thing nor a great one, but numbers them (all)” (18:49). “So whoever does good deeds and he is a believer, there is no rejection of his effort, and We surely write (it) down for him” (21:94).

Not only has every individual his book of deeds, but even nations are spoken of as having their books of deeds: “And thou wilt see every nation kneeling down; every nation will be called to its record.9 This day you are requited for what you did” (45:28).

A nation’s record or book of deeds explains what is meant by the individual’s book of deeds. The expression means nothing but the effect of the deeds done by the individual or the nation. It is a mistake to take the word kitāb in the sense of a collection of pages written down with pen and ink in connection with the writing of good and evil deeds. Kitāb does not always mean a collection of written leaves; it sometimes signifies the knowledge of Allāh, or His command, or what He has made obligatory (R.). And kataba does not always mean that he wrote certain words on paper with ink and pen; it also means he made a thing obligatory or decreed or ordained or prescribed a thing (Ibid.). According to the same authority, the significance of kitāb (writing) in 21:94, where the writing of good deeds is spoken of, is that God will preserve those deeds for the doer, and requite him for them.

A study of the verses in which the recording of actions, or the books of deeds, is referred to, leads to the conclusion that it is the effect produced by those actions that is meant. For instance: “And We have made every man’s actions to cling to his neck, and We shall bring forth to him on the Day of Resurrection a book which he will find wide open” (17:13). Making the actions cling to the doer’s neck is clearly causing the effect of the actions to appear on the person concerned; in other words, all actions, good or bad, have their impress on the man.10 This is in accordance with what has been already stated, namely that an inner self of man is being prepared in this life. That inner self is really his book of deeds, a book in which is noted down the effect of every deed done. It is to this that the concluding words of the verse allude where it is said that this book of deeds, the inner self, which here is hidden from the human eye, will become an open book on the Day of Resurrection. And, quite in consonance with this, the next verse goes on to say: “Read thy book; thine own soul is