Tafseer of Crouching · Al-Jaathiya · 45:29
This, Our record, speaks about you in truth. Indeed, We were having transcribed whatever you used to do."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the statement of the Exalted: هَذَا كِتَابُنَا يَنْطِقُ عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْحَقِّ إِنَّا كُنَّا نَسْتَنْسِخُ مَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ("This is Our Book; it speaks against you with the truth. Indeed, We had recorded what you used to do") (29).
He — exalted is His mention — says: every community will be summoned on the Day of Resurrection to its book that was dictated to its guardians in the worldly life: الْيَوْمَ تُجْزَوْنَ مَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ("Today you are recompensed for what you used to do"). So do not grieve over Our recompense to you for that, for it speaks against you — if you deny it — with the truth; so read it. ( إِنَّا كُنَّا نَسْتَنْسِخُ مَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ) says: indeed, We had Our guardians record your deeds, and they set them down in the books and wrote them.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (the exegetes) have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ṭalq ibn Ghannām related to us, on the authority of Zāʾida, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Muqsim, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās ( هَذَا كِتَابُنَا يَنْطِقُ عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْحَقِّ ), he said: that is the Mother of the Book (umm al-kitāb), in which are the deeds of the children of Ādam. ( إِنَّا كُنَّا نَسْتَنْسِخُ مَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ), he said: yes, the angels record the deeds of the children of Ādam.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī related to us, saying: my brother ʿĪsā ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Thābit al-Thumālī related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "Indeed, Allah created the nūn — and that is the inkwell —, and He created the pen, and He said: Write. He said: What shall I write? He said: Write what will be until the Day of Resurrection of deed performed, piety or sin, or apportioned provision, permitted (ḥalāl) or forbidden (ḥarām). Then He fixed for each of these its lot: its entry into the worldly life, how long its stay therein would be, and how its departure therefrom would occur. Thereafter He appointed over the servants guardians, and over the Book keepers. The guardians record each day, for the keepers, the deed of that day. Then when the provision is exhausted, the trace cut off, and the term ended, the guardians come to the keepers and ask for the deed of that day, whereupon the keepers say to them: We find with us nothing for your companion. Then the guardians return and find them already dead." He said: Ibn ʿAbbās then said: Are you not an Arab people who hears that the guardians say ( إِنَّا كُنَّا نَسْتَنْسِخُ مَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ )? And can the copying (istinsākh) be anything other than from an original?
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Muqsim, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās ( هَذَا كِتَابُنَا يَنْطِقُ عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْحَقِّ ), he said: the Book is the Reminder (al-dhikr). ( إِنَّا كُنَّا نَسْتَنْسِخُ مَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ), he said: We copy out the deeds.
And others have said about this what al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us, saying: al-Naḍr ibn Ismāʿīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān al-Shaybānī, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, on the authority of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib — may Allah be pleased with him — that he said: indeed, Allah has angels who descend each day with something in which they record the deeds of the children of Ādam.
