Allah U is the Master of the Day of Judgement, and the believe in the hereafter is one of the basis in ensuring a balanced life. Without this belief, man would live a life of chaos and like savages, the strong will consume the poor. Even with the belief in the hereafter there are still those who are stronger who step on the poor and the weak. The strong still controls the poor, and the monopolists consume all the goodness of life for themselves and act unjustly towards others and women are being forbidden of their rights to inheritance. If there were no day of judgment nor an Owner of that day in which people are judged for their works in life, evil would be unrestrained, injustice would spread and life will then be disastrous.
All praises be to Allah U for He U is the Master of the Day of Judgment. Allah U will bring us forth from death to stand in perfect judgment before Him. Injustice and false judgments may be rampant in this world and the oppressors and criminals may live a life of luxury at the expense of others. They do not believe that they are accountable before anyone. The believer, on the other hand, believes that Allah U is the Master of the Day of Judgment, the Most Gracious and Most Merciful. His infinite justice is absolute and perfect and never is Allah U an oppressor, nor does He ever wrong anyone.
In another narration, this verse is read as ﴾مَلِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ﴿ Maliki Yaumid-din, without the alif (ألف).[1] For the owner ﴾مَالِكِ﴿ owns something, while the King ﴿مَلِكِ﴾ owns both the owner and everything that he owns. For example, I own something and you own something too hence we are all owners.
As the Holy Qur’an is from Allah U, it is only natural that He is the sole Owner of the Day of Judgment, Allah U is the one who judges, and he is the King who owns every creation in this world. Both recitations are correct and agreed upon by many scholars as authentic. Some scholars in Sham (Syria) recite it as ﴾مَلِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ﴿ “The King of the Day of Judgement”. It was told that a scholar in Sham (Syria) used to read “the King of the Day of Judgement”. One day he saw in his dream a man saying to him: “Why do you read the King of the Day of Judgement with one letter less. Didn’t you know that for every letter you read from the Book of Allah U you get ten rewards? and that the Prophet Muhammad r said,
((لَا أَقُولُ الم حَرْفٌ، وَلَكِن أَلِفٌ حَرْفٌ وَلَامٌ حَرْفٌ وَمِيمٌ حَرْفٌ))
“I do not say that Alif-Lam-Mim is one letter, but Alif is a letter, Lam is a letter and Mim is a letter.”[2]
Hence, by reciting ﴿مَالِكِ﴾you gain ten extra rewards.” The scholars then began reading ﴾مَلِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ﴿.