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I swear by the Day of Resurrection. And I swear by the reproaching soul [to the certainty of resurrection]

Imām Ibn al-Qayyim [d. 751 AH] said:

All souls are reproachful. The happy soul blames itself for the evil it engages in, and the good it has abandoned. Thus, it rushes towards repentance. While the soul of despair and sadness behaves in the opposite way. The Exalted swears by both the place of reward or punishment which is the day of resurrection together with the place of earning [that reward or punishment] which is the reproachful soul. In describing the soul as reproachful, the Exalted also brings to our attention its fervent desire, neediness, and necessity towards one who can teach it good and evil, show it both, and guide it towards [the good] and inspire [the soul] with it. Thus does the soul begin to possess a need for good, to where [good] affects it and hatred for evil to where it completely avoids it; such that the soul is pure from reproach or a reproachful end.

The soul [is also named thus] for its constant reprehensible nature, perpetually changing from one condition to another. It, therefore, requires one who can teach it that which is most beneficial to it in its worldly life and hereafter. The soul is affected and blames itself should [this benefit] escape it and engages in repentance should it be from among the souls of happiness. [This reproach behaves as] evidence of true justice being properly exhibited against it, and the reproach this soul feels for the goodness that escaped it is reproach in the truest and most deserving sense.

Allāh, the Creator and Originator [of that soul] has provided a means of absolution for that soul [by means of the reproach it has already felt on the good it did not engage in]. Describing the soul as reproachful also highlights its urgent need to believe in the content of the Message [of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)] and the Qurʾān. For the soul has no greater need than this belief, neither can it hope to achieve goodness or success of any kind in its absence. As the Day of Reckoning is the day upon which this reproach is most apparent, its effect allowed to occur, [reproach and reckoning] are mentioned in succession [in the above verses].

Endnotes:

Source: Al-Tibyān: 25
Translated by: Riyāḍ al-Kanadī