His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And certainly We created man, and We know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than his jugular vein." "When the two receivers receive, sitting on the right and on the left." "He does not utter a word except that with him is a watcher, ready." "And the stupor of death comes with the truth; that is what you were trying to avoid." "And the trumpet will be blown; that is the Day of Warning." "And every soul will come with it a driver and a witness." These are verses in which there is the establishment of proof against the disbelievers in their denial of resurrection and recompense. And "creation" is the bringing into existence of something according to a predetermined arrangement and legislative order. And "man" is the name of the species. Some of the interpreters said: man here refers to Adam, peace be upon him. And "whispers" means: it talks within its thoughts. The sound of jewelry is called 'whispering' due to its subtlety. And 'whispering' is only used in matters that are not good. And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And We are closer to him than his jugular vein" is an expression of Allah's power over the servant. The servant is in the grip of power and knowledge, he has been encompassed. So, the closeness is by power and authority; for nothing hidden or apparent is concealed from the knowledge of Allah, blessed and exalted is He. And every close thing among the bodies has a barrier between it and the heart of man. And "the jugular vein" is a large vein in the neck. It is said that there are two jugular veins, one on the right and one on the left. Al-Farra' said: it is what is between the throat and the collarbones. Al-Hasan said: the jugular vein is the 'watīn'. Al-Ashram said: it is the river of the body; it is in the heart the 'watīn', and in the back the 'abhar', and in the arm and thigh: the 'akhal' and 'nasa', and in the little finger: the 'usailim'. And "the vein" is a common name, specified by its addition to the jugular vein. And this is not an addition of something to itself, but it is like the addition of the genus to its type, as you say: the living bird is not permissible with its flesh. As for His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "When the two receivers receive," the interpreters said: the operative in "when" is "closer". It is possible in my view that the operative in it is an implied action, the meaning of which is: remember when the two receivers receive. This meaning is good because He informed of a mere report about creation, and the knowledge of the thoughts of souls, and the closeness by power and ownership. So when the report was completed, He informed by mentioning the states that confirm this report and clarify its occurrence for the listener. Among them is: "When the two receivers receive," and among them is the coming of the stupor of death, and among them is the blowing of the trumpet, and among them is the coming of every soul. And "the two receivers" are the two angels assigned to every person, the angel on the right who writes the good deeds, and the angel on the left who writes the bad deeds. Al-Hasan said: the guardians are four: two by day and two by night. Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

This is supported by the hadith: "Angels alternate among you, some by night and some by day..." the hadith in its entirety. It is narrated that the angel of the right is a commander over the angel of the left. When a servant sins, the angel of the right says to the other: 'Record it, perhaps he will repent.' This was narrated by Ibrahim al-Taymi and Sufyan al-Thawri. The term 'qa'id' means 'one who sits.' Some say it is akin to 'akil' meaning 'places of sitting.' The Kufans said he meant 'sitting places,' thus the singular is made to denote the general. The first is more accurate because the places of sitting are only at the sitting of a person, and the one who sits can be sitting in all forms of a person. Mujahid said: 'Qa'id' means 'watcher.' Sibawayh's view is that the meaning is: 'a qa'id on the right and a qa'id on the left,' so he suffices with mentioning the latter without mentioning the former. Similar to this is the saying of al-Farazdaq:

"Indeed, I guaranteed for whoever came to me what he earned, and my father was so, and I was not treacherous."

These examples are numerous. Al-Mubarrad's view is that the meaning is: 'a qa'id on the right and a qa'id on the left,' so he places 'qa'id' at the end of its place. Al-Farra's view is that the term 'qa'id' indicates both the dual and the plural, thus there is no need for any interpretation beyond the apparent.

And His saying, the Most High: "He does not utter a word"; al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan and Qatadah said: 'The two angels write down the speech, and Allah establishes from that the good deeds and the bad deeds and erases other than that.' This is the apparent meaning of the verse. Abu al-Jawza and Mujahid said: 'They write down everything about him, even his groaning in his illness.' And Ikrimah said: 'The meaning is: He does not utter a word of good or evil, and as for what is outside of this, it is not written.' The first is more accurate. It is narrated that a man said to his camel: 'Halt,' and the angel of the right said: 'I will not write it,' and the angel of the left said: 'I will not write it.' Then Allah, glorified and exalted is He, revealed to the angel of the left to write what the angel of the right left out. A similar narration is reported from Hisham al-Himsi. This wording, if considered, is according to His will with his camel. If it is in obedience, then 'halt' is a good deed, and if it is in disobedience, then it is a bad deed. The middle ground between these two is difficult to find. There must be accompanying signs in all the states of a person that clarify it for good or its opposite. Al-Thalabi narrated from Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Indeed, the place of the two angels is at the two sides, and their pen is the tongue and their ink is saliva.' Al-Dahhak and al-Hasan said: 'Their place is under the hair.' Al-Hasan liked to clean his throat for this reason. Al-Hasan said: 'Until when a person dies, his record is folded, and he is told on the Day of Resurrection: "Read your book; sufficient is yourself against you this Day as a reckoner."' [Al-Isra: 14] By Allah, he is just who made him a reckoner of himself. And 'al-raqib' means 'the observer,' and 'al-‘atid' means 'the present.'

And His saying, exalted is He: "And came" is a conjunction in relation to His saying, exalted is He: "When the intoxication comes," the implication is: And when the intoxication of death comes. He placed the past in the position of the future to affirm and establish the matter. This is more encouraging for readiness and feeling the nearness of it. This is the way of the Arabs in this regard. This is clarified in His saying: "And the trumpet was blown," and "And every soul came." For it is a transformation in the sense of reception. Abu Amr read: "And came the intoxication" by merging the ت into the س. The intoxication of death is what befalls a person at the time of his struggle, and people are in different states during it. However, for each one there is an intoxication. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "Indeed, death has its intoxications." And His saying, exalted is He: "In truth" means: by meeting Allah, blessed and exalted is He, and the loss of worldly life. In the Mus'haf of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, it is: "And came the intoxication of truth with death." It was read by Ibn Jubair and Talhah. It is narrated that Abu Bakr as-Siddiq said it to his daughter Aisha, may Allah be pleased with them both, when she sat at his head weeping while he was struggling. She said:

"By your life, wealth does not benefit a man If he is gasping one day and his chest is constricted."

So Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, opened his eyes and said: "Do not say this, but say: 'And came the intoxication of truth with death; that is what you were trying to avoid.'" This hadith has been narrated by the famous reciters: "And came the intoxication of death with truth." Abu al-Fath said: If you wish, you can connect the ب to "came" as you would say: "I came with Zayd," meaning: I brought him. And if you wish, it could be understood as: And with it is death.

And the interpreters differed in the meaning of: "And came the intoxication of truth with death." Al-Tabari said - and this was narrated by al-Thaalibi - that the truth is Allah, exalted is He. And in attributing the intoxication to the name of Allah, exalted is He, there is a distance, even though it is permissible in that it is a creation of Him. However, the eloquence of the Qur'an and its arrangement do not come with this. Some of the interpreters said: The meaning is: And came the intoxication of parting from life with death. And parting from life is a truth that a person knows and tries to avoid with his hope. The meaning of this avoidance is that he says: I will live like this and that. Whenever he thinks of the nearness of death, he diverts his mind and hope to a distant time. Also, the caution of a person and his precautions and the like are all forms of avoidance. The saying about the blowing of the trumpets has been mentioned repeatedly, and "The Day of Warning" is the Day of Resurrection. He attributed it to the warning as a means of frightening.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And every soul came with it a driver and a witness." Talhah ibn Musarif read: "maha" with a heavy ح, and "the driver" is the one urging to go. People have differed regarding the driver and the witness. Uthman ibn Affan, Mujahid, and others said: They are two angels assigned to every person, one of them drives him, and the other from his guardians witnesses against him. Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The driver is an angel, and the witness is the deed. And Mundhir ibn Sa'id said: The driver is an angel, and the witness is the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. It was said: The witness is the book that he encounters, spread out. Some of the scholars said: "Driver" is a generic term, and "witness" is likewise. The drivers for the people are angels assigned to that, and the witnesses are the guardians in this world and everything that witnesses. Ibn Abbas and Al-Dahhak said: The driver is an angel, and the witness is the limbs of a person. This is far from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, because the limbs only witness for sins. And His saying, exalted is He: "Every soul" encompasses the righteous. Its meaning is: and a witness for its good and evil. It is strengthened in: "witness" as a generic term, so the angels and the places witness for good. From this is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "No human or jinn or anything hears the extent of the caller's voice except that it will testify for him on the Day of Resurrection." Likewise, the angels, places, and limbs testify for evil. Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The driver is an angel and the witness is the deed. Ibn Muslim said: The driver is a devil, as reported from him by Al-Tha'labi, and the statement in the book of Mundhir ibn Sa'id is weak.