Tafsir for verses: 42:17, 42:18
ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَنزَلَ ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ بِٱلۡحَقِّ وَٱلۡمِيزَانَۗ وَمَا يُدۡرِيكَ لَعَلَّ ٱلسَّاعَةَ قَرِيبٞ ١٧ ﴿17 يَسۡتَعۡجِلُ بِهَا ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤۡمِنُونَ بِهَاۖ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ مُشۡفِقُونَ مِنۡهَا وَيَعۡلَمُونَ أَنَّهَا ٱلۡحَقُّۗ أَلَآ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يُمَارُونَ فِي ٱلسَّاعَةِ لَفِي ضَلَٰلِۭ بَعِيدٍ ١٨ ﴿18
17Allah is the One who has sent down the Book with truth, and the Balance as well. And what can let you know? May be, the Hour (the Day of Judgment) is near. 18Those who do not believe in it demand that it should come soon, and those who believe are fearful of it, and they know for sure that it is the truth. Be aware that those who dispute concerning the Hour are wandering afar from the right path.
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Commentary

He sent down the Book, meaning the type of the Book, and the Balance, and justice and equality. The meaning of sending down justice is that He sent it down in His revealed Books. It is said that it is what is weighed with. With truth: it is mixed with truth, associated with it, far from falsehood or with the correct purpose as wisdom necessitated. Or with what is obligatory from what is lawful and unlawful, and so on, at the time of interpreting the resurrection. Therefore, it was said that the Hour is near, or perhaps the coming of the Hour is near.

If you say: How is the mention of the nearness of the Hour reconciled with the sending down of the Book and the Balance? I say: Because the Hour is the Day of Judgment and the placing of the scales for justice. It is as if it was said: Allah has commanded you to be just and equitable and to act according to the laws before the day comes that will surprise you when He will hold you accountable and weigh your deeds, and He will give full measure to those who are honest and will diminish for those who are dishonest.

Disputation: it is the act of prolonging the argument, as each one of them disputes what is with the other. They are indeed in far error from the truth.

Because the establishment of the Hour is not improbable from the power of Allah, and due to the evidence of the miraculous Book that it is certainly coming without doubt, and due to the testimony of minds that there must be a place of recompense.

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Al-ZamakhshariAbū al-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar al-Zamakhsharī
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