وَلَمْ أَدْرِ مَا حِسَابِيَهْ 26
Translations
And had not known what is my account.
Transliteration
Wa lam adri ma hisaabi-yah
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah is the speech of a person in Hell on the Day of Judgment, expressing their regret and ignorance about their deeds and ultimate reckoning. The speaker laments that they did not know or comprehend the weight and consequences of their account (hisab) before Allah. Classical scholars like Ibn Kathir and Al-Tabari interpret this as the disbeliever's realization of their grave negligence in this life—they neither believed in the Day of Judgment nor seriously considered the accountability they would face before Allah.
Revelation Context
Surah Al-Haqqah was revealed in Mecca and deals with the certainty of the Day of Judgment and the horrors awaiting the disbelievers and evildoers. This ayah is part of a vivid description (verses 25-29) of a person in Hell reflecting on their wasted life and lost opportunity for repentance. The broader context emphasizes that the Day of Judgment is an absolute reality (al-haqqah) that will inevitably come.
Related Hadiths
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: 'The most perfect believers are those best in character, and the best of you are those who are best to their wives' (Tirmidhi). More directly related: 'Whoever knows himself will know his Lord' (a saying attributed to the scholars)—emphasizing self-awareness and accountability before Allah.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah serves as a powerful reminder that believers must actively contemplate their deeds and their ultimate accountability before Allah in this life, not defer such reflection until the Hereafter when it is too late. The lesson is to live consciously, taking one's spiritual account seriously, and seeking forgiveness and reformation while the opportunity exists.
Related Ayahs
وَيَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ وَمَا يَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ فَيَقُولُ ءَأَنتُمْ أَضْلَلْتُمْ عِبَادِى هَـٰٓؤُلَآءِ أَمْ هُمْ ضَلُّوا۟ ٱلسَّبِيلَ
And [mention] the Day He will gather them and that which they worship besides Allāh and will say, "Did you mislead these, My servants, or did they [themselves] stray from the way?"
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لَا تَعْتَذِرُوا۟ ٱلْيَوْمَ ۖ إِنَّمَا تُجْزَوْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
O you who have disbelieved, make no excuses that Day. You will only be recompensed for what you used to do.
يَوْمَ يَبْعَثُهُمُ ٱللَّهُ جَمِيعًا فَيُنَبِّئُهُم بِمَا عَمِلُوٓا۟ ۚ أَحْصَىٰهُ ٱللَّهُ وَنَسُوهُ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ شَهِيدٌ
On the Day when Allāh will resurrect them all and inform them of what they did. Allāh had enumerated it, while they forgot it; and Allāh is, over all things, Witness.
ثُمَّ لَمْ تَكُن فِتْنَتُهُمْ إِلَّآ أَن قَالُوا۟ وَٱللَّهِ رَبِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِكِينَ
Then there will be no [excuse upon] examination except they will say, "By Allāh, our Lord, we were not those who associated."