الحساب
al-Ḥisāb
The Final Judgment given by God, in which every human act is reckoned for its merit or demerit.
What it means
Al-ḥisāb is the reckoning on the Day of Judgment. Every person will be shown the record of deeds. The Quran says: “As for him who is given his record in his right hand, he will be reckoned with an easy reckoning” (84:7–8). The scales will be set up with justice, “and if it be the weight of a mustard seed, We shall bring it” (21:47).
The Quran says God is “swift in reckoning” (2:202). It speaks of an exact account: “Whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it” (99:7–8). Muslims believe this to be part of their faith in the Last Day. The same root gives the name al-Ḥasīb, the Reckoner. In daily life, muḥāsaba is the habit of examining oneself before one is brought to account.
Often misunderstood as
Rendered “accounting” as in a ledger; the Quranic term refers to the Final Judgment, with mercy as well as justice.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 29, listed as AL ḤISĀB. The definition is restated here.