Transliteration:( Maa yalfizu min qawlin illaa ladaihi raqeebun 'ateed )
31 Who will record every word that the utters? Good words are recorded by the one on the right and evil words by the one on the left. Only words uttered during the state of relieving oneself are not recorded, as at that point in time both angels separate from him. It is for this reason that talking during this time is forbidden so it would not be necessary to inconvenience these angels to be with the person at that time.
These angels record even the groaning of the ill person. The angel recording pious deeds writes ten for every one good deed, while the one recording evil, writes one for every evil deed. If a servant of Al Almighty repents or seeks forgiveness, angels get engrossed. The Sufi sages say that the angels do not record love and lust because here, the discussion is regarding speech. After the death of the person, both the angels remain by his graveside engaged reciting the glorification of Allah Almighty until the Day of Judgement, the reward which is given to that person.
The tafsir of Surah Qaf verse 18 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Qaf ayat 16 which provides the complete commentary from verse 16 through 22.
21. That is, on the one hand, We directly know man’s actions and movements, even his hidden thoughts; on the other hand, every man has two angels appointed over him, who are recording whatever he does and says; none of his actions or words is left unrecorded. This means that when man is produced in the court of Allah, Allah at that time Himself will also be knowing what each person has done in the world. Besides, there will also be two witnesses who will produce documentary evidence of the person’s actions and deeds. As to what will be the nature of this documentary evidence, it is difficult for us to have a precise concept of it. But from the facts that we are witnessing today, it seems certain that the voices and pictures and marks of man’s actions and movements are being preserved and imprinted on every particle of the environment in which he lives and works, and each one of these can be reproduced in exactly the same form and voice so as to leave no difference whatsoever between the original and its copy. Man is doing this on a very limited scale with the help of his inventions, but the angels of God neither stand in need of these machines nor are bound by any limitation. Man’s own body and everything around it is their tape and their film upon which they can record every voice and every image along with its minutest and most delicate detail precisely and exactly, and can make man hear, on the Day of Resurrection, with his own ears, in his own voice, those very things which he talked in the world, and can make him see, with his own eyes, the pictures of all his misdeeds, whose genuineness he would not possibly be able to deny.
Here, one should also understand that in the court of the Hereafter, Allah will not punish anybody only on the basis of His own knowledge, but will punish him after fulfilling all the requirements of justice. That is why an exhaustive record is being prepared of every person’s words and deeds in the world so that a complete proof with undeniable evidence becomes available of everyone’s life work and activity.
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