doubled for all

Al-Araf
(The Heights)
Chapter 7: Verse 38 (Partial)


Doubled for all

"Every time a new people enters, it curses its sister-people (that went before), until they follow each other, all into the Fire. Saith the last about the first: "Our Lord! it is these that misled us: so give them a double penalty in the Fire." He will say: "Doubled for all" : but this ye do not understand."

The earlier generation committed a double crime: (1) their own sin, (2) the bad example they set for those that followed.

We are responsible not only for our misdeeds, but for those also which our example and our teaching to our juniors may induce them to commit. But it does not lie in the mouth of the juniors to ask for a double punishment for seniors: the motive is not justice, but pure spite, which is itself a sin.

Further, the later generations have to answer for two things: (1) their own sins and (2) their failure to learn from the past, from the experiences of those who preceded them.

Compiled From:“The Glorious Quran: Meaning and Translation”
Abdullah Yusuf Ali