Sūrat al-Isrāʾ
Section 7 of 16 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Read Your Own Record
The next matter Allah (swt) mentions here — and there are several discussions in it which may be read for oneself, in shāʾ Allāh — is the reverence due to the Qur'an. And again there is the notion of:
ٱقْرَأْ كِتَـٰبَكَ كَفَىٰ بِنَفْسِكَ ٱلْيَوْمَ عَلَيْكَ حَسِيبًا
“(and We will say to him) “Read your book. Enough are you today to take your own account.”” (17:14)
Iqraʾ kitābaka kafā bi-nafsika al-yawma ʿalayka ḥasībā. And then there is:
وَكُلَّ إِنسَـٰنٍ أَلْزَمْنَـٰهُ طَـٰٓئِرَهُۥ فِى عُنُقِهِۦ ۖ وَنُخْرِجُ لَهُۥ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ كِتَـٰبًا يَلْقَىٰهُ مَنشُورًا
“We have tied up every human’s fortune to his neck, and on the Day of Resurrection, We will bring forth a book for him that he will find wide open,” (17:13)
Wa kulla insānin alzamnāhu ṭāʾirahu fī ʿunuqih — wa kulla insānin alzamnāhu ṭāʾirahu fī ʿunuqih — which is verse 12.* And before that:
وَيَدْعُ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنُ بِٱلشَّرِّ دُعَآءَهُۥ بِٱلْخَيْرِ ۖ وَكَانَ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنُ عَجُولًا
“Man prays for evil like his prayer for good, and man is so hasty.” (17:11)
Wa kāna al-insānu ʿajūlā: the human being has been built with haste; he cannot wait, he cannot have patience enough. Much of the human struggle is generally with haste, or rather with having no patience. So that is mentioned here.