Tafsir of Al-Qiyamah 75:14

Surah Al-Qiyamah (The Resurrection): Verse 14

{بَلِ الْإِنْسَانُ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ بَصِيرَةٌ} (Nay, but man is a witness against himself.)

Know that when the Almighty said: {Man will be informed that day of what he has done} (referring to the previous verse), He then stated: {Nay, but man is a witness against himself}.

This means that man does not need someone else to inform him of his deeds, because his own self is a witness to his actions, testifying that he committed them and put them forth.

Regarding the term {بَصِيرَةٌ} (Basirah - insight/witness): There are two interpretations:

1. Al-Akhfash said that Basirah is attributed to the self, just as one says, "So-and-so is generosity and nobility." Similarly, man, by the necessity of his intellect, knows that what brings him closer to God and occupies him with obedience and service is happiness (sa'adah), and what distances him from obedience to God and occupies him with worldly desires is misery (shaqawah). Even if he uses his tongue to deceive and disguise the truth as falsehood and falsehood as truth, his sound intellect knows whether his outward state is good or bad.
2. The meaning is that his limbs/organs testify against him concerning what he did. This is the view of Ibn Abbas, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, and Muqatil. It aligns with verses such as: {On the Day when their tongues, their hands, and their feet will bear witness against them concerning what they used to do} (An-Nur: 24), and {And their hands will speak to Us, and their feet will testify concerning what they used to earn} (Ya-Sin: 36), and {On that Day, their hearing and their sight and their skins will testify against them} (Fussilat: 20).

As for the feminine form of Basirah (instead of Basir):

• It is possible that the intended meaning for al-insan (man) here is the limbs/organs themselves, as if it were said: "Nay, the limbs of man are a Basirah against the self of man."
• Abu Ubaydah suggested that this feminine pronoun (the tā’ marbūṭah) is for emphasis (mubālaghah), similar to saying rāwiyah (a great narrator) or ṭāghiyah (an extreme transgressor) or ʿallāmah (a great scholar) for a man.

Know that in the previous verse, the Almighty mentioned that man will be informed of his deeds on the Day of Resurrection. In this verse, He mentions that man is a witness against himself concerning what he did.

Al-Wahidi stated that this testimony applies to the disbelievers, as they will deny their deeds, so God will seal their mouths, and their limbs will speak.

{وَلَوْ أَلْقَى مَعَاذِيرَهُ} (Even if he casts forth his excuses.)