except Allah. (1)
“On that Day you will be brought forth for judgment; no secret of yours will remain hidden. As for whoever is given his record in his right hand, he will say, ‘Here—read my record! I was certain that I would face my reckoning.’ So he will be in a life of contentment, in an elevated Garden, with its fruits within reach.” (18–23)
“On that Day you will be brought forth for judgment”—before Allah—“no secret of yours will remain hidden.” Hamzah and al-Kisa’i recited it with the masculine third-person prefix, while the others recited it with the feminine prefix. “No secret of yours”: that is, no hidden deed. Al-Kalbi said: Nothing of you is hidden from Allah.
Abu Musa said: People will be brought forth three times. The first two presentations will involve disputation and excuses; at the third presentation, the scrolls will fly forth, and one person will take his record in his right hand while another takes his in his left. (2) This is the meaning of His saying, glorified and exalted is He: “As for whoever is given his record in his right hand, he will say, ‘Here—read my record!’” That is: Come and read my record. The final h-sound in the word rendered “my record” is the hā’ of pausal recitation.
“I was certain”: that is, I knew and was convinced “that I would face my reckoning”—meaning, that I would be called to account in the Hereafter. (3)
“So he will be in a life”: that is, a state of living “that is pleasing,” meaning, a life with which he is pleased, having attained the reward and been safe from punishment. This is like His saying, “gushing fluid” (al-Tariq, 86:6). “In an elevated Garden”: lofty. “With its fruits within reach”: its fruits are near to whoever wishes to take them; in every state, he can reach them, (4) whether standing, sitting, or reclining, and they pluck them as they wish. And they will be told: