Verses 20–37
Above, God said that He had placed the Prophet on a clear path of the matter, which means He promulgated the divine code of Islam. In these verses he says that these are insights (baṣāʾir) for mankind through which they can perceive the path they must take in order to lead a good life in this world, and that will ultimately lead them to happiness in the Hereafter, and a guidance and a mercy for a people who have certainty about God’s signs.
He also points out that the real reason why those who do evil deeds disdain following the clear path is because they deny the Resurrection. They think that they and those that follow the Religion are equal in life and death; they don’t think that following the Religion will have any effect on their lives or that following the kind of righteous pattern of conduct prescribed by the Clear Path will yield anything except unnecessary effort. In response, God argues that their impressions are false by proving that the Resurrection will surely come to pass. He accompanies this with a description of the Resurrection, the rewards of the righteous on that day and what awaits the sinners who obstinately reject guidance and persist in wrongdoing. He concludes the sūrah with praise and glorification.
Commentary
هَٰذَا بَصَائِرُ لِلنَّاسِ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةٌ لِقَوْمٍ يُوقِنُونَ ٢٠
(45:20) This is insights for mankind, and guidance and mercy for a people who have certainty.
This shows that the matter referred to above () is the religion of Islam or the Qur’an insofar as it contains its teachings. Insights (baṣāʾir), the plural of “insight” (baṣīrah), means a perception that corresponds to reality. Here, this refers to that by which a person can perceive. The Religion contains insights insofar as it contains laws and rules, each and every one of which guides people to what they must do in order to walk on the path of happiness.
So this verse means: “This is the clear path which has been laid down, or the Qur’an containing its practical duties, through each of which everyone can gain insight and be guided to the path of truth, which is the path of God and the path of happiness.” And when, after mentioning laying down this clear path, God says This is insights for mankind…, this is like when He says after mentioning the signs of His oneness at the beginning of the sūrah: This is a guidance ().
…and guidance and mercy for a people who have certainty means that it is a clear direction and an overflowing of goodness upon them. A people who have certainty means those who have certainty about God’s signs which point to the foundations of divine knowledge (uṣūl al-maʿārif), for in the language of the Qur’an, “having certainty” (īqān) is always connected to matters of belief and foundational doctrines.
The Qur’an singles people who have certainty out for guidance and mercy even though it says it contains insights for all mankind. This suggests that the meaning of “guidance” (hudā) is to arrive at one’s destination rather than just to perceive it correctly, and that “mercy” (raḥmah) here refers to that mercy that is reserved for those who are Godwary and believe in His Messenger, having already believed in Him. God says: O you who have faith! Be wary of God and have faith in His Messenger. He will grant you a double share of His mercy and give you a light to walk by, and forgive you (); and He says: This is the Book, there is no doubt in it, a guidance to the Godwary, who believe in the Unseen… and are certain of the Hereafter (). Divine mercy has many levels of varying breadth; even that mercy reserved for the people of faith has different degrees that vary according to the level of a person’s faith. Each level of faith is matched by a level of divine mercy.
As for mercy in its broadest sense, it means all the good that emanates from Him. And, insofar as the Qur’an contains a divine code for people to follow, it is a mercy to all of them. By the same token, the Prophet who has brought it to them is also a mercy for them all. That is why God says: We did not send you but as a mercy to all the nations (). And we have discussed some aspects of this previously.
أَمْ حَسِبَ الَّذِينَ اجْتَرَحُوا السَّيِّئَاتِ أَنْ نَجْعَلَهُمْ كَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ سَوَاءً مَحْيَاهُمْ وَمَمَاتُهُمْ ۚ سَاءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ ٢١
(45:21) Or do those who have perpetrated misdeeds suppose that We shall make them as those who have faith and do righteous deeds, their life and death being equal? Evil is the judgement that they make!
Majmaʿ al-Bayān says: “To perpetrate” (ijtirāḥ) means “to earn” (iktisāb). The word is derived from the root meaning “to wound” (jarḥ) because it has an effect like the effect of a surgeon (jarrāḥ).
A “misdeed” (sayyiʾah) is an evil act which brings harm to its doer because it invites rebuke to him.
Here make them means to treat them.
The phrase as those who have faith and do righteous deeds is in the grammatical position of a second object for make.
Zamaksharī asserts in his Kashshāf that the particle as (ka) in …as those who… is actually a noun in its own right with the meaning “like” (mithl), and this noun is the second object of the verb make. In this reading, equal (sawāʾ) becomes a permutation (badal) of this second object.
Equal (sawāʾ) is in the accusative case (naṣb) according to the common recitation. It is a verbal noun being used to signify the meaning of an active participle, i.e. mustawiyan or mutasāwiyan (both of which carry the meaning of being equal to something). Their life (maḥyāhum) is a mīm-prefixed verbal noun and the subject of equal. It goes back to the combined grouping of the believers and those who perpetrate misdeeds. Their death is joined to their life and it follows the same pattern.
This verse is phrased as a rhetorical question, and “or” (am) is discontinuous. So the meaning is: “Rather do those who earn evil deeds think that we will treat them as equals to those who believe and behave righteously, equal in their life and death?” In other words: do they think that their lives and deaths will be identical, that believing in the Religion and following it are be pointless, and that whether they believed or not will have no effect on their life or death?
Evil is the judgement that they make! rejects their aforementioned supposition that the sinners will be treated like those who believed and acted righteously. Calling a judgement evil alludes to its falsity.
After all, the two groups are not equal in life or in death. As for in life, it is because those who believe and do righteous deeds follow a way of life based on a true perception of their condition, and guidance and mercy from their Lord, as has been mentioned in the verse above. On the other hand, the evil-doer is the opposite of this. Elsewhere, God says: those who follow My guidance will not go astray, nor will they be miserable. But whoever disregards My remembrance, his shall be a wretched life (); and He also says: Is he who was lifeless, then We gave him life and provided him with a light by which he walks among the people, like one who dwells in a manifold darkness which he cannot leave? ().
As for in death, they obviously differ because it has been clearly demonstrated that death does not represent the end of a thing’s existence or the annihilation of the human soul, as those who follow falsehoods suppose. Rather, death represents the return to God and the transition from the life of this world to the life of the Hereafter, which is the final abode, the realm of eternal life, in which the righteous believer will live in happiness and ease, while others will live in misery and suffering.
God has alluded to this before when He said: thus does God revive the dead (); Then you will be brought back to your Lord (); and God created the heavens and the earth with truth ().
The way in which this verse fits together and the meaning it gives have become subjects of much controversy amongst commentators, who have mentioned a great many possible interpretations for it. However, the reading best supported by the context is what we have said above, and there is not much benefit in mentioning all the different readings that have been offered. Interested readers can find these in the appropriate places.
وَخَلَقَ اللَّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بِالْحَقِّ وَلِتُجْزَىٰ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ ٢٢
(45:22) God created the heavens and the earth with truth, so that every soul may be requited with what it has earned, and they will not be wronged.
The apparent meaning of the heavens and the earth is the entirety of the perceptible universe (al-ʿālam al-mashhūd). The particle with (bi) in with truth is to indicate concomitance. In other words, the creation of the world being with truth means it was done for a reason rather than vainly or without purpose, and that reason is that this world of generation and corruption has a subsistent and lasting goal that lies beyond it.
…so that every soul may be requited is joined to …with truth… and the particle with (bi) in with what it has earned is to make it transitive or reciprocal, in other words that it will be recompensed in return for what it has earned; if it was obedient, then it will be rewarded; if it was sinful, it will be punished. And they will not be wronged is a circumstantial qualifier for so that every soul may be requited… meaning it will be requited justly.
So when the verse says that God created the heavens and the earth with truth and with justice, with truth means that there must be some other world the lies beyond this one in which beings will endure. As for justice, this means that each soul will be given what it deserves based on what it has earned in this life, so one who has done good will be requited with good, and one who has done evil will be requited with evil. And because this does not take place in this world, it must take place in the other world.
From this, it becomes clear that this verse actually contains two arguments for the Resurrection. God alludes to the first of them with His saying: God created the heavens and the earth with truth. This argument follows from the idea of truth. God refers to the second argument when He says: so that every soul may be requited with what it has earned… and this follows from the idea of justice.
And both of these arguments go back to another verse: We did not create the sky and the earth and whatever is between them in vain. That is a conjecture of the faithless. So woe to the faithless for the Fire! Shall We treat those who have faith and do righteous deeds like those who cause corruption on the earth? Shall We treat the Godwary like the vicious? ()
This verse and its contents invalidate their supposition that the evil-doer and the good-doer are alike in death, for it discusses the reward and punishment and the consequences of obedience and disobedience on the Day of Resurrection. This refutes the notion that the obedient and the sinful will be equal in death. The logical consequence of this is to invalidate their supposition that the evil-doer is like the good-doer in life as well, for the reward promised in recompense for good deeds on that Day necessitates obedience in this world. Moreover, the good-doer acts on the basis of insight of the reality of things in his life, observes his moral duties and prepares in his today for his tomorrow. This is completely the opposite of an evil-doer, who dwells in blindness and error. So they are not equal at all.
أَفَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلَٰهَهُ هَوَاهُ وَأَضَلَّهُ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ عِلْمٍ وَخَتَمَ عَلَىٰ سَمْعِهِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَجَعَلَ عَلَىٰ بَصَرِهِ غِشَاوَةً فَمَنْ يَهْدِيهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ اللَّهِ ۚ أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ٢٣
(45:23) Have you seen him who has taken to be his god his desire and whom God has led astray upon knowledge and set a seal upon his hearing and his heart, and put a blindfold on his sight. So who will guide him after God? Will you not then take admonition?
The context suggests that Have you seen…? is supposed to inspire astonishment, meaning: “Is it not astonishing that…”
…taken to be his god his desire means, because the word god has been placed before desire, that he knows that he has a real God whom he should worship, but he swaps this God for his own desire, puts it in His place and worships it. He is a disbeliever in God, despite having knowledge of Him. That is why God appends the phrase and whom God has led astray upon knowledge. This means that he has strayed from the path knowingly.
The meaning of taking something as a god is to worship it, in the sense of giving it your obedience. God considers obedience an act of worship, as we can see from the verses:
Did I not exhort you, O children of Adam, saying, “Do not worship Satan. He is indeed your manifest enemy. Worship Me.” ()
They have taken their scribes and their monks as lords besides God… ()
…and that we will not take each other as lords besides God. ()
And if we reflect on this, it makes perfect sense. After all, worship is nothing other than a demonstration of submission and an illustration that the worshipper is a servant who neither wants anything or does anything except that which his object of worship is pleased with. So whoever obeys a thing has taken it as a god and worshipped it, so whoever obeys his desires has taken his desires as a god. But obedience belongs only to God or to someone for whom God has enjoined it.
So Have you seen him who has taken to be his god his desire…? means “Does it not amaze you that a person worships his desire by obeying it and following it while he knows that he has a God whom he should worship and obey, but instead he makes his god and his master his own desire?”
…and whom God has led astray upon knowledge… means that he is astray because God has led him astray as a recompense for following his desires, while this person knew that he was going astray. There is no contradiction between going astray while one has knowledge and awareness of the right path. See, for example, God’s saying: They impugned them though they were convinced in their hearts (). This is because knowledge is not the same thing as guidance, nor is error the same thing as ignorance. Rather, guidance requires a person to both have knowledge and to act according to that knowledge. If he does this, then this leads to him being guided. But if there is something with knowledge who does not act upon it because he is following his desires, then this does not lead to him being guided, rather it leads him astray, even with knowledge.
As for the interpretation some commentators have put forth: Knowledge means God’s knowledge, in which case the verse means: “God leads him astray knowing his condition.” This is very unlikely given the context.
…and set a seal upon his hearing and his heart, and put a blindfold on his sight: This serves as an explanation to God’s words: …and whom God has led astray upon knowledge. To seal a person’s hearing and heart means that he does not hear the truth nor does he comprehend it, and setting a blindfold on his sight means that he does not perceive the truth from God’s signs. In short, his hearing, heart and sight have no benefit to him because he does not take up whatever truth he obtains because of his own arrogance and following his own desire. And you know well that going astray from the right path does not preclude a person having knowledge of it when this person does not act upon this knowledge.
So who will guide him after God? Him refers to the one who has taken his desire as his god, and this clause derives from what has already been said about his condition. In other words, when he is in such a condition that God has led him astray upon knowledge, etc., then who can guide him after God, when there is no guide except him? God says: Say, “Indeed it is the guidance of God which is the guidance” (); elsewhere, God says: …and whomever God leads astray has no guide ().
Will you not then take admonition? Meaning: Will you not think about such a person’s condition, realize that there is no way for you to attain guidance while you are following your own desires, and take a lesson from that?
وَقَالُوا مَا هِيَ إِلَّا حَيَاتُنَا الدُّنْيَا نَمُوتُ وَنَحْيَا وَمَا يُهْلِكُنَا إِلَّا الدَّهْرُ ۚ وَمَا لَهُمْ بِذَٰلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ ۖ إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ ٢٤
(45:24) They say, “It is nothing but the life of this world: we die and we live, and nothing but the age (al-dahr) destroys us.” But they do not have any knowledge of that, and they only make conjectures.
Al-Rāghib says:
Dahr was originally the name given to the duration of the world’s existence from its very beginning until its eventual end. It is in this sense that God says: Has there been for man an age…? (). Then it can be used to refer to any long period of time. This is unlike zamān, for the word zamān is used for both long and short periods.
This verse, based on what its context—which is one of arguing against the idolaters who believe in the Maker but not in the Resurrection—suggests, relates something the idolaters have said in denial of the Resurrection. These are not the words of the philosophical school of the Dahriyyah, who say that the existence and non-existence of all phenomena comes from the world being eternal, without beginning or end, as they are not mentioned in the above verses.
When they say It is nothing but the life of this world, the pronoun it refers to life. In other words: There is no life for us except the life of this world, there is no life beyond it, so the Resurrection and Hereafter that the Divine Religion speaks about are unreal. This is a contextual indicator that shows we die and we live means some of us die and others of us live, and that is how the human race continues to exist; preceding generations die and new generations live. This is also supported, to some extent, by the words: and nothing but the age destroys us as destroys is an imperfect verb, signifying continuity.
With this in mind, the present verse means: The idolaters say: “Life is naught but our life in this world which we live in the here and now; some of us will die, and they are the older generations, while others will live, and they are the new generations. Nothing destroys us but time whose passage makes new become old, draws every being towards ruin and causes every living thing to die. So death is not a passage from one abode to another that leads to the Resurrection and returning to God.”
Perhaps this was the belief of some of the ignorant Arab idolaters; otherwise, the common doctrine of idolaters is that of reincarnation (tanāsukh), namely that when the imperfect souls of imperfect beings leave their bodies, they become connected to new bodies. If the soul had earned happiness in its previous body, it will inhere in a new body in which it will find a life of comfort and happiness. And if it had earned wretchedness in its previous body, then it will inhere in a new body in which it will be endure misery and suffering as a karmic recompense for its evil deeds. And so on and so forth. Moreover, they did not deny that death, like life, was the responsibility of angelic mediators. For this reason—by which I mean the common belief in reincarnation amongst idolaters—some commentators have said that this verse actually refers to reincarnation. In this case, we can read it as: “It is nothing but the life of this world, so we will never leave this world, we die in this worldly existence and we live after death by entering a new body, and so on. And nothing but the age destroys us.”
This reading is not without merit, but it does not accord with the statement related from them: And nothing but the age destroys us. Unless, of course, we take this to mean that the age (dahr) is a means by which the angel entrusted with death actually brings it about. However, it also fails to accord with an argument they use below: Bring our fathers back, should you be truthful. This shows that they think their fathers have ceased to exist entirely.
Other interpretations have been offered for this verse which must be put aside, for example: It means that we will be dead and without life and that is before the spirit enters our bodies, then we will come to life when it enters us. As when God says: you were lifeless and He gave you life ().
Or, as some have said: “To live” is a figure of speech for procreation. In which case, the verse means: We die, but our children live on.
And there are other interpretations still.
But they do not have any knowledge of that, and they only make conjectures: In other words: What they say implying that they deny the Resurrection is something spoken without knowledge, it is just a conjecture they are making because they have no evidence to refute the Resurrection while there is ample evidence to affirm it.
وَإِذَا تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُنَا بَيِّنَاتٍ مَا كَانَ حُجَّتَهُمْ إِلَّا أَنْ قَالُوا ائْتُوا بِآبَائِنَا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ ٢٥
(45:25) And when Our manifest signs are recited to them, their only argument is to say, “Bring our fathers back, should you be truthful.”
This demonstrates that their rejection of the Resurrection and their belief that there is nothing beyond the life of this world is something they say without any knowledge.
Manifest signs means those signs containing proofs affirming the Resurrection; they are called manifest because they clearly demonstrate its truth and leave no doubt. Their saying Bring our fathers back, should you be truthful is called an argument (ḥujjah), even though it is a senseless demand after the proof has been made clear to them, as a form of ridicule because it is like asking for proof of something that has just been proven to you. So it is as if to say: “Your argument is that there is no argument.”
So the verse means: “When our verses containing proofs affirming the Resurrection and which clearly demonstrate its truth are recited those who deny it, their only response is to make senseless demands like demanding proof of its possibility by resurrecting their forefathers!”
قُلِ اللَّهُ يُحْيِيكُمْ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يَجْمَعُكُمْ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ٢٦ وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ يَوْمَئِذٍ يَخْسَرُ الْمُبْطِلُونَ ٢٧
(45:26–27) Say, “It is God who gives you life, then He makes you die. Then He will gather you on the Day of Resurrection, in which there is no doubt. But most people do not know. To God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and on the day the Hour sets in, the falsifiers will be losers on that day.”
Even though their asking for proof having just been presented with it is nothing but a senseless and impertinent demand that does not warrant an answer, God commands His Prophet to respond to them by affirming its possibility (imkān), which they thought farfetched.
In short, the argument goes: The one who makes you live the first time, then causes you to die and then gathers you for the Day of Resurrection, in which there is no doubt, is God. Now, God has dominion over the heavens and the earth; He governs them as He wishes and disposes them as He pleases. So, if He wants to, He can bring people back to them and dispose you to gather for the Day of Resurrection, judge between you and recompense you. The remainder of the meaning is clear.
…and on the day the Hour sets in, the falsifiers will be losers on that day: al-Raghib says: “Loss” (khasr) means a reduction in capital. This is attributed to someone by saying “so-and-so lost” (khasara fulān). It can also be attributed to an action: “His trade lost” (khasarat tijāratuhu). God says: This, then, is a ruinous return! (). It can be attributed to external acquisitions such as money and rank in this world, which is most common, but also to personal acquisitions such as health, vigor, sense, faith, and divine reward, which is what God calls “a manifest loss” (khusrān mubīn).
He continues: Every loss that God mentions in the Qur’an is always in the last sense above rather than monetary or business losses made by human beings.
He also says: “To falsify” (ibṭāl) means to ruin a thing or remove it, whether it is real or not. God says: so that He may confirm the truth and falsify falsehood (). It is also used for someone who says something that has no truth to it: Indeed if you bring them a sign, the faithless will surely say, “You are nothing but fabricators!” (). Elsewhere, God says: …and it is thence that the falsifiers become losers (), meaning that those who consider the truth false will become losers.
The most likely interpretation here is that when the Hour sets in refers to when everything that is supposed to befall therein comes to pass: the Resurrection, accounting and recompense, and when the Hour becomes manifest. In this way it is proper to make the Hour a container for the Day [of Judgement], even though they are really the same thing. It is also most appropriate to read on that day as emphasis for on the day the Hour sets in.
So this verse means: “And on the Day when the Hour sets in, and it is the day on which people return to God, on that day the falsifiers, who called the truth false and turned away from it, will be losers.”
وَتَرَىٰ كُلَّ أُمَّةٍ جَاثِيَةً ۚ كُلُّ أُمَّةٍ تُدْعَىٰ إِلَىٰ كِتَابِهَا الْيَوْمَ تُجْزَوْنَ مَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ٢٨
(45:28) And you will see every nation fallen [on its knees]. Every nation will be summoned to its book. Today you will be requited for what you used to do.
Fallen (jathuw) means to sink to one’s knees, just as “prostrate” (jadhuw) means to go down upon one’s fingers.
This verse is a general address to anyone who has the ability to see, even though it is directed to the Prophet. Summoned to its book means called to be held to account, insofar as book is used to refer to the complete record of a person’s deeds. This is attested to by the words below: Today you will be requited for what you used to do….
So it means: “You and everyone else with sight will see every single nation upon its knees, humbled and fearful. Each one of them will be called to its own book, which is the record of its deeds. And they will be told: ‘Today you will be requited for what you used to do.’”
From this verse we can glean that every nation will have its own unique book, just as every person will have their own unique one too. God says: We have attached every person’s omen to his neck, and We shall bring it out for him on the Day of Resurrection as a wide open book that he will encounter ().
هَٰذَا كِتَابُنَا يَنْطِقُ عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْحَقِّ ۚ إِنَّا كُنَّا نَسْتَنْسِخُ مَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ٢٩
(45:29) This is Our book, which speaks truly against you. Indeed We used to transcribe (nastansikh) what you used to do.
In Ṣiḥāḥ, we read: “In Arabic, nasakhat al-kitāb, intasakhtuh, and istansakhtuh all have the same meaning.”
al-Rāghib says:
To abrogate (naskh) means to efface something with something else that follows it, just as sun abrogates shade and shade abrogates the sun, and the old abrogates the young… but when we speak of naskh al-kitāb this means transferring the form of its text to another book, and this does not involve the effacement of the first form, rather it entails the copying of it to another material. This is like using a single signet ring to imprint numerous wax seals. Al-istinsākh means to set about transcribing something.
The upshot of what we have quoted above is that the object of the verb transcribe is the source from which the copying took place; this means that the deeds you used to do must be a source and a book. Or, you could say: In the form of a source and a book from which they are copied. If what is meant is that a person’s external deeds are recorded in writing, then it would have been said: “We used to write what you used to do,” for there is nothing to suggest that these deeds were a book or a source to be copied, nor is there any evidence that record (yastansikh) here means “we write”, as some have suggested.
Consequently, what you used to do means a person’s external deeds insofar as they exist within the Guarded Tablet (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ). So when their deeds are transcribed, this means what is connected with their deeds in the Guarded Tablet is transcribed, and their record of deeds is not just a record of their deeds, but also a part of the Guarded Tablet. If this is the case, then the meaning of the angels recording people’s deeds means correlating what they have from the transcription of the Tablet with their deeds.
This is the explanation that has come down in Shiʿi narrations from Imam al-Ṣādiq and through Sunni narrations from Ibn ʿAbbās. We will discuss these in the study of the narrations, below.
In this case, This is Our book, which speaks against you with truth is part of God’s speech rather than the speech of the angels, and this is part of God’s address to the people gathered on the Day of Resurrection which He relates to us. So the meaning is: “They will be told: ‘This is Our book….’”
This—based on the context—refers to the record of deeds (ṣaḥīfat al-aʿmāl) which is itself, based on what we have already said, a reference to the Guarded Tablet. God calls it a book insofar as it is the record of deeds is written by his command, and insofar as it is the Guarded Tablet in order to honour it. The phrase …which speaks against you with truth means that it testifies to what you did and shows it clearly in accordance with the truth.
Were it not for the fact that this book shows them their deeds in such a way that there is no doubt and there is no room for them to deny it, they would have denied it. God says: The day when every soul will find present whatever good it has done; and as to whatever evil it has done it will wish there were a far distance between it and itself ().
Commentators have offered alternative interpretations of the verses, including: The verse is the speech of the angels, not the speech of God. The meaning of “transcribe” is writing. And as a whole, this verse means: “This—meaning the record of deeds—is our—the angels who record your deeds—book, which will testify against you with truth. For we used to write down what you used to do.”
However, the context makes it highly improbable that this is the speech of the angels. Moreover, the idea that transcription means writing in general is something not supported by a study of the Arabic language.
Another interpretation is that the verse is God’s speech and this refers to the record of deeds. It is said that it refers to the Guarded Tablet and “transcribing” means any sort of writing.
فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَيُدْخِلُهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ فِي رَحْمَتِهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْمُبِينُ ٣٠
(45:30) As for those who have faith and do righteous deeds, their Lord will admit them into His mercy. That is the manifest victory!
Here, the Qur’an turns to describe the condition of people on that day according to their different statuses, whether they are destined for felicity or misery, and reward or punishment. The felicitous who will be rewarded are those who believed and did righteous deeds, while the wretched who will be punished are those arrogant sinners who disbelieved.
Mercy in this verse refers to the divine effusion which will make felicitous those who dwell in it. Paradise is a part of this. Manifest victory means a clear success. The rest of the meaning is clear.
وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَفَلَمْ تَكُنْ آيَاتِي تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ فَاسْتَكْبَرْتُمْ وَكُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا مُجْرِمِينَ ٣١
(45:31) But as for the faithless, “Were not My signs then recited to you? But you were disdainful, and you were a guilty lot.”
The faithless means those shrouded in faithlessness due to their own denial and obstinacy, as evinced by God’s saying: Were not My signs then recited to you? But you were disdainful….
Then (fa) in were not My signs then… is to signify that this follows logically from something, namely As for the faithless… This renders the meaning: “It will be said to them: ‘Were not my signs recited to you?’” Here, signs mean the divine proofs that were sent to them through revelation and preaching. The guilty is one who is consumed by wrongdoing and sin.
So this verse means: “As for those who disbelieved in the truth obstinately, despite how obvious it was to them, they will be told as a rebuke: ‘Were not my proofs read out and made clear to you in this world? But you were too arrogant to accept them and you were a sinful people.’”
وَإِذَا قِيلَ إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ وَالسَّاعَةُ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهَا قُلْتُمْ مَا نَدْرِي مَا السَّاعَةُ إِنْ نَظُنُّ إِلَّا ظَنًّا وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمُسْتَيْقِنِينَ ٣٢
(45:32) And when it was said, “God’s promise is indeed true, and there is no doubt about the Hour,” you said, “We do not know what the Hour is. We know nothing beyond conjectures, and we do not possess any certainty.”
Promise (waʿd) means “the-thing-promised” (mawʿūd) and this refers to what God has promised upon the tongue of His messengers, namely the Resurrection and judgement. This makes and there is no doubt about the Hour an explanation of what God promised. It is also possible that promise gives the meaning of a verbal noun (i.e. “God promises the truth”).
We do not know what the Hour is meaning they claim not to understand it, even though they are people of intelligence and discernment. So they mean that it is something incomprehensible, otherwise they would have surely grasped it.
We know nothing beyond conjectures, and we do not possess any certainty—in other words, this is not something we are certain about; we have only conjectures which we cannot rely upon. So in these words of theirs and those above—We do not know what the Hour is—is their response to the manifest signs that were recited to them, and they display a most outrageous disdain for the truth.
وَبَدَا لَهُمْ سَيِّئَاتُ مَا عَمِلُوا وَحَاقَ بِهِمْ مَا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ ٣٣
(45:33) The evils of what they had done will appear to them, and they will be besieged by what they used to deride.
Here, the Arabic can either be read as the evils of what they had done or the evils that they had done. What/that they had done refers to the entire category of their actions. In other words, their evil deeds or the evils of their deeds will become apparent to them. So this verse is in the same vein as God’s saying: The day when every soul will find present whatever good it has done ().
So this is one of the verses which indicate that people’s deeds will take on a physical reality for them. It is also said that the verse means the recompense for the evils of what they had done will appear to them.
…and they will be besieged by what they used to deride means that the punishment they used to mock when they were warned about by the Prophets and Messengers in this world will come upon them.
وَقِيلَ الْيَوْمَ نَنْسَاكُمْ كَمَا نَسِيتُمْ لِقَاءَ يَوْمِكُمْ هَٰذَا وَمَأْوَاكُمُ النَّارُ وَمَا لَكُمْ مِنْ نَاصِرِينَ ٣٤
(45:34) And it will be said, “Today We will forget you, just as you forgot the encounter of this day of yours. The Fire will be your abode, and you will not have any helpers.”
Here, forget refers to turning away from and abandoning. So when God says He will forget them on the Day of Resurrection, this means He will turn away from them and abandon them in their time of terror and hardship. And when God says they forget the encounter of their day, this refers to their turning away from His remembrance in this world and failing to prepare for this day. The remainder of the meaning is clear.
ذَٰلِكُمْ بِأَنَّكُمُ اتَّخَذْتُمْ آيَاتِ اللَّهِ هُزُوًا وَغَرَّتْكُمُ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا ۚ فَالْيَوْمَ لَا يُخْرَجُونَ مِنْهَا وَلَا هُمْ يُسْتَعْتَبُونَ ٣٥
(45:35) That is because you took the signs of God in derision, and the life of the world had deceived you. So today they will not be brought out of it, nor will they be asked to propitiate.
That refers to the fate described above; their evil deeds appearing to them and the punishment descending upon them. “Derision” means mockery and the bāʾ (translated: “because”) signifies causation.
This means: That punishment which will descend upon you is because you took God’s signs in jest and derided them, and because you were deceived by the life of this world and became attached to it to the point that you wanted to live in it forever.
So today they will not be brought out of it, nor will they be asked to propitiate: Now the address turns from the faithless to the Prophet, and this passage sums up the punishment they will suffer on that day, namely that they will remain in Hell forever and no excuse will be accepted from them.
فَلِلَّهِ الْحَمْدُ رَبِّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَرَبِّ الْأَرْضِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ٣٦
(45:36) So to God all praise belongs, the Lord of the heavens and the Lord of the earth, the Lord of the worlds.
This praises Him as a result of everything that has been said in this sūrah; that He is the creator of the heavens, the earth and everything in between, that He is the governor of everyone’s affairs, and that one of the marvellous aspects of His creation is the fact He has created everything with a purpose, in order to return to him and be recompensed for their deeds. And this fact necessitates the promulgation of divine paths which people can follow towards happiness and reward; this is followed by gathering for the Day of Resurrection, then the recompense of all and their residing in His justice or mercy; everything will be given what it deserves. In all of this, God will only govern beautifully, and He will only act in a manner that is praiseworthy. So His is the praise in its entirety!
The word Lord is repeated in the Lord of the heavens and the Lord of the earth, before it is given another permutation (badal) in the Lord of the worlds. This is to show that His Lordship encompasses everything; if He said only “Lord of the worlds”, perhaps someone would falsely imagine that He is the Lord of all but that the heavens also have a lord of their own and the earth has a lord of its own, leading them to believe in something like the idolaters believe in. The same applies if He had only said “the Lord of the heavens and the earth” because this would not say anything about His lordship over other things. And, of course, the same is true if He had only mentioned one of them.
وَلَهُ الْكِبْرِيَاءُ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ ٣٧
(45:37) To Him belongs all supremacy in the heavens and the earth, and He is the All-mighty, the All-wise.
According to al-Rāghib, Supremacy (kibriyāʾ) means: Being above submission. Ibn Athīr says it means magnificence and dominion. In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, Ṭabrisī says it means absolute authority, majesty, and superiority.
In any case, this is the most profound sense of “greatness” (kibr) and it is used for a magnificence that lies beyond sense and that ultimately goes back to His perfect being (kamāl wujūdih), whose perfection is infinite.
To Him belongs all supremacy in the heavens and the earth means He has supremacy everywhere; nothing in the heavens or the earth can be above him, nor can anything belittle him. And placing the predicate (To him belongs) in front of the subject (all supremacy), indicates that it belongs only to him, as when He says: to God all praise belongs in the previous verse.
…and He is the All-mighty, the All-wise means that He overcomes all without being overcome Himself in whatever He wishes to create and govern in this world and the Hereafter, and that His creation and His governance are based on wisdom and beautiful conduct.
Examining Narrations
- Tafsīr al-Qummī says about the phrase Have you seen him who has taken to be his god his desire ():
This was revealed about the Quraysh; whenever they desired something, they would worship it.
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, Nasāʾī, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Mundhir, and Ibn Mardawayh narrate from Ibn ʿAbbās:
A man of the Arabs would worship a stone, and when he found something better than it, he would take that and cast it aside. So God revealed: Have you seen him who has taken to be his god his desire?
- Majmaʿ al-Bayān says about God’s saying and nothing but the age destroys us ():
It is narrated in a tradition from the Prophet: “Do not revile the age, for God is the age.”
Author’s comments: After presenting this tradition, Ṭabrisī says: “The explanation of this is that people in the Age of Ignorance would attribute unpleasant occurrences and tribulations to the age (dahr), saying: ‘The age has treated me thus…’ and they would revile it. So the Prophet is saying: ‘The one who does these things is God, so do not revile the one who does them!’” This reading is supported by the next narration.
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, Ibn Jarīr and Bayhaqī—in al-Asmāʾ wa al-Ṣifāt—relate from Abū Hurayrah that God’s Messenger said:
God says: “Let not the son of Adam revile the age by saying: ‘O age, you ne’er do-well!’ For I am the age; I send the night and the day and if I wished I would have taken them away.”
- Tafsīr al-Qummī says about the verse This is Our book, which speaks against you with truth… ():
My father narrated from Ibn Abī ʿUmayr, from ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Qaṣīr, who asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh about the verse Nūn. By the Pen… ().
He said: “God created the Pen from a tree in Paradise called ‘eternality’ (khuld). Then He told a river in Paradise: ‘Be ink.’ So the river solidified into ink that was whiter than snow and sweeter than honey. Then He told the Pen: ‘Write!’ The Pen asked: ‘O Lord! What shall I write?’ He said: ‘Write what was and what will be until the Day of Resurrection.’ So the Pen wrote upon a parchment brighter than silver and clearer than a jewel. Then He rolled it up and placed it in a pillar of the Throne before sealing the Pen’s mouth so that it will never speak.
“So it is the Hidden Book from which everything is copied. Are you not Arabs? So how do you not understand the meaning of plain speech? When one of you tells his companion, ‘Transcribe that book’, can you not only transcribe from another book which is the original? That is God’s saying: Indeed We used to transcribe what you used to do ().”
Author’s comments: When he says: “So the Pen wrote upon a parchment…”, this compares the Inscribed Tablet containing all the events of the world to a parchment, which—according to al-Rāghib—is like a piece of paper for writing upon. And we have previously encountered the tradition from the Imam saying that the Pen is an angel and the Tablet is an angel. When he says: “…and placed it in a pillar of the Throne…” this compares the Throne to that of a king, which has pillars and poles. His saying: “Then He sealed the mouth of the Pen…” refers to the fact that the contents of that parchment are part of the Foreordained Decree (al-qadāʾ al-maḥtūm) which cannot be changed or altered. When he says: “Are you not Arabs?” this refers to what has already explained in our commentary on the verse.
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, Ibn Jarīr narrates from Ibn ʿAbbās:
God created Nūn, which was the ink. And He created the Pen. He said to it: “Write!”
It said: “What shall I write?”
He said: “Write whatever will be until the Day of Resurrection; deeds that are done—whether pious or wicked—provision provided—whether licit or illicit. Then upon all of this He imposed of its affair: When it will enter the world, how long it will stay in it, and how it will leave it? Then He appointed guardians for His servants and custodians to guard the Book—the former transcribe every day the deeds of that day from the custodians—and when that provision is used up, the matter is cut off and the appointed time is reached, the guardians come seeking the deeds of that day from the custodians, they will tell them: ‘We find nothing with us for your charge.’ So the guardians go back and find that their charge has died.”
Then Ibn ʿAbbās said:
Are you not Arabs? You hear the guardians saying Indeed We used to transcribe what you used to do and can you transcribe from anything other than an original book?
Author’s comments: As you can see, this account makes the verse the speech of the guardian angels.
However, Ibn Mardawayh narrates from Ibn ʿAbbās about this verse: “The guardians transcribe whatever the children of Adam do from the Mother Book, so a person only does whatever the angel copies from the Mother Book.”
- Ibn Ṭāwūs says in Saʿd al-Suʿūd, after mentioning the two angels charged with God’s servant: There is a narration that says:
When [the two angels] want to descend in the morning and the evening, Raphael (Isrāfīl) copies for them the servant’s deeds from the Guarded Tablet and gives these to them. And when they ascend in the morning and the evening with the servant’s records (dīwān), Raphael receives it from them along with the copy he had made for them. This is done in order that it be apparent that the copy and the records are alike.
- About the verse To Him belongs all supremacy in the heavens and the earth… Majmaʿ al-Bayān relates the tradition:
God says: “Supremacy is my cloak, magnificence is my robe—so whoever contends with Me in either of these, I shall throw him into the fires of hell.”
Author’s comments: This is also narrated in al-Durr al-Manthūr from Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, Ibn Mājah, and others from Abū Hurayrah from the Prophet.