Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:78
In a Register well-protected;
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.
And His statement: فِي كِتَابٍ مَكْنُونٍ ("in a hidden Book"). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: it is in a well-guarded Book with Allah, which no evil — neither dust nor anything else — touches.
In accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have said.
* Mention of who said that:
Ismāʿīl ibn Mūsā related to me, saying: Sharīk informed us, on the authority of Ḥakīm, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: لا يَمَسُّهُ إِلا الْمُطَهَّرُونَ ("none touch it except the purified") — the Book that is in the heaven.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: فِي كِتَابٍ مَكْنُونٍ ("in a hidden Book"), he said: the Qurʾān is in its hidden Book which no dust or sand touches.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement: لا يَمَسُّهُ إِلا الْمُطَهَّرُونَ ("none touch it except the purified"): they claimed that the devils had descended with it upon Muḥammad, whereupon Allah informed them that they are not able to do so and are incapable of it, that it does not befit them to descend with this, and that it is hidden from them. And he recited the statement of Allah: وَمَا يَنْبَغِي لَهُمْ وَمَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ * إِنَّهُمْ عَنِ السَّمْعِ لَمَعْزُولُونَ ("It does not befit them, nor are they able. Indeed, they are removed from hearing").
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh — that is, al-ʿAtakī — related to us, on the authority of Jābir ibn Zayd and Abū Nahīk, concerning His statement: فِي كِتَابٍ مَكْنُونٍ ("in a hidden Book"), he said: it is a Book in the heaven.
