of the messengers and enabled them to bear patiently with their peoples, they would not have endured this ordeal. Moreover, their peoples who denied them did not stop there. Rather, they harmed them physically, just as they inflicted immense harm upon the Messenger—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him. They even took up arms against them. Anyone whose conduct is such will be recompensed with Hell—a fitting recompense corresponding precisely to his deeds—as stated in this noble verse:
“A fitting recompense. Indeed, they did not expect a reckoning and utterly denied Our signs.”
Regarding the words of Allah Most High, “And We have recorded everything in writing,” “everything” includes all that Allah, Glorified and Exalted, does in creating and governing the universe. It also includes all the words and deeds of His servants, and everything great and small. “We have recorded” means that We have precisely enumerated it, without any discrepancy.
“In writing” means that We wrote it down. It is established in an authentic hadith that Allah Most High wrote the decrees of everything until the Hour is established, (1) and this includes the deeds of the children of Adam, for they too are written down. Indeed, every word is recorded. Allah Most High says:
“There is no word he utters without a vigilant watcher ready to record it” [Qāf: 18].
“A vigilant watcher” means one who watches, while “ready” means present. A man once entered upon Imam Ahmad—may Allah have mercy on him—while he was ill and moaning from his sickness. The man said to him, “Abū Abd Allah, Tāwūs—one of the renowned Followers—says that a sick person’s moaning is recorded.” Imam Ahmad—may Allah have mercy on him—then stopped moaning, fearing that the moaning caused by his illness might be recorded against him.
What, then, of limitless and unrestrained speech—words pouring forth throughout the night and day without any thought being given to them? Everything is recorded. Even an intention is recorded, either in one’s favor or against one. If someone intends an evil deed but does not commit it only because he is incapable of doing so, it is recorded against him. But if he intends it and then abandons it for Allah’s sake, it is recorded in his favor, (2) so nothing is lost: “And We have recorded everything in writing.”