His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And We made the night and the day two signs. So We erased the sign of the night and made the sign of the day seeing, so that you may seek bounty from your Lord and so that you may know the number of years and the calculation. And everything We have detailed distinctly." "And every person We have bound his fate to his neck, and We will bring forth for him on the Day of Resurrection a book which he will encounter spread open." "Read your book. Sufficient is your soul against you this Day as a reckoner."

"The sign": is the established mark for observation and reflection. And His saying, exalted is He: "So We erased," a group said regarding it: the reason for the conjunction is that Allah, exalted is He, created the sun and the moon as luminous. Then after that, the moon was erased; it was erased by Gabriel with his wings three times. From there, it is his task and his being luminous only. And a group said - and this is the apparent view - that His saying, exalted is He: "So We erased" means: in the original of its creation. This is like you say: "I built my house, so I began with the foundation then continued." So you do not intend by the conjunction to indicate succession. The apparent wording of the verse necessitates four signs, especially for one who built on the idea that the moon is the erased one, and the sun is the seeing one. However, if the erased is considered in the darkness of the night and the seeing in the light of the day, it is possible that the verse includes only two signs, provided that there is a reference to the addition of the thing to itself. And His saying, exalted is He: "seeing" is like your saying: "a night of sleeping and standing," meaning: one sleeps in it and one stands in it. Likewise: "a seeing sign," meaning: one sees in it and with it.

And Al-Tabari narrated from some of the Kufans that he said: Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "Ask about whatever you wish." So Ibn al-Kawwā asked: "What is the blackness that is in the moon?" Ali said to him: "May Allah fight you! Why did you not ask about the matter of your religion and your Hereafter? That is the erasure of the night."

And Allah, exalted is He, made the day seeing so that people may seek sustenance and the bounty of Allah, and made the moon contrary to the state of the sun so that the number of years and the calculation of the months and days may be known. And the knowledge of that in the Sharia is only from the aspect of the moon, not from the aspect of the sun.

And His saying, exalted is He: "everything" is in the accusative case due to an implied action indicated by the apparent meaning, its estimation being: "And We detailed everything distinctly." And it was said: "And every" is an addition to "and the calculation," so it is a complement to "so that you may know." And "the detailing" is the clarification that the details of what is between the things are mentioned and the causes are removed until the truth is distinguished from the incidental doubts in it.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And every human We have imposed his bird upon his neck". The word "every" is in the accusative case due to an implied verb. Al-Hasan, Abu Rija' and Ibn Mujahid read "his bird upon his neck". Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "his bird" refers to what has been decreed for him and against him. Allah, blessed and exalted is He, addressed the Arabs in this verse with what they know. This is because it was their custom to seek good omens and to be pessimistic with birds, whether they were present or absent. This practice became so common that they even did it with deer and wild animals, calling all of this divination. They believed that such omens determined what a person would encounter of good or evil. So Allah, exalted is He, informed them in this verse, in the briefest wording and most eloquent indication, that all that a person encounters of good or evil has already been decreed, and his share, his actions, and his earnings are imposed upon his neck. This is in His saying, exalted and majestic: "And every human We have imposed his bird upon his neck". Thus, he expressed the share and the action—since they are interconnected—by the bird, as Mujahid and Qatadah said, according to the belief of the Arabs in divination. Their sayings in matters include: "on the auspicious bird" and "with the happiest bird", and from it what flew in the argument and the arrow, as in the words of Umm al-'Ula al-Ansariyyah: "So a bird flew for us from those who came with the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, in the migration, 'Uthman ibn Maz'un'", meaning: that was our share. The origin of all this is from the birds that they believed determined the encounter of good and evil, which was invalidated by the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "There is no contagion and no divination".

And His saying, exalted is He: "upon his neck" also follows the Arabic custom of attributing what is obligatory, a necklace, and a trust to the neck, as in their saying: "My blood is upon so-and-so's neck" and as the poet al-A'sha said:

I adorned you with poetry, O Salama, of this favor, and the thing is wherever it was made.

And this is common. Similarly, they attribute what is earned, a crime, and sin to the hand; for it is the origin of earning.

And Abu Ja'far, Nafi' and the people read: "And We will bring out" with the pronoun of greatness, "a book" in the accusative case. Al-Hasan, Mujahid, and Ibn Muhaysin read: "He will bring out" with the opening of the 'ya' and the 'ra' in the future tense, "a book", meaning: his bird, which he referred to by his action, will bring out for him this book. Al-Hasan read—among these—"a book" in the nominative case. Abu Ja'far also read: "And it will be brought out" with the 'ya' being pronounced and the 'ra' opened—on what has not been named its doer. "A book", meaning: his bird. He also read: "a book", and a group read: "And He will bring out" with the 'ya' being pronounced and the 'ra' being broken, meaning: Allah will bring out. In the Mushaf of Ubayy ibn Ka'b, it says: "upon his neck he will read it on the Day of Resurrection, a book that he will encounter spread out". This book is the work of the human and his sins.

And the majority read: "he will encounter it" with the opening of the 'ya' and the stillness of the 'lam' and the lightness of the 'qaf'. Ibn 'Amir alone read: "he will be met" with the 'ya' being pronounced and the 'lam' opened and the 'qaf' emphasized, which is the reading of Al-Hasan in contrast to Abu Ja'far al-Jahdari.

And His saying: ﴿Read your book﴾ has omitted from the speech "it will be said to him" for brevity, as the apparent meaning indicates it. And "the Hasib": the one who accounts, and its accusative is for distinction. Al-Tabari reported from Al-Hasan that he said: "O son of Adam, a scroll has been spread out for you, and two noble angels have been assigned to you. One of them is on your right writing your good deeds, and the other is on your left preserving your bad deeds. So own what you wish, or lessen or increase, until when you die, your scroll will be folded and placed around your neck with you in your grave, until it comes out on the Day of Resurrection as a book that you will find spread out. Read your book; it is enough for you today as an accountant against yourself. By Allah, He has made the one who made you an accountant of yourself just."

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

So based on these words that Al-Hasan mentioned, the bird will be what is obtained with Adam from his deeds in his grave. So reflect on his wording, and this is the saying of Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both. And Qatadah said regarding His saying, the Most High: ﴿Read your book﴾: Indeed, he will read on that day who did not use to read.