Except for those who believe and do righteous deeds, for they will have a reward uninterrupted.
7
٧
famā yukadhibuka baʿdu bil-dīni
So what yet causes you to deny the Recompense?
8
٨
alaysa l-lahu bi-aḥkami l-ḥākimīna
Is not Allāh the most just of judges?
Surah At-Tin (The Fig) — Full Text
Ayah 1
وَٱلتِّينِ وَٱلزَّيْتُونِ
By the fig and the olive1
Allah opens this surah by swearing by the fig and the olive — and these aren't random fruits. They represent the blessed lands around Jerusalem and Palestine where so many prophets lived and taught, including Isa (Jesus). The fig and olive trees are full of blessings and benefits, but more importantly, they symbolize the sacred places where divine guidance was sent down. It's like God is pointing to a map of human spiritual history right from the start.
Ayah 2
وَطُورِ سِينِينَ
And [by] Mount Sinai
Next, the oath continues with Mount Sinai — the mountain where Allah directly spoke to Musa (Moses) and gave him the Torah. This isn't just any mountain; it's one of the most iconic moments in all of human history, when God's voice literally reached a human being. By mentioning it right after the fig and olive, the surah is building a chain of sacred places, each connected to a major prophet and a major revelation.
Ayah 3
وَهَـٰذَا ٱلْبَلَدِ ٱلْأَمِينِ
And [by] this secure city [i.e., Makkah],
And then Allah swears by 'this city of security' — Makkah, the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad and the home of the Ka'bah. So now the picture is complete: Jerusalem (Isa), Mount Sinai (Musa), and Makkah (Muhammad). Three holy places, three great prophets, three divine messages — all building up to one powerful point. God is essentially walking us through the greatest hits of revelation history to set up what He's about to say next.
We have certainly created man in the best of stature;1
Here's the big reveal that all those oaths were leading to: humans were created in the absolute best form and design. Not just physically — standing upright, beautifully proportioned — but also with incredible inner gifts like intelligence, speech, reasoning, and the ability to know right from wrong. You're literally the most sophisticated creation in existence, a walking masterpiece. Every part of you, from your thumbs to your vocal cords, is a marvel of engineering that nothing else in the universe can match.
Ayah 5
ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَـٰهُ أَسْفَلَ سَـٰفِلِينَ
Then We return him to the lowest of the low,1
But despite being made as this incredible masterpiece, humans can fall to the absolute lowest of the low. When people reject God's guidance, ignore the messengers, and chase only their desires, they drop lower than anything else in creation. It's a tragic downgrade — going from the highest potential to the worst possible state. You were given every tool to succeed, so choosing to throw it all away makes the fall that much harder.
Except for those who believe and do righteous deeds, for they will have a reward uninterrupted.
Here's the exception, and it's everything: those who have genuine faith and back it up with good deeds are completely saved from that fall. They get a reward that never runs out and never gets cut off — an eternal payoff. Even if your body ages and weakens, your good deeds keep getting recorded. The point is clear: belief plus action is the formula that keeps you at the level God designed you for, instead of letting you crash to the bottom.
Ayah 7
فَمَا يُكَذِّبُكَ بَعْدُ بِٱلدِّينِ
So what yet causes you to deny the Recompense?1
Now Allah asks a powerful rhetorical question: after seeing all of this — the sacred places, the prophets, your own incredible design, the clear difference between those who believe and those who don't — what could possibly make you deny that there's a Day of Judgment? You've seen God create you from nothing, so bringing you back for accountability should be even easier. It's like someone who watched an entire building get constructed questioning whether the architect could build a small room.
Ayah 8
أَلَيْسَ ٱللَّهُ بِأَحْكَمِ ٱلْحَـٰكِمِينَ
Is not Allāh the most just of judges?
The surah closes with the ultimate mic drop: Is Allah not the most just of all judges? If He created everything with such perfect wisdom and design, of course He's going to make sure justice happens. The wrongs of this world will be made right, and everyone will get exactly what they earned. This is the perfect ending — a reminder that the same God who designed you so beautifully also designed a system where nothing is wasted and no one is treated unfairly.