Al-Mutaffifin 83:36 - Linguistic Miracle

Have the disbelievers been returned what they were doing?

Most translations translate Ṣawāb as ‘reward’ but its root meaning is for something scattered to return and come together.⁸⁷ It is as if when someone does an action, the deed has gone forth, and something returns in exchange for it.

This is a question that will be asked to the believers who were oppressed and wronged by these disbelievers. When they see the disbelievers being punished, Allah asks them if they have been redeemed. Those who wronged you, they are in the fire burning as you watch them engulfed and wail in pain. Have you been redeemed? Has justice been delivered to you? Have they been given what they sent forth? Yes, we are redeemed. Justice has been delivered, and the truth has been exposed for all to see. We were on the truth, we were correct to prefer this world over the last, and now, we have everlasting bliss.

⁸⁷ Al-Muʿjam al-Ishtiqāqī al-Muʾaṣṣal li-Alfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, vol. 1, p. 228