وَوُضِعَ الكِتابُ فَتَرَى المُجرِمينَ مُشفِقينَ مِمّا فيهِ وَيَقولونَ يا وَيلَتَنا مالِ هٰذَا الكِتابِ لا يُغادِرُ صَغيرَةً وَلا كَبيرَةً إِلّا أَحصاها ۚ وَوَجَدوا ما عَمِلوا حاضِرًا ۗ وَلا يَظلِمُ رَبُّكَ أَحَدًا
The book will be set up. Then you will see the guilty apprehensive of what is in it. They will say: ‘Woe to us! What is with this book! It omits nothing, big or small, without enumerating it.’ They will find present whatever they had done, and your Lord does not wrong anyone.
EXEGESIS
Mujrimīn (guilty) comes from jurm which originally means to cut off fruit from a tree. It intends the one who ‘cuts off without right’, hence it refers to a criminal. Jurm is also used to refer to sin (dhanb), as the one who sins is cutting themselves off from God.
Mushfiqīn (apprehensive) is from ishfāq which originally has the meaning of delicacy, fragility, and softness of the heart. Shafaq is the delicate redness that appears in the twilight, and the shafaqah of a person for their child is their delicate nature and behaviour towards them. Ishfāq is fearing that evil may befall a person, whilst still granting the possibility that it may not occur.
Yughādir (omits) from mughādarah was explained in verse 47, and means to leave behind.
Aḥṣā (enumerating) originates from the word ḥaṣā meaning pebbles. Rāghib says because pebbles were used for counting, like fingers, the word calculate comes from that root. Here it has the meaning of keeping account of everything they have done.
EXPOSITION
After people have drawn up in ranks to be readied for accounting they are presented with an account of their own actions. A part of that process is described in this verse.
The book will be set up: many exegetes have understood The book to have general purport (ism jins), referring to books in general, meaning all the books of deeds of all people will be set up on that day. Setting up should in this case refer to the books being placed in people’s right or left hands, or opened for inspection, When the books are laid open (81:10), or perhaps being placed on the scales for accounting, We shall set up the scales of justice on the Day of Resurrection (21:47).
However, it is possible that it is referring to another type of book. When examining the Quranic descriptions of the Day of Accounting – like this verse in question – we find that it refers to more than just the book of deeds. Yes, there is the well-known book of deeds given to every person: 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 (17:13), but other verses speak of other books. We read that Every nation will be summoned to its book … ‘This is Our book, which speaks truly against you’ (45:28-29).
It may then be that in addition to the individual books of deeds there are collective ones, such as a book in which all the deeds of the guilty are written and compiled, placed in view of everyone. This would then be very shameful for them and this humiliation is a part of their punishment. No indeed! The record of the vicious is indeed in sijjīn. And what will show you what is sijjīn? It is a written record (83:7-9).
In total, according to this view, there would be three types of books: one for all mankind, another for each nation, and another for each individual. In any case, book should not be understood here literally as writing on a paper bound together between covers, but rather a record of their actions that somehow becomes visible and manifest.
Then you will see the guilty apprehensive of what is in it: we may note once more the combination of personal and impersonal descriptions. As we said previously, the reader is like an observer in these scenes. He witnesses The book being set up, but instead of being told what is in The book, we are only told you will see the guilty and that they are apprehensive. As if the observer is not able to make out what is in The book, but only can see the expressions of the readers. The book, mysterious as it is, has its mystery emphasised by the fact that we know not its name, or its function (that is revealed shortly). It is simply The book. Despite that, the expression of those the observer knows to be amongst the guilty tells him what he needs to know.
These verses also beautifully contrast the group and the individual. Previously we read how all of mankind, in their billions and billions if not more, moves as one body to be gathered for the Day of Judgement. Yet amongst that throng of people each is worried with their own self. A complete focus on the individual, That day each of them will have a task to keep him preoccupied (80:37). The usage of the singular book instead of books is used in this verse to deliver that image of juxtaposition. All the guilty will peer inside it, yet each will be preoccupied with themselves.
Woe to us: yā waylatanā is a common expression in Arabic used when one is distressed. The term wayl literally means destruction. It conveys the utter desperation of the guilty.
What is with this book: this statement is quite telling of the attitude of the guilty. Like the owner of the two gardens that was exemplified earlier in the surah, their pride makes them unwilling and reluctant to admit any mistakes in themselves. This is so engrained in their nature that even in the severity of the Day of Judgement they will not be able to help themselves. Their initial reaction on seeing their own deeds enumerated is to express dismay at The book and not themselves or their actions. This is the type of person who always seeks to blame others for their failures, refusing to take responsibility for their own misdeeds.
It omits nothing, big or small, without enumerating it: it records every single deed, no matter how small and insignificant and short-lived; recorded in full, no matter how complex its nature or far-reaching its consequences. It may have been something done in private, in a passing moment; or it may have been something long plotted and planned, carried out over years, with effects echoing through generations.
The fact that nothing is omitted is telling of the difficulty of the accounting that they must face, whereby nothing is forgiven and every sin must be answered for. This is quite unlike the mercy that is given to the believers, who receive an easy reckoning (84:8).
They will find present whatever they had done: the word present can be understood in different ways. The apparent meaning of the statement and context may be that their actions are written and recorded in The book, like in the verse, This is Our book, which speaks truly against you. Indeed, We used to record what you used to do (45:29).
However, the word present also suggests that perhaps their actions are more directly manifested. It could mean that they see the reward or punishment of their actions on the Day of Judgement, that is they may witness heaven or hell. It has even been proposed that the action may manifest itself in some form compatible to that realm, so that they may be recompensed with it, and that this is why the following statement declares that no one will be wronged, because the punishment is simply the return of the actions to their perpetrators. For more on this concept see the commentary on verse 3:30.
This placing of the books and the presentation of their contents is followed by the bringing of other witnesses and then the accounting and passing of final judgement: and the book will be set up, and the prophets and the martyrs will be brought, and judgement will be made between them with justice (39:69).
And your Lord does not wrong anyone: the guilty will not bemoan that they are being wronged; what causes them to wail is being faced by their own actions. Importantly, God does not punish anyone beyond what they deserve, nor fail to reward anyone who deserves a reward, nor is anyone punished for the sins of others.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- From Muʿādh ibn Jabal, that the Prophet said: ‘A person will not take a step on the Day of Judgement until they are asked about four things: about their body, how they used it; their life, how they exhausted it; their wealth, how they gained it and in what they spent it; and their knowledge, how they acted upon it.’
- From Khālid ibn Najīḥ, that Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘On the Day of Judgement a person will be given his book and he will be told: “Read it.”’ I asked him: ‘Will he know what is in it?’ He replied: ‘He will remember it. There is not a moment and not a word and not a slightest step, nor anything that he has done, except that he will remember it as if he had done it at that moment. This is why they will say Woe to us! What is with this book! It omits nothing, big or small, without enumerating it.’
- It has been reported from Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) that when the Prophet was coming back from the Battle of Ḥunayn, they stopped at a barren desert. He then ordered his companions to go and bring firewood. They replied: ‘O Messenger of God, we are in a barren land, there is no firewood here.’ He told them: ‘Each person should bring what he can.’ They collected it and placed it in front of him, in a pile that could make a great fire. He then declared: ‘This is how sins gather up! Beware of the small sins.’
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Ṭabrisī uses the statement and your Lord does not wrong anyone as proof that He does not punish children, since if He does not punish the wrongdoers beyond what they deserve, He would not punish a child who has done no wrong.
Regarding big or small it has been reported from Ibn Abbas that small means laughter, or smiling, and big means guffaw. Laughing here should be referring to laughing at people, which can be a sin. In a similar vein, it is reported from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr that small is a lapse, and a scratch, and a kiss, and a passing touch, whilst big is adultery. Perhaps he means the small sins are those which lead to the major sins. So the major sin of adultery might start from something as small as a glance or a flirtatious word.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time until the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will reveal the purposes of the hearts. Then everyone will have commendation from God.
- And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
- For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
[1] Raghib, p. 192; Lisan, 12/90.
[2] Ayn, 6/119; Lisan, 12/91; Tahqiq, 2/75, j-r-m.
[3] Tibyan, 7/54-55; Tabrisi, 6/730.
[4] Lisan, 14/183.
[5] Raghib, p. 240.
[6] Tabrisi, 6/732; Zamakhshari, 2/726. See also Tibyan, 7/54; Tabari, 15/168; Thalabi, 6/175; Baghawi, 3/197; Razi, 21/470.
[7] Alusi, 8/275.
[8] See also verse 55:7.
[9] See the commentary on that verse for the varying opinions regarding it.
[10] Mizan, 13/324.
[11] Alusi, 8/275, who also says he has not however found any narration pointing to such a conclusion. Albeit he adds that Ghazālī has claimed with certainty that this will happen, and concludes that Ghazālī must have come across a narration pointing towards such a conclusion, as otherwise one would not be able to reach such a conclusion.
[12] See also something similar reported from Qatādah in Suyuti, 4/226.
[13] Tabari, 15/168; Razi, 45/29.
[14] Tibyan, 7/55.
[15] Mizan, 13/325; Nemuneh, 13/453.
[16] Tabari, 15/168.
[17] Tabrisi, 6/733; Baghawi, 3/197.
[18] Ibn Abī Shaybah al-Kūfī, al-Muṣannaf (Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1989), 8/185; Razi, 21/471.
[19] Ayyashi, 2/328; Nur, 3/267.
[20] Kafi, 2/288. See also Tabari, 15/168; Thalabi, 6/175; Suyuti, 4/226. Tabarani, 9/158, attributes this to Ibn Masʿūd and not the Prophet.
[21] Tabrisi, 6/733.
[22] Tabari, 15/168.
[23] Thalabi, 6/175; Zamakhshari, 2/726; Baghawi, 3/197.
[24] Alusi, 8/275-276.
[25] Tabari, 6/175; Zamakhshari, 2/726; Baghawi, 3/197.
[26] 1 Corinthians 4:5.
[27] Revelation 20:12.
[28] Ecclesiastes 12:14.