Al-Kahf (The Cave)

49. “And the Book (of deeds) is placed, and you see the guilty fearful at what is in it, and saying: ‘Alas for us! What a Book is this, that it leaves out nothing, small or great, but it has numbered it?’ And they will find all that they did confronting them; and your Lord does not treat anyone with injustice.”

Imam Sadiq (as) said:

“On the Day of Hereafter, when the man’s record of deeds will be given to him, he looks at it and sees that all his moments, words, movements and deeds are recorded in it; then he remembers them wholly such that as if he has done them just one hour before.”1

Therefore, the holy verse implies that on Hereafter, there is the Book of deeds of all human beings which will be placed before them. When the sinners are informed of its content, they will be so frightened that the signs of fear will clearly be seen in their faces.

The verse says:

“And the Book (of deeds) is placed, and you see the guilty fearful at what is in it…”

At this moment, the guilty will astonishingly cry loudly for what they see, and, as the verse states:

“…and saying: ‘Alas for us! What a Book is this, that it leaves out nothing, small or great, but it has numbered it?’…”

They will say that it is a Book that every thing has been minutely recorded and reckoned in it so that nothing has been left out.

Verily, what a terrible circumstance it is! They say that they have forgotten all those deeds of theirs in a manner that sometimes they thought they had committed no wrong, but today they see that their responsibility is heavier than what they considered and their fate is very dark.

Besides that recorded document, principally they will see all their deeds present before them. They will find the embodiment of their all good and evil actions, injustices and justices, vices and treacheries, all in all, in front of them.

The verse continues saying:

“…And they will find all that they did confronting them…”

In fact, they are entangled with the fruit of their own actions and the Lord is just to every one. Whatever they will be involved in Hereafter is the deeds they have done in this world. Thus, whom can they complain of, save of themselves?

The verse concludes:

“…and your Lord does not treat anyone with injustice.”

At the end, it is understood from the verses of the Qur’an that there will be three kinds of Book for human beings in the Hereafter. The first is a single Book which will be placed there for the reckoning of the deeds of all.

The second is the Book that every community has, in which the deeds of every community are recorded, as it is recited in Surah Al-Jathiyah, No.45, verse 28:

“…every nation shall be called to its book…”

The third is the Book which exists forevery person separately, as Surah Al-’Isra’, No.17, verse 13 says:

“And We have made every man’s actions to cling to his neck, and We will bring forth to him on the Resurrection Day a book which will be found wide open.”

It is evident that there is no inconsistency between the content of these verses, because it does not matter that the man’s deeds may be recorded in different books.

The similar form of it can also be seen in programs of the present world where, for proper systematizing organizations of a country, there will be formed a regulation and calculation forevery unit, and then those units will have a new situation in the greater units.

But, this fact should be noted that the men’s book of deeds in Hereafter is not like the ordinary notebook or book in this world. It is an expressive and undeniable collection, which, perhaps, is the natural consequence of the man’s deeds themselves.

However, the verses under discussion indicate that, besides the man’s deeds being recorded in a special book, the deeds themselves will also incarnate and attend there,¹ as the verse points out:

(…And they will find all that they confronting them…).

The deeds which have disappeared in the form of scattered energy from the sights in this world, in fact, have not been annihilated. (The modern science has proved that no material and energy will vanish, but it always changes into another form.)

On That Day, these energies, which have been lost, will be changed into matter, by the command of Allah, and will incarnate in some suitable shapes. The righteous deeds will appear in some beautiful and interesting forms, while the evil actions will appear in some ugly and hateful features, and they will remain with us.

It is for this reason that, at the end of the verse, the Qur’an says:

“…and your Lord does not treat anyone with injustice”,

because the rewards and the retributions are the fruit of the deeds of themselves.

Some of commentators, of course, have considered the holy phrase:

“…and they will find all that they did confronting them”

as an emphasis on the subject of ‘the Book (of deeds)’. They have said that the meaning of the sentence is that they will find all their own deeds present and recorded in that Book.²

However, in the commentary of ‘Ayyashi, under the holy verse:

“…Alas for us! What a Book is this, that it leaves out nothing, small or great, but it has numbered it?’ And they will find all that they did confronting them; and your Lord does not treat anyone with injustice.”

There is a tradition narrated from Khalid-ibn-Najib who has narrated from Imam Sadiq (as) who said:

“When the Day of Justice occurs, the man’s book will be given to him and he will be ordered to read it.”

Khalid says that he asked Imam (as):

“Will he recognize what he reads?”

Imam (as) answered:

“He will remember all. There will be no moment, no glance, no word, no step, and no other actions that he has fulfilled but he will remember entirely by reading that book, in a manner as if he has performed it at that very moment. Therefore, he will say: ‘Alas for us! What a Book is this, that it leaves out nothing, small or great, but it has numbered it?’”4

Some Traditions

1. Amir-ul-Mu’mineen Ali (as) said:

“…What will then be your position when your affairs reach their end and graves are turned upside down (to throw out the deed)? There shall every soul realize what it has sent before, and they shall be brought back to Allah, their true Lord, and what they did fabricate (the false deities) will vanish (away) from them.”5

2. Ali-ibn-Abitalib (as) said:

“Did you not see those who engaged in long-reaching desires, built strong buildings, amassed much wealth but their houses turned to graves and their collections turned into ruin? Their property devolved on the successors and their spouses on those who came after them.

They cannot (now) add to their good acts nor invoke (Allah’s) mercy in respect to evil acts. Therefore, whoever makes his heart habituated to fear Allah achieves a forward position and his action is successful.”³