And when he mentioned that which he indicated by it regarding the preservation of the Qur'an from distortion and the preservation of man, he mentioned his answer in the preservation of the souls that He made capable of preserving the Qur'an in the hearts. He indicated the preservation of that which He created for its sake from these things by which He swore to preserve man. For if they are preserved from the slightest deviation and they are created to manage his interests, then what is the assumption regarding him? So he said, affirming to the utmost [degree of affirmation] what the disbelievers have in denying that and casting doubt [upon it]: "Indeed, every soul" means from the souls absolutely, especially the souls of people, "has upon it" specifically regarding it, with no partner to it in its essence, "a guardian" meaning a vigilant observer who does not part from it. The intended meaning is the kind of angels; some of them are for preserving it from calamities, some for preserving it from whispers, some for preserving its deeds and recording them in writing, and some for preserving what has been written for it of sustenance, lifespan, misery or happiness, movement, marriage, travel, and residence. Nothing from that exceeds; we have divided our measure. If you say: "The guardian is the angels," you are correct. And if you say: "It is Allah," you are correct, for He is the one who commands them and decrees the preservation. And the guardian [for them] from weakness and deviation, He is the true guardian. The 'lam' in this reading is the differentiator between the softened and the negating. And "what" is confirmed by the negation of [the beginning of] that which the sentence has established. "And a guardian" is the news of "Indeed," and it is permissible for the circumstance to be the news, and "a guardian" is elevated by it. Ibn 'Amir, 'Asim, and Hamzah read with the emphasis on "Indeed" as it means "except" and "Indeed" is negating in the sense of "what," and the exception from it is "every soul" and the news of the negation is omitted, its estimation being: existing or present [or something similar]. And the exception "soul" is described by "upon it is a guardian" and it is possible that it is a state, so its place is permissible [to be elevated]. The raising is by being the news of the negation [in] this empty exception among the Banu Tamim, and the accusative is that it is the news among others, or a state from "soul," because it is general. The estimation is: "Every soul that exists except a soul that has upon it a guardian." The relationship between the meanings of the two readings is that the emphasized is more specific because it is always absolute, and the softened is absolute general. And do not think that the emphasized is not equal to the softened, much less that it is more specific, for the particle of negation has entered upon "every" and it is from the realms of partial negation as has been established in its place. Thus it resolves to that some souls have only upon them a guardian [and it was not thought that] because it resolves to what is in it from the restriction that includes negation and affirmation into two sentences, one of them affirming [the preservation] for the described soul and the other negating its opposite from it, because it is from the restriction of the described to the attribute. And the opposite of the universal affirmative is the partial negative, meaning not every soul has a guardian [and the partial negative is more general than the universal negative. So if you negate it, you say: not every soul has a guardian -] it is the negation of the partial negation. And if the partial negation negates the universal [negation], for what has become clear is that it is lighter. And if the more general is negated, the more specific is negated, so there is nothing from the souls that does not have a guardian upon it. Thus, the speech resolves to: there is no soul (that exists) except a soul that has a guardian upon it. And although the wording of "not every" is from the realms of the partial for what has passed, the verse in the reading of the emphasis becomes composed of an absolute general, which is "every soul has a guardian" by action. And whoever negates its opposite, which is the permanent [absolute] that is "always not every soul has a guardian" and raises it by saying: "It is not always that not every soul has a guardian," [meaning it is not always that every soul does not have a guardian, and this is in the manner of restriction and restricting the described to the attribute, its meaning is that the described does not exceed its attribute to which it is restricted. The least of matters is that it does not exceed to the absence of preservation, and that is the meaning of the permanent absolute, which is the judgment of the establishment of the predicate for the subject as long as the essence of the subject is present. And it is in the reading of the softening an absolute general, meaning it is judged in it by the establishment of the predicate for the subject by action, which is the first part of what the reading of the emphasis has resolved to. So the understanding of the verse in the reading of the emphasis is more specific than in the reading of the softening, because every permanent is existing by action, and it does not reflect - this if we consider the essence of the meaning from the wording without regard to the external indication. And as for regarding the essence of the matter, the direction is permanence, so there is no difference, except that it was indicated by the wording in the reading of the emphasis without the reading of the softening, and Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

And Imam Abu Ja'far ibn al-Zubair, may Allah be pleased with him, said: When Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said in Surah al-Burooj, "And Allah is Witness over all things" [al-Burooj: 9] and "And Allah is Surrounding them" [al-Burooj: 20], this was to inform the servants that He, glorified and exalted is He, does not miss anything nor does anything escape Him, and no one who flees can escape Him. He followed this with a detailed explanation that increases the clarity of this general definition of His witnessing, glorified and exalted is He, over all things and His encompassing of them. He said, glorified and exalted is He, "Indeed, every soul has a guardian over it" [Qaf: 18], thus informing that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, is aware of every soul and who preserves its breaths. The servant should know that he is neither neglected nor lost. And He, glorified and exalted is He, is independent of the records of the guardians and their counting, and the testimony of witnesses from the limbs and others. This is only to manifest His justice, glorified and exalted is He, "Indeed, Allah does not do injustice, even to the weight of a mustard seed" [an-Nisa: 40] nor less than that. However, this is His Sunnah so that no one has an excuse or a claim left. And He, glorified and exalted is He, swore by that for affirmation and emphasis that is suitable for the mentioned intention - ended.