“And Our command is but one, like the twinkling of an eye. And We have already destroyed your like; so is there any who will take heed? Everything they did is recorded in the books, and every small and great thing is inscribed.”

“Indeed, Our command is but one, like the twinkling of an eye.” “One” refers to the meaning rather than the grammatical form; that is, Our command is but a single occurrence.

It is also said that its meaning is: When We will to bring something into being, Our command is but a single word: “Be,” and it comes to be—without reconsideration—like the twinkling of an eye. Ata’ narrated from Ibn Abbas: He means that My decree concerning My creation is swifter than the twinkling of an eye. Al-Kalbi narrated from him: Our command for the coming of the Hour, in its swiftness, is but like the blink of an eye.

“And We have already destroyed your like”: those resembling you and comparable to you in disbelief, from the former nations.

“So is there any who will take heed?” That is, anyone who will take admonition, recognize that this is true, and thus fear and reflect.

“Everything they did”: that is, whatever those like them did, of good and evil, “is recorded in the books”—in the records of the recording angels. It is also said: in the Preserved Tablet.

“And every small and great thing,” among created beings, their deeds, and their appointed terms, “is inscribed”: that is, written. One says: “I inscribed...”