إن الله لا يظلم مثقال ذرة وإن تك حسنة يضاعفها ويؤت من لدنه أجرا عظيما · فكيف إذا جئنا من كل أمة بشهيد وجئنا بك على هؤلاء شهيدا · يومئذ يود الذين كفروا وعصوا الرسول لو تسوى بهم الأرض ولا يكتمون الله حديثا
Inna'llāha lā yaẓlimu mithqāla dharra, wa in taku ḥasanatan yuḍāʿifhā wa yuʾti min ladunhu ajran ʿaẓīmā · Fa-kayfa idhā jiʾnā min kulli ummatin bi-shahīdin wa jiʾnā bika ʿalā hāʾulāʾi shahīdā · Yawmaʾidhin yawaddu'lladhīna kafarū wa ʿaṣawu'l-rasūla law tusawwā bihimu'l-arḍ, wa lā yaktumūna'llāha ḥadīthā
"God does not wrong anyone by so much as an atom's weight. If there is a good deed, He multiplies it and gives from Himself a great reward. How will it be when We bring a witness from every community and bring you as a witness against these? On that day those who denied and disobeyed the Messenger will wish that the earth were levelled over them. And they will not be able to conceal a single word from God."
م-ث-ق-ل: weight. ذ-ر-ر: the smallest particle. The lexicographers explain dharra as the smallest of ants or as the dust seen in a shaft of sunlight.
The word was treated in detail at al-Zilzāl 99/7-8 (fa-man yaʿmal mithqāla dharratin khayran yarah). I rely on that treatment.
And the word order here must be recorded: on the side of wrongdoing the verse brings the measure down to the smallest, while on the side of recompense it multiplies it — yuḍāʿifhā (He multiplies it).
This is not a symmetry; it is a deliberate imbalance. I record it as an observation about word order.
In the forty-first verse the word shahīd occurs twice: a witness from every community, and one witness more.
The root ش-ه-د was treated at al-Baqara 2/282 and in al-Nūr: to be present, to see; and to report what one has seen. I rely on those treatments.
And the density of the root in this sūra must be recorded. In the sūra's verse-endings there occur shahīd (33), ḥasīb (6, 86), raqīb (1), samīʿ baṣīr (58), khabīr (35, 135); and in the forty-first verse witnessing becomes a scene.
This is the continuation of the line established in the sūra's introductory section: "the sūra sets a witness beside the person whose right is unprotected." I rely on that.
The root س-و-ي: to be even, to level. Tusawwā bihimu'l-arḍ — "that the earth be levelled with them."
It is transmitted that in the classical commentaries the expression is explained in two ways: to wish to be mixed into the soil and vanish, or to wish that the earth would flatten out and cover them. I relate both explanations; I impose no preference.
And the choice of verb must be recorded: yaktumūn had occurred in the thirty-seventh verse too (yaktumūna mā ātāhumu'llāh). The same root twice, five verses apart: one a concealing in this world, the other an inability to conceal. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.