The 365 · Verses · Day 228 · Justice
Make people fear being caught in a lie, and they tell the truth.
ذَٰلِكَ أَدْنَىٰٓ أَن يَأْتُوا۟ بِٱلشَّهَـٰدَةِ عَلَىٰ وَجْهِهَآ أَوْ يَخَافُوٓا۟ أَن تُرَدَّ أَيْمَـٰنٌۢ بَعْدَ أَيْمَـٰنِهِمْ ۗ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱسْمَعُوا۟ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِى ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱلْفَـٰسِقِينَ
“That will make it more likely they will give true and proper testimony, or fear that their oaths might be refuted by others afterwards. Be mindful of God and listen; God does not guide those who break His laws. (Quran 5:108)”
5:108 Read 5:108 with tafsir
Svenska: Detta [tillvägagångssätt] ökar sannolikheten att sanna vittnesbörd avges; vittnena måste annars vara rädda att [andras] eder därefter ställs mot deras eder. Frukta därför Gud och lyd [Hans befallningar]; Gud vägleder sannerligen inte trotsiga syndare.
The story
This āyah closes the three-verse arc on witnesses and bequests by naming the wisdom behind the whole procedure. 'That will make it more likely,' it says, that witnesses 'give true and proper testimony.' As-Sa'di explains the mechanism plainly: the emphatic oath after prayer, and the knowledge that a false oath can be exposed, together pull the witnesses toward honesty. Ibn Kathir sharpens the second motive - the witnesses fear that 'other oaths would be admitted after their oaths,' that is, they dread the moment the wronged heirs are made to swear instead and their lie is dragged into the open. So the law works on the human heart from two directions at once: reverence for God, and fear of disgrace. As-Sa'di records that these verses were revealed around the well-known case of Tamim al-Dari and 'Adi ibn Badda', two men entrusted with a traveller's estate who were later accused of keeping back a silver vessel. The verse then turns from procedure to command: 'Be mindful of God and listen' - have taqwā, says Ibn Kathir, and obey. It ends with a warning that frames the entire theme of justice: 'God does not guide those who break His laws.' As-Sa'di reads the fāsiqīn as those whose settled character is rebellion, who do not even want the straight path. Every safeguard in these verses assumes what this last line states: that guidance is for those willing to be honest, and that a heart set on wrongdoing walks away from the very light it needs.
In the language
The verse says the procedure makes it likelier that witnesses will bring the testimony ''alā wajhihā' - literally, 'upon its face.' Ibn Kathir renders the phrase as testimony given 'in its true nature and shape.' The Arabic idiom is vivid: a report has a 'face,' a proper form it is meant to wear, and to give it 'upon its face' is to present it undisguised, neither veiled nor made up. The opposite - tampering, shading, selective memory - is to turn the testimony away from its own face. As-Sa'di ties this to the safeguards just described: the emphatic oaths make it 'nearer' (adnā) that the truth appears in its real form. There is a quiet psychology in the phrase. It concedes that testimony does not always arrive honest; under pressure and self-interest, it can be dressed up or turned aside. The law's job is to raise the odds that the account shows its true face - which is why the verse says 'more likely,' not 'guaranteed.' Honesty is a probability the structure is built to improve.
Why this verse
You cannot force an honest heart, but you can build structures that make lying costly and exposure likely. This āyah names that wisdom, then reminds us its ultimate guarantee is the God from whom nothing hides.
Bring it into today
This verse quietly teaches you how to build honesty into any system you run - a team, a household, a set of accounts. It does not rely on trusting that people will be truthful; it raises the cost of lying and the odds of getting caught, and lets those pressures do their work. When you set up how decisions get recorded, how claims get checked, how disputes get reviewed, you are doing the same thing the āyah does: making it 'more likely' that the truth appears in its true form. But notice where the verse lands - 'be mindful of God and listen.' No structure is enough on its own; the final safeguard is taqwā, the awareness that God sees what every procedure might miss. So aim at both. Build honest systems, and be, yourself, the kind of person who would tell the truth even if no oath, no audit, and no witness could ever catch you.
A reflection to carry
There are two ways to make people honest. One is external: raise the cost of lying, make exposure likely, let fear of disgrace do the work. This verse endorses that - the oaths make it 'nearer,' As-Sa'di says, that testimony arrives in its true form, and Ibn Kathir notes the witnesses dread being caught when the heirs swear instead. But the āyah does not stop there. It commands: 'Be mindful of God and listen.' The structures raise the odds; taqwā closes the gap they cannot reach. Do you tell the truth only where you might be caught, shading things wherever no audit follows? A heart that only fears exposure will always find the blind spot. The one that fears God has nowhere it needs to hide.
Sources: Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
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