وَكَمْ مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَاهَا فَجَاءَهَا بَأْسُنَا بَيَاتًا أَوْ هُمْ قَائِلُونَ ﴿۴﴾ فَمَا كَانَ دَعْوَاهُمْ إِذْ جَاءَهُمْ بَأْسُنَا إِلَّا أَنْ قَالُوا إِنَّا كُنَّا ظَالِمِينَ ﴿۵﴾ فَلَنَسْأَلَنَّ الَّذِينَ أُرْسِلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَنَسْأَلَنَّ الْمُرْسَلِينَ ﴿۶﴾ فَلَنَقُصَّنَّ عَلَيْهِمْ بِعِلْمٍ وَمَا كُنَّا غَائِبِينَ ﴿۷﴾ وَالْوَزْنُ يَوْمَئِذٍ الْحَقُّ فَمَنْ ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ ﴿۸﴾ وَمَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ فَأُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ خَسِرُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا بِآيَاتِنَا يَظْلِمُونَ ﴿۹﴾

﴾4﴿ Wa kam min qaryatin ahlaknaahaa fajaaa'ahaa ba'sunaa bayaatan aw hum qaaa'iloon
﴾5﴿ Famaa kaana da'waahum iz jaaa'ahum ba'sunaa illaaa an qaalooo innaa kunnaa zaalimeen
﴾6﴿ Falanas 'alannal lazeena ursila ilaihim wa lanas 'alannal mursaleen
﴾7﴿ Falanaqussanna 'alaihim bi'ilminw wa maa kunnaa ghaaa'ibeen
﴾8﴿ Walwaznu Yawma'izinil haqq; faman saqulat mawaa zeenuhoo fa-ulaaa'ika humul muflihoon
﴾9﴿ Wa man khaffat mawaazeenuhoo fa ulaaa'ikal lazeena khasirooo anfusahum bimaa kaanoo bi Aayaatinaa yazlimoon

﴾4﴿ And how many towns We destroyed whose punishment reached them by night, or while they were resting at midday.
﴾5﴿ Then their cry, when Our punishment came upon them, was nothing but that they said, “Indeed, we were wrongdoers.”
﴾6﴿ Then surely We will question those communities to whom Messengers were sent, and surely We will also question the Messengers themselves.
﴾7﴿ Then We will surely relate to them (their deeds) with Our knowledge, and We were never absent (from their actions).
﴾8﴿ And the weighing on that Day will be just (with perfect justice). So whoever’s (good) deeds are heavy in the balance—those are the ones who will be successful (saved from punishment).
﴾9﴿ And whoever’s deeds are light (on the scale), then they are the ones who have wronged themselves, because they used to do injustice to Our signs.

[4,5] This is a worldly warning, meaning that the punishment of Allah the Exalted comes upon people when they are heedless. Then, repentance is of no use—they do repent at the time of punishment, but that repentance is not accepted.
In these three conditions, the disbelievers are mentioned: destruction, heedlessness, and confession of wrongdoing.
(أَهْلَكْنَاهَا) – What is meant here is either the intention to destroy or a general statement, and then the particle fa provides the detail.
(قَائِلُونَ) – Derived from qaylūlah, meaning resting at midday, whether sleep is involved or not. The punishment descended on the people of Shu‘ayb at this very time.
(ظَالِمِينَ) – The wrongdoing referred to here is the rejection of what was revealed (i.e., the divine guidance) and the following of something other than it.
[6] This is a warning of the Hereafter, in which three states are mentioned. Here, the first state is mentioned—that questioning will be done in a manner suitable to each group.
The messengers will be asked about their conveying of the message, as in verse 8 of Surah Al-Aḥzāb.
The nations will be questioned about their response, as in verse 109 of Surah Al-Mā’idah.
As for the common people, they will be questioned solely about their actions:
Why (لِمَ) did you do it? What was the reason? For whom did you do this action?
How (كَيْفَ) did you perform it? What was the method?
This type of questioning is mentioned in verse 92 of Surah Al-Ḥijr.
As for the verses where no questioning is mentioned—such as verse 78 of Surah Al-Qaṣaṣ and verse 39 of Surah Ar-Raḥmān—it is due to contextual application, which has been reconciled (i.e., applied appropriately to the situation).
[7] Meaning, if someone hides or denies (the truth), then Allah the Exalted Himself will make it clear.
In this verse, the second state (i.e., Allah Himself exposing what was hidden or denied) is mentioned.
[8,9] In this verse, the third state is mentioned: the weighing of deeds. This means that on the Day of Judgment, the weighing of actions is a reality.
The heaviness or lightness of deeds is based on the presence or absence of Tawḥīd (monotheism) and Sunnah (prophetic tradition)—not on their quantity.
By “weighing,” what is meant is the weighing of the record of deeds (ṣaḥīfah al-a‘māl), as has been mentioned in authentic hadiths.
Yes, the deeds themselves may also be weighed without needing to be given physical form—just like air, heat, and cold can now be measured without being seen.
The weighing of some people themselves is also mentioned in hadith.
However, the Mu‘tazilites and hadith rejecters interpret the concept of weighing metaphorically, referring it only to justice and judgment. They deny the literal reality of weighing and the physical scale (mīzān), which contradicts the apparent meaning of the Qur'an and clear verses, as Qurtubī has pointed out.
(مَوَازِينُهُ) – is the plural of mīzān (scale), so the apparent meaning is that there will be many scales, either corresponding to individuals or to actions, or it may be a plural of that which is weighed, i.e., the deeds.
The apparent meaning is that the weighing of deeds is not based on the number of actions but on their quality—Tawḥīd and adherence to the Sunnah.
(خَسِرُوا) and (يَظْلِمُونَ) indicate that the weighing of the deeds of disbelievers is also a real event.