The 365 · Verses · Day 244 · Justice
No community is judged until its messenger has made the truth plain.
وَلِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَّسُولٌ ۖ فَإِذَا جَآءَ رَسُولُهُمْ قُضِىَ بَيْنَهُم بِٱلْقِسْطِ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ
“Every community is sent a messenger, and when their messenger comes, they will be judged justly; they will not be wronged. (Quran 10:47)”
10:47 Read 10:47 with tafsir
Svenska: TILL VARJE folk har [Vi sänt] ett sändebud och när sändebudet har kommit [till sitt folk], skall rättvisa domar avkunnas över dem och ingen skall tillfogas orätt.
The story
This āyah states a principle that runs through all of history: 'Every community is sent a messenger.' Al-Saʿdi explains its purpose - each past nation received a messenger calling them to the oneness of Allah and His religion; when he came with clear signs, some believed and some denied. The judgment that follows, al-Saʿdi says, is rendered 'with justice': the believers are saved and the deniers destroyed, and 'they are not wronged.' He pinpoints why no wrong is done - no people are ever punished before a messenger has reached them and the proof (ḥujja) has been established, nor are they punished for a crime they did not commit. Ibn Kathir, citing Mujahid, reads the same judgment as unfolding on the Day of Resurrection, when every nation is brought before Allah in the presence of its messenger and its book of deeds, and 'the matter is judged between them with justice.' The two readings - justice in history and justice at the Resurrection - meet on one point: God never condemns the uninformed. Divine justice is scrupulous about its own fairness. Judgment is preceded by clarity, warning, and evidence, so that no soul can ever say it was sentenced without being shown the way.
In the language
The verse makes its point twice, from opposite directions. First it asserts the judgment is rendered bi'l-qisṭ - 'with equity' - and then it adds, emphatically, wa hum lā yuẓlamūn, 'and they will not be wronged.' The positive claim of justice is immediately reinforced by the negation of its opposite. Al-Saʿdi treats this closing phrase as doing precise work: he unpacks lā yuẓlamūn into two specific guarantees - that no people are punished before a messenger reaches them and the proof is established, and that none are punished for a crime they did not commit. The wording leaves no gap for injustice to hide in. It is not enough for the verse to say the verdict is fair; it forecloses every route by which it could be unfair. This doubling - affirm the justice, then deny the wrong - is a recurring Qurʾanic way of sealing a statement about God's dealings so tightly that no objection can be lodged against it.
Why this verse
Because a fair verdict requires a fair trial - and a fair trial requires the accused to have known the law. The verse guarantees exactly this: no community faces judgment until its messenger has made the truth clear. God's justice will not condemn anyone who was never shown the way.
Bring it into today
It is tempting to relax at this verse - to assume that because messengers came to others, judgment is someone else's problem. Al-Saʿdi turns it the other way: the deniers of every age were warned first, and then held to account. The message reached you too. So the honest application is to ask what you have already been shown and are avoiding. Divine justice is scrupulous about establishing proof before it judges - which means the clearer the truth has been made to you, the greater your responsibility for it. Don't waste the clarity you've been given. And carry the principle into your own dealings: before you judge or blame anyone, ask whether they actually knew better, whether the case was ever made plain to them. If Allah still refuses to condemn the uninformed, then you - who cannot see hearts - have far less right to sentence someone who was never shown the way.
A reflection to carry
There is a comfort in this verse and a weight in it, and most of us reach only for the comfort. Yes, God is just: no community is condemned before a messenger has made the truth plain, and no one is punished for a crime they did not commit. But turn it around - the proof, once established, binds you. Al-Saʿdi says the deniers were warned and only then held to account, so the clarity you have received is not neutral; it raises the stakes of what you do next. What has already been made plain to you that you cannot plead ignorance of? And who are you quick to condemn who may never have been shown what you were?
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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