Commentary
No! He restrains them from what they were upon of cheating and neglecting the mention of resurrection and reckoning. He alerts them that it is something that must be repented for and regretted. Then He follows it with a warning to the wicked in general. And the Book of the wicked: it is what is written of their deeds. If you say: Allah has informed about the Book of the wicked that it is in Sijjin, and He explained Sijjin as a written record, it is as if it was said: Their book is in a written record. What is its meaning? I say: Sijjin is a comprehensive book; it is the register of evil. Allah has recorded therein the deeds of the devils and the deeds of the disbelievers and the corrupt among jinn and humans. It is a written record inscribed among the writings, or marked so that whoever sees it knows that there is no good in it. The meaning is that what is written of the deeds of the wicked is established in that register. It is called Sijjin: a term derived from imprisonment, which is confinement and restriction, because it is the cause of imprisonment and restriction in Hell, or because it is cast down - as narrated - beneath the seventh earth in a dark, wild place, which is the dwelling of Iblis and his offspring, in contempt of it and humiliation. And the expelled devils witness it, just as the angels who are close witness the register of good. If you say: What is Sijjin, is it a description or a name? I say: Rather, it is a proper noun derived from a description like Hatim. It is a noun that is declined because it contains only one reason, which is the definite article.
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