early scholars, and it is unnecessary — if justice were meant, the text would simply say justice, which is more pleasing to the soul than the word "scale."

Al-Qurtubi likewise rejected the figurative reading in al-Tadhkirah, calling it a metaphor that amounts to nothing, given the established sunnah describing a real scale with two pans and a tongue.

How the weighing works

The scholars describe the sequence: the reckoning comes first, then the weighing, because the reckoning establishes what the deeds were and the weighing shows their measure, so that the recompense matches it. The good deeds are placed in one pan and the bad in the other. Whoever's good deeds outweigh his bad is saved; whoever's bad outweigh his good is ruined; and those whose deeds are equal are the people of al-A'raf.

On which pan rises: some said the heavier pan is the higher one, but Ibn Uthaymin said the correct position is that the heavier pan descends, and he cited the hadith of the card, where the scrolls fly up and the card becomes heavy.

Why weigh at all

Allah already knows every deed, so the scholars gave reasons for the visible weighing. One is that people should be shown what they earned — a person may remember only his major sins and forget the rest, and the scale presents his whole record from the beginning of his accountability to his death. Another is to display Allah's perfect justice, so that no one enters Paradise or Hell thinking he was wronged. A third, given by Ibn Uthaymin and others, is that the believer learns that his entry to Paradise is by Allah's mercy, not by the mere weight of his deeds — as the Prophet ﷺ said, no one is admitted to Paradise by his deeds alone, not even him, unless Allah covers him with His grace.

For the disbelievers, the weighing is a matter of establishing their record against them so they acknowledge it — their deeds are like ashes scattered by the wind, and they are called out before all creation as those who lied about their Lord.

Key takeaways

• The Mizan is real, not symbolic: it is a created scale with two pans and a tongue, set up by Allah on the Day of Judgement, and belief in it is part of faith in the Last Day.
• The majority position is that deeds are weighed, though the person and the record sheets are also mentioned in the texts, and Ibn Kathir reconciled the reports by holding that all three are weighed.
• Nothing is too small to be weighed: the Qur'an states that even a mustard seed's weight will be brought forward, and no soul will be wronged in the least.
• The heavier pan descends, according to Ibn Uthaymin, based on the hadith of the card where the scrolls fly up and the card becomes heavy.
• The purpose is to display Allah's justice and His mercy: the scale shows people exactly what they earned, and teaches the believer that Paradise is entered by Allah's grace, not by the weight of deeds alone.

Further reading

• Ibn Uthaymin, Sharh al-'Aqidah al-Wasitiyyah
• Al-Shanqiti, Adwa' al-Bayan
• Ibn Abi al-'Izz, Sharh al-'Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah

And Allah knows best.