What does “liyaquma al-nasu bil-qist” mean (Qur’an 57:25)?
Li-yaqūma n-nāsu bi-l-qisṭ means that people may stand up in justice, and it names the purpose of a sending in Surah al-Hadid: “We sent our messengers with clear proofs, and we sent down with them the scripture and the balance, so that people may uphold justice.” [Qur’an 57:25]. In Arabic the phrase is لِيَقُومَ ٱلنَّاسُ بِٱلْقِسْطِ. Word by word, li- is the particle of purpose, so that; yaqūma is the verb qāma, to stand or to rise, and the form here carries taking something up and keeping it standing; an-nās is people, all of them, with no group singled out; and bi-l-qisṭ is the standard they stand by. Qisṭ grows from the root q-s-ṭ, which carries a fair share and an equal portion, the part each party is owed, so the word sits close to weighing and dividing before it ever reaches a courtroom. The spellings people type, liyaquma al-nasu bil-qist and liyaquma an-nasu bil qist, are the same three words with the article joined or left loose.
Three things arrive in one sentence: the messengers with clear proofs, the scripture, and the balance. Al-mīzān is the instrument of weighing, and Surah ash-Shura pairs it with the Book in the same way, “God is the one who sent down the Book with truth, and the Balance.” (42:17). Surah al-Baqarah gives the same errand at greater length, saying that God “sent down with them the Book in truth, to judge between people concerning what they differed in” (2:213). What the verse then leaves to people is the standing. Revelation supplies the proof and the measure, and the rising of the people is named as the thing it was all sent for.
The balance runs through the Qur’an in its plain sense and its wider one. Surah ar-Rahman sets it in creation itself, “And the sky — he raised it, and set the balance,” and turns at once to the reader, “so that you do not transgress the balance.” and “Weigh with justice, and do not fall short in the balance.” (55:7–9). Shu‘ayb brought his people the same instruction, “give full measure and full weight, do not shortchange people in what is theirs” (7:85), which returns in Surah Hud (11:85) and in Surah ash-Shu‘ara, “And weigh with a true and upright balance.” (26:182). Surah al-Mutaffifin describes the failure exactly: those “who, when they take a measure from others, demand it in full,” yet “when they measure or weigh out for others, they give less.” (83:1–3). The same instrument reappears at the end of things, “And we will set up the scales of justice for the day of resurrection, so no soul will be wronged in the least.” (21:47).
Qisṭ and its sister word ‘adl are then put to the believer directly. Surah an-Nahl opens with the command, “Indeed, God commands justice, excellence, and giving to kin” (16:90). Surah an-Nisa makes it costly, telling believers to “stand firm for justice as witnesses for God, even against yourselves, your parents, or your close kin” (4:135), and Surah al-Ma’idah closes the other exit, “do not let hatred of a people drive you to be unjust” (5:8). For anyone deciding between people the instruction is “when you judge between people, to judge with justice” (4:58), and Surah Al ‘Imran places that same standing at the highest level, naming God, the angels, and “those grounded in knowledge — upholding justice” (3:18).
Iron comes down in the second half of the same verse, “And we sent down iron, in which is great force and benefits for humankind”, and the purpose is named a second time, “so that God may know who supports him and his messengers in the unseen” (57:25). Commentators read the pairing as deliberate: the balance measures what is owed, and iron stands behind the measure when someone refuses it, in the tool and in the deterrent alike. The surah has been building toward this. It has just called the world “play and distraction” (57:20) and named “those who are miserly and urge others to be miserly.” (57:24), and it goes on to Nuh and Ibrahim and the prophethood placed among their descendants (57:26). Surah Saba puts the same metal in a prophet’s hands, “And we made iron pliable for him,” (34:10).
What al-mīzān names is a genuine difference between commentators. One reading keeps it concrete, the scales and weights by which goods change hands, with the verses on measure in al-An‘am, Hud and al-Mutaffifin as its company. Another takes it as justice itself, the standard by which a claim is settled, sent down in the sense that revelation is what fixes it. A third widens it to everything that separates truth from falsehood, so that the scripture and the balance name the revealed text together with the reasoning that applies it. Whether liyaqūma answers the balance alone or answers the messengers, the scripture and the balance together is left open in the same way, and the sending down of iron is read both as descent in the plain sense and as God’s providing of it. The verse settles none of this, and for a position you can rely on, a knowledgeable scholar you trust can take you through the tafsir.
Recited today, the phrase puts the weight on the reader. The proofs were given, the scripture was given, the measure was set, and what remains is people standing by it in the small dealings that make up a week. Surah al-Mumtahanah names what that standing meets: “Indeed, God loves those who act justly.” (60:8).
📖 Source: Qur’an 2:213; 3:18; 4:58; 4:135; 5:8; 7:85; 11:85; 16:90; 21:47; 26:182; 34:10; 42:17; 55:7–9; 57:20–26; 60:8; 83:1–3
Get Hikma for iPhone or Android