Tafsir of Al-Jathiyah 45:21

"Or" (Am): It is munqati'ah (disjunctive). The hamza within it signifies the denial of their assumption (husban).

"Committing" (al-ijtirah): It means acquisition (al-iktisab). From this comes the word jawarih (limbs/organs), and one says, "So-and-so is the jarihah (earner) for his family," meaning their provider.

"That We shall make them": Meaning, that We shall render them. It is from the verb ja'ala (to make), which takes two objects. The first is the pronoun (the suffix -hum), and the second is the kaf (in ka-mahyahum). The clause "their life and their death are equal" (sawa'un mahyahum wa-mamatuhum) acts as a substitute (badal) for the kaf, because a clause can function as a second object, thus taking the status of a single noun. Do you not see that if you said, "That We make them equal in their life and death," it would be correct? Just as you say, "I thought Zayd, his father is departing."

• Those who read "equal" (sawa'an) in the accusative: They treat sawa'an as mustawiyan (equal/leveling). In this case, "their life and their death" (mahyahum wa-mamatuhum) are in the nominative as the active subjects (fa'il), and it is a single noun, not a clause.
• Those who read "and their death" (wa-mamatahum) in the accusative: They treat "their life" and "their death" as adverbial expressions (zarfayn), like "the arrival of the pilgrim" or "the setting of the star." Meaning: "Equal in their life and equal in their death."

The meaning: It is a denial that the evildoers and the righteous are equal in life or equal in death, due to the divergence of their states.

• In life: These lived by performing acts of obedience, while those lived by committing acts of disobedience.
• In death: These died with the glad tidings of mercy and reaching the reward and pleasure of Allah, while those died in despair of Allah’s mercy and reaching the terror of what has been prepared for them.

It is also said: The meaning is a denial that they are equal in death just as they were equal in life, because the life of the evildoer and the righteous are equal in terms of provision and health, and they only diverge in death.

It is also said: "Their life and their death are equal" is an independent sentence (musta'naf), meaning: The life and death of the evildoers are equal, and likewise the life and death of the righteous; each dies according to how they lived.

From Tamim al-Dari (may Allah be pleased with him): He was praying one night at the Maqam (Ibrahim), and when he reached this verse, he began to weep and repeat until morning: "Evil is that which they judge."

From al-Fudayl: When he reached this verse, he would repeat it, weep, and say: "O Fudayl, would that I knew which of the two groups you belong to."

"And Allah created the heavens and the earth in truth, and so that every soul may be recompensed for what it has earned, and they will not be wronged."