(79–80) “Or have they firmly devised a plan? Then We too are devising. Or do they think that We do not hear their secrets and private counsels? Yes indeed! Our messengers are with them, recording everything.”

Allah says: Have those who deny the truth and stubbornly oppose it firmly devised “a plan”? That is, they plotted against the truth and against the one who brought it, seeking to defeat it with the embellished and adorned falsehood they deceptively presented. “Then We too are devising.” That is, We are firmly determining a plan and arranging measures that prevail over theirs, undo them, and render them futile. This consists of the means and proofs Allah has provided to establish the truth and invalidate falsehood. As Allah Most High says: “Rather, We hurl the truth against falsehood, and it crushes it.”

“Or do they think,” in their ignorance and wrongdoing, “that We do not hear their secrets”—which they have not spoken aloud but conceal within their hearts—“and their private counsels,” meaning the hushed words they exchange among themselves? Is this why they dared to commit sins, imagining that they would bear no consequences and receive no recompense for what they kept hidden?

Allah refutes them by saying: “Yes indeed!” That is, We know their secrets and private counsels, “and Our messengers”—the noble angels—“are with them, recording” everything they do. It will all be preserved against them until they come to the Day of Resurrection, when they will find everything they did present before them. Your Lord wrongs no one.