Mizan

What is the Mizan?

The Mizan is the divine Balance on the Day of Judgement in which every human deed will be weighed. It is one of the great events of the Akhirah, standing between the reckoning (hisab) and the entry into Paradise or Hellfire. Belief in the Mizan is part of iman in the Last Day, the fifth of the six pillars of iman.

Its Basis in the Quran

Allah says: "And We place the just scales for the Day of Resurrection, so no soul will be treated unjustly at all. And if there is [even] the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it forth. And sufficient are We as accountant" (Quran 21:47). And: "So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it" (Quran 99:7-8). And: "Then those whose scales are heavy — it is they who are the successful. But those whose scales are light — they are the ones who have lost themselves..." (Quran 23:102-103; also 7:8-9, 101:6-11).

Its Reality

The mainstream Sunni belief is that the Mizan is a real balance, with two pans, in which the deeds — or the records of the deeds, or the doer himself — are weighed. Its nature is unlike balances of this world, and its manner of weighing intangible things belongs to Allah's knowledge. To deny it or reduce it to a mere metaphor is contrary to the plain sense of the Quran and hadith.

The Weight of a Sincere Deed

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ narrated the famous hadith of the card (bitaqah): on the Day of Judgement, a man will be brought before Allah and ninety-nine scrolls of his deeds will be unrolled — each as far as the eye can see. He will be asked if he denies any of them, and he will say no. Then Allah will bring out a small card (bitaqah) on which is written "La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadun rasul Allah". The scrolls will be placed on one pan of the Mizan, and the card on the other. The card will outweigh all of them (Tirmidhi 2639, Ibn Majah 4300). The weight of a deed is not in its outward size but in the sincerity and tawhid within it.

The Heaviest Words

The Prophet ﷺ also said: "Two words that are light on the tongue, heavy on the Mizan, beloved to the Most Merciful: Subhan Allah wa bi-hamdih, Subhan Allah al-Azim" (Bukhari 6406, Muslim 2694). And: "Alhamdulillah fills the Mizan" (Muslim 223). Small words held with sincere hearts weigh mountains on the Day of Judgement.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can non-material deeds be weighed?

The scholars answer: exactly as Allah wills. He is capable of giving weight to deeds, or to their records, or to the doer of them — and He will do so on that Day. The Islamic principle is to affirm what has been revealed and leave the mode of it to Allah, since the reality of the Hereafter is beyond the reach of worldly imagination.

Will good deeds erase bad deeds on the Mizan?

Yes — this is the mercy of Allah. Allah says: "Indeed, good deeds do away with bad deeds" (Quran 11:114). And the Prophet ﷺ said: "Follow up a bad deed with a good deed and it will erase it" (Tirmidhi 1987). One who reaches the Mizan with more good than bad is among the successful; one whose bad outweighs enters upon a period of accountability whose outcome Allah alone decides.