Thumma latus-alunna yawma-ithin AAani annaAAeem (surah Takathur: 8)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(102:8) Then, on that Day, you will be called to account for all the bounties you enjoyed. *4

Thumma latus alunna yauma-izin `anin na`eem

*4) "Then" in this sentence dces not mean that accountability will be held after the culprits have been cast into Hell, but it means: "Then We give you the news that you will be questioned about these comforts of Iife," and obviously this questioning will be held at the time of accountability in the Divine Court. Its chief argument is that in several Ahadith it has been reported from the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace) that the believers and the disbelievers, both will have to account for the blessings granted by Allah. However, the people who did not show ingratitude but spent their lives as grateful servants of Allah, will come out successful from the accountability, and those who proved thankless to Allah for His blessings and committed ingratitude by word or by deed, or by both; will emerge as failures.
Hadrat Jabir bin `Abdullah says: "The Holy Prophet once visited us and we served him with fresh dates and gave him cool water to drink. Thereupon he said: "These are of the blessings about which you will be questioned." (Musnad Ahmad, Nasa'i, Ibn Jarir, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Marduyah, `Abd bin Humaid, Baihaqi in Ash-Shu `ab).
Hadrat Abu Hurairah has reported that the Holy Prophet once asked Hadrat Abu Bakr and Hadrat `Umar to accompany him to the place of AbulHaitham bin at-Tahan Ansari. Thus, he took them to the oasis of Ibn at-Taihan-The latter brought a bunch of dates and placed it before them. The Holy Prophet said: "Why didn't you pluck the dates yourself? ` He said: "1 thought you would yourselves select and eat dates of your choice." So, they ate the dates and drank cool water. At the end, the Holy Prophet said: "By Him in Whose hand is my Iife: this is of the blessings about which you will be questioned on the Resurrection Day: the cool shade, the cool dates, the cool water." (This tradition has been narrated in different ways by Muslim, Ibn Majah, Abu Da'ud, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i, Ibn Jarir, Abu Ya`la and others, on the authority of Hadrat Abu Hurairah, in some of which the name of the Ansari Companion has been mentioned and in some he has been referred to as a person from among the Ansar. This incident has been related with several details by Ibn Abi Hatim from Hadrat `Umar and by Imam Ahmad from Abu `Asib, the Holy Prophet's freed slave. Ibn Hibban and Ibn Marduyah have related a tradition from Hadrat 'Abdullah bin 'Abbas, which shows that an almost similar thing had happened in the house of Hadrat Abu Ayyub Ansari.
These Ahadith make it explicit that not only the disbelievers but the righteous believers too will be questioned. As for the blessings which Allah has bestowed on man, they are unlimited and countless. There are many blessings of which man is not even conscious. The Qur'an says: "If you try to count the blessings of Allah, you will not be able to calculate them." (Ibrahim : 34). Countless of them are the blessings which Allah has granted directly to man, and a large number of these are the blessings which man is granted through his own skill and endeavour. About the blessings that accrue to man in consequence of his own labour and skill, he will have to render an account as to how he acquired them and in what ways he expended them. In respect of the blessings directly bestowed by Allah, he will have to give an account as to how he used them. And in respect of all the blessings, on the whole, he will have to tell whether he had acknowledged that those blessings had been granted by Allah and whether he had expressed gratitude for them to Allah with his heart, and by word and deed, or whether he thought he had received all that accidentally, or as' a gift from many gods, or whether he Geld the belief that although those were the blessings of One God, in their bestowal many other beings also had a part, and for that very reason he had taken them as his gods and worshipped and thanked them as such.